The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-05-25
POWDER FOR THE NAVY COSTLY ITEM
Means the Expenditure of Nearly $4,000 for the Fleet
to Fire Single Broadside.

When the Atlantic fleet again as
sembles as a fleet it will be in
every respect the most powerful ag-
gregation of first-class battleships
that the Western Atlantic has ever
doated-a feet with powers of exc
cution so wonderful that only cold
matter Of fact figures can tell the
true story of its greatness, says the
Philadelphia Ledger.
Had some ordnance expert told
David Glasgow Farragut, the great
est of American admirals, that some
day this nation would own a single
fleet of battleships which could if
the occasion ever come, fire broad
side of steel projectiles weighing
more than 10000 pounds, and could
do this not once, but four and per-
haps six times minute it is quite
certain that the great naval COM
mander would have considered the
prophet a Oh Gamer.
Every American who keeps up
with the times knows that the At
lantic fleet is an organization of six
teen first-class battleships, and
ships look He knows that the Con-
necticut has three and the Mississippi
two tunnels; that most of the six
teen have new-fangled spiderweb
masts, and that the fleet is divided
into units of four, for purposes of
command
All this, as a rule, is known to
the man in the street. Yet it is
doubtful if one person in one hun
dred in this country knows that this
feet-the backbone of the service
afioat-carries "a twelve-inch guns
in it's main batteries, and that every
projectile as it leaves one of these
guns means that 800 pounds of
smokelesS powder, costing about
1925, has been used up. And every
one of these twelve-inch guns fig
ures in the Atlantic fleets broad
side, both port and starboard.
Now for the story that the figures !
tell.
First, of course, to be considered /
must be the giant new dreadnoughts /
Delaware and North Dakota, the |
newest of American battleships. |
Practically the whole offensive pow
er of these mighty vessels rests with /
their main batteries that are Just /
two and one-half times as great as
that of the vessels of the Connect |
cut class, and only few years ago /
the Connecticut was considered the !
most powerful battleship aflOat.
A broadside from one of these .
ships weighs $500 pounds, and every /
time this hail of steel is discharged it /
will necessitate the burning up of /.
5000 pounds of the finest smoke /.
less powder, costing $2,250. The /
two dreadnoughts of this type there I
fore furnish as their quota of the
offensive power of the fleet a broad /
side of twelve-inch projectiles, weigh |
ing 1900 pounds, a broadside that
can be repeated anywhere from two
to six times every minute.
Next in Importance come the
Michigan and South Carolina, each
of 4 1000 tons less displacement than
the North Dakota and Delaware
They, too, depend entirely upon
guns of the twelve-inch type, each
of them carrying eight, and as in
the case of the larger ships, all of
these guns are so placed that they
can be used in broadside. A broad
side from the Michigan and South
Carolina will weigh 1860 pounds.
After the Michigan and South Car
DINA are ranked the six ships that
belong to the Connecticut class.
These six are the Connecticut Kan
sas, Louisiana, Vermont, New Hamp-
shire and Minnesota. Each carries
four twelve-inch, eight eight-inch
and twelve seven-inch guns. A
broadside from one of them is made
up of 3,400 pounds of twelve-inch;
1000 pounds of eight-inch and $50
pounds of seven-inch projectiles,
while, if every vessel in this class
fired at the same time it would