Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-11-23
LOADING BIC Guns
They Get Quick Action on the
Modern Monster Warshio.
STORY OF A PRACTICE DRILL.
What Happened After the Order to
"Fire!" Was Very Different From
What Would Have Occurred Had
Cordite and ProjectiIcs Been Used.

Cordite and ProjeetiIcs Been Used.
The order is given 20 load. Some one
touches Il lever. and with Il hiss II mass
Of bright steel turns and twists back.
nnd the breech OF the gun gapes open.
Another touch on the lever, and from
beside you a hydraulic ram shoots out
Ike Il golden tongue into the brecciI
and Immediately shoots back again.
All is clear. Now, ut your very feet.
4 hole gApes in the door of the turrct,
there is Il Stat and crash of metal, and
rs you look down into the hole YOU SEQ
q small lift travelling up with incrcd.
ib'c rapidity and Internal clattcr bear
ing On it the immense prOjectile, weigh
ing more than seven hundrcdwcight,
and. in another compartment, the two
cartridges OF cordite.
Up comes the lift. locks Itself with n
crash and spills out the p~rojectile on Il
metal tray in line with the open breech,
The golden tongue Of the ramnler
shoots out again and pushes the pro
jectile into the gaping breech, extend
Ing itself apparently indefinitely until
the projcctile has disappeared. The
lift shifts n little. bringing into line
with the gun its other compartment,
which contains the two half charges.
each Il cylinder holding 100 pounds Of
cordite. Out shoots the ram again,
will M n,n,.n ,,rSnnnA for fhntN than if
they had been sponges. and pushes
them steadily home behind the projec.
tile. and. having done its deadly bust
ness. retires again ont of the way to be
ready for another cycle OF the same op-
arutions.
Half Il turn of the wheel, and the
hrecch block swings home with a sigh
and a click. Right gun loaded, sir"
Now you wait in suspense. and a voice
in the coming tower gives the range
$500 yards. The gun layer in his quiet
corner has all this time never taken his
eye from the glass. He turns n
wheel. and the whole turret swings
round over the ships quarter; he turns
another. and with a little hiss and sigh
Of imprisoned water the whole mighty
tonnage of the gun, Sweetly balanced
On it's %trunnions. rises and tilts itself
to the push of the hydraulic press. ,
The range is decreasing by some thir'
ty yards Il second, since the target is
ship approaching us at a speed equal
to our own-ifteen knots-and as the
| Ealing ranges are given the gun metal
| wheel is turned an eighth or a quarter
Of an inch. and the muzzle of the gun
sinks down a little as gently IS a fall
ing leaf. The sights are reported son.
the gun laid. and the word we have all
been waiting for is sharply given
Fire" The gun layer pulls a trigger
no bigger than that Of Il pistol and
The %proiectile was a dummy one
made of wood covered with leather.
and there was no cordite in the car
tridges. If it had been otherwise the
pictures that adorned the commanders
room, the mirrors and toilet accesso-
ries OH the cabin tables and the va
rious elegant adornments of the cap
tain's suit would unless they had been
previously packed away have come
crashing down from their places, and
the navigating commander, who hap
pened at the time to be explaining to
IN unwilling listener IN the quarter
deck by what skill and foresight he
had avoided setting the ships stern on
to the breakwatcr at Portland. would
save been blown off the deck.
These things were unnecessary, for
| quite understood. The click and 81
Ience that followed the word "Fire!"
we're quite eloquent enough to me Of
I'll the shattering dnmnation they rep
fesented-a prOjectile weighing $50
pounds hurting to its mark at the
rate of almost a thousand yards a sec
ond.
But we in the turret would have
known nothing, for before it had reach
ed the target the breech block would
have opened to the screech OF the air
blast which cleans out the burning
fragments Of cordite in the breech, the
hammer would have shot in with its
mop and out again. the ammunition
hoist would have come gathering and
screaming up. another p~rojectile would
nave rolled into the tray with another
Two hundrcdweight of death packed
behind It,, the rammer would have
pushed it home with a kick. the block
would have swung to again, the great
gun would have been sighted and
swung in the air. again the word would
have been given. and again the frag-
ment Of concentrated power that men
lad toiled in factories and drawing Of
ices. in laboratories and foundries to
perfect would have been sent winging
through the sea air to spend itself in
destruction.
And only one mia in the turret would
have seer its fate: only he with his
sye to the telescope, who had seen the
hull Of that ship in the distance cover
ing the threadlike cross OH his glass
as he pulled the trigger. would see and
guess when the distant target would
b,lrst into yellow smoke what work
aad been done.-London Standard.
Not at All Easy.
TI,ciIIn-Dh VOu cDn win Mario'S