The Lemmon herald. (Lemmon, Perkins County, S.D.) 1912-1917, 1912-11-22
LOADING BIG Guns
They Get Quick Action on the
Modern Monster Warship.
STORY OF A PRACTICE DRILL.
What Happened After the Order TO
"Firs'" Was Very Different From
Corcte and proectiles Been Used

The order is given to load Some one
touches lever, and with hiss a mass
of bright steel turns and twists back
and the hreech Of the gun gapes open.
Another touch on the lever, sud from
beside YOU = hydraulic ram shoots out
like golden tongue into the hroech
and immediately shoots back again
All Is clear Now. at your verv feet.
there Is a Rlat aud crash Of metal. and
ae YOU look down into the hole YOU 500
small lift travelling up with incred
ihle rapidity and internal ciatter bear
ing on 1t the immense proiectile, weigh
ing more than seven hundredwcight
and. IN another compartment, the two
cartridges uf cordite
Up comes the lift. locks itself with a
crash and spills out the proiectile on o
metal tray in line with the open hreech
The golden tongue of the rammer
shoots out again and pushes the pro
tcctilc into the gaping hreech. extend
ing Itself apparently indefinitely unti
the prOie,tile has disappeared The
lift shifts little. bringing into line
with the gun its other compartment
each n cylinder holding 1870 pounds of
Cordi'e. out shoots the ram again
with 10 more respect for them than II
they had been spnnge> and pushes
them steadily home behind the rroior
tile. and having done its deadly bust
ness. rctircs again out Of the WAY To he
ready for another cycle Of the same op.
erations
Half turn of the wheel. and the
hroech block swings home with a sigh
and a click Right gun loaded, sir
Now YOU wait in suspense. and n voir"
In the coming tower gives the range
$500 yards. The gun layer In his quiet
corner has all this time never taken hie
eve from the glass He turns ono
wheel and the whole turret swings
round over the ships quarter he turns
another aud with q little hiss and sigh
OF imprisoned water the whole mighty
tonnage of the gun. sweetlv ha Ianced
on its trunnions, rises and tits itself
to the push of the hydraulic press
The range is decreasing by some thir
ty yards a second, since the target is
a ship approaching us at a speed equal
to our own fifteen knots and as the
falling ranges are given the gun metal
wheel Is turned an eighth or quarter
of an inch. and the muzzle of the gun
sinks down little as gently as fall
Ing leaf. The sights are reported "on.
the gun laid. and tho word we have all
been waiting for is sharply given
Fire" The gun layer pulls trigger
no bigger than that of pistol and
The projectile was a dummy one
made OF wood covered with leather.
and there was no cordite In the car
tridges II II had been otherwise the
pictures that adorned the commanders
room. the mirrors mud toilet acccsso
ries on the cabin tables and the VI
rions elegant adoruments of the cap
tsn's suit would ,uness they had been
previously packed awayl have come
crashing down from their places and
the ia vigatiug commander. who hap
pcned at the time TO he explaining to
an unwilling listener on the quarter
deck hv what skill and foresight he
had avoided setting the ships stern on
to the breakwater ~ Portland would
have been blown off the deck
These things were unnecessary. fnF
| quite understood The click and 81
lence that followed the word Fire"
were quite eloquent enough +" me Of
all the SCATTERING damnation They rep
resented a proiectile weighing so
pounds hurtling to its mark Al the
rate Of almost = thousand yards sec
ond
Rut We in the turrat would have
known nothing for before IT had reach
ed the target the breecb block would
have opened TO the screeCh of the air
blast which cleans ont the burning
fragments Of cordi'e in the hre"r h. tn"
rammer would have shot IN with IT'S
mop and out again. the ammunition
bost would have come clatteriug aud
screa ming up, another proiectile would
hs We rolled into the tray with another
two hundred eight OF death packed
behind IT, the rsmmer would have
pushed II home with kick the block
would have swung to again. the great
gun would have been sighted aud
swung In the air again the word would
have been given. and again the fraC
nlent Of concentrated power that mon
had toiled in factories and dra awing ~
fees, In laboratories and foundri"s 70
perfect would have been sent wlnging
through the sea air tn spend Itself In
destruction
And only one man IN the turret would
have seen its fate: only he with his
eye to the telescope. who had seen tho
bull Of that chip In the distance cover
ing the thraadlika cross on his glass
~ he pulled the trigger. would see and
guess when the distant target would
burst into yellow smoke what work
bad been done London Standard.
Not at All Easy.
Iucilip-Ob Won can win Marie \