The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1914-09-21
ARMY AURaIEs BIG GUNS
TO NEW PANAMA FORTS

New York, Sept 20.-Close secrecy
is being maintained by the United
States army concerning unusual ac-
tiyities in the fortifcations about
New York City and at the proving
New York and at the proving rgounds
at Sandy Hook. Most of these actiyi-
ties. the army officers have let it be-
come known. have to do with the
armament and complete equipment of
the great Notifications of the Panama
canal.
Each day and night numerous in
quires are made of the newspaper Of
fees for information concerning the
terrific cannonading heard in the vi
cinity of the entrance to New York
harbor While some of this heavy fir
ing has been the day and night target
drills by the big guns of Fort Hancock
on Sandy Hook, most of the firing has
ed at the proving grounds for the
Panama Canal fortifications.
Most of these great rifles are be
ing made by the arsenal at Watervliet,
near Albany, and since the beginning
of the European war, when it was
feared in certain quarters that the
United States might become involved, |
work has been FASTENED in every way
possible. The arsenal is working day
and night and as quickly as the guns
are completed they are shipped by
large barges down the Hudson river
to the Sandy Hook proving grounds
There they are mounted on emergency
carriages and tested thoroughly.
The larger guns of twelve, fourteen
and sixteen inch bore, are covered
with sand bags on being fired the
first time. There always is danger of
a flaw in the steel and occasionally
a gun is cracked when fired the first
time. 1t is to detect such defects that
the guns are tested at the proving
grounds with full service charges be
fore they are approved for places in
the Notifications
Frequently the officers are not sat
isfied with the first shot, and the gun
is tested again, and maybe three or
four times, but seldom more than that
because the number of shots that may
be fired by one of these big fellows
are limited. The terrific heat and
pressure soon burn the bore out and
usually after two hundred shots have
been fired, the gun is considered use
less. Frequently the great heat has
so warped the barrel that the aim is
not true,
At the time of the Spanish-Ameri-
can war these rifles were capable of
| firing only one hundred shots, but
since then the method of manufac-
turing steel has been improved until
the life of the guns has been doubled.
An exceptionally strong guard is
being maintained about Sandy Hook
since the tests and target practice
began and no one not directly con
nected with the army and its work in
that branch is permitted on the island,
Even the lighthouse tenders and ma
rine observers at the point of the
Hook, who are not connected with the
army, have been requested to remain
at the Hook for few weeks and
censorship has been placed on the
one telegraph wire and the one tele-
phone wire leading from the mainland
to the army quarters.
The government owns Sandy Hook
and operates a small railroad connect
ing the fort and the proving grounds
with the New Jersey mainland. No
callers are allowed to enter the Hook
and the sentries across the narrow
neck of sand have been doubled day
and night They stop and turn back
all who try to reach the fort or the
fcers and soldiers, unless they have
the necessary passes issued by the
commanding officers of the Coast Ar
| tillery service.
As soon as guns have been tested
and approved, they are loaded, by
means of an enormous derrick aboard
vessels operated by the army, the ma
Wy, or the Panama Canal Commission
and are started for the canal zone. At
the same time the large machine
shops of the government at Washing
| ton. Watervliet and in several of the
navy yards are completing the intri-
cate gun carriages and shipping them