The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-04-09
Guns TO PROTECT CANAL.
Some Weigh 13O Tons and Hurl MIs-
siieS of 2,4OO Pounds.

|
fortifying the two approaches to the
| Panama canal Once in while the
public has heard something OF this,
but as a rule the work has gone on
rather quietly, and it is only OF late
that some of the facts leaked out re-
garding the scope and character of
the defenses which are being prepar
| ed
A little more than three years ago
congress appropriated nearly S20,-
100000 for the fortiication of the
canal. So energetically has the un-
dertaking been pushed since then
that before traffic passes through the
| waterway our coast artillery will be
prepared there for any contingency.
Out of the total appropriation about
s2,5O0,O0O has been apportioned to
the Suns and carriages for seacoast
| batteries.
According to official figures the
sixteen-inch gun is capable of hurl-
ing a projectile of 2.40O pounds
distance of 1880 yards. and at
range of 2S mile that armor-pierc-
| ing shot will be able to bore its way
| through 81 inches of steel. The pro-
jectile carries a destructive-bursting
charge of no less than 125 pounds Of
Dunnite.
The gun alone when hung in the
| yoke of the disappearing carriage
| will represent suspended weight OF
13O tons. and this will be augmented
by the 2,40O-pound projectile and
the propulsive powder charge of 656
pounds. But this is only part of the
story.
The moment the powder is ignlted
and the generated gases drive that
great shell seaward there will be de-
veloped within the weapon an impul-
sive energy amounting to more than
| equivalent to lifting more than ST.
| coo tons one foot in one second.
There is no action without reaction.
and in this case the recoil is equal
| to the driving energy back of the
shot. and all of this must be absorb
ed by the gun carriage so nicely and
easily that the weapon shall sink
without violent shock to the loading
| position with it's muzzle again below
the parapet. This is like bringing
racing express train t. halt within
a space of few feet.
The weapons that will count most
against foe at Panama are the four
teen-inch guns which the army has
been developing during the last few
years, and these are to measure
strength with the best that foreign
naval power can offer.
The fourteen-inch guns built and
building for Panama are of superior
type. These weapons weigh 137,3OO
pounds each, or a trifle over 81 tons
less than half that of the giant
sixteen inch gun. Nevertheless these
newer weapons hurl their 1860
pound projectiles with sufficient
velocity to penetrate at 5000 yards
matter of 1S.1 inch of Krupp
armor. This means that at that
range the shot is travelling with
velocity of 1850 feet second.
The pent up energy in the shell at
the instant it leaves the rifle amounts
to the equivalent of a colliding force
of 5S,32S foot tons, and the dlsap-
pearing carriages which Will
bear these weapons must work
smoothly and without injury when
absorbing the recoil involved. We
stand alone practically in the posses
sion of this sort of carriage for big
guns. While some of these carriages
have met the tests of the proving
grounds none of them has been sub
jected at target practice to the tax
of full service charges. and 1t is
this latter which will represent what
may be expected in time of actual
battle.
For indirect attack upon foe the
seacoast defenses at Panama will rely
mostly upon the new design OF
twelve-inch mortars. The very latest
report of the chief or ordnance of the
army says:
"A number of the more powerful
twelve-inch mortars of new design
referred to in my last annual report
as being under manufacture for the
fortifcations of the Panama canal
have been completed and successful
ly tested. They vii! have maxi
mum range of slightly more than II
miles, as compared with approximate
ly 8 1-2 miles for the most powerful