The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1914-04-02
GREAT GUNS TO
PROTECT COAST
.
CANNON WEIGHING 1870 TONS
WHICH HURL MISSILES WEIGH
ING 2,4Oo POUNDS.


as a rule the work has gone on rather
quietly, and it is only of late that some
of the facts have leaked out regard
ing the scope and character of the
defenses which are being prepared.
\ little more than three years ago
congress appropriated nearly $20,OOO,-
600 for the fortification of the canal.
So energetically has the undertaking
been pushed since then that before
traffic passes through the waterway
cur coast artillery will be prepared
there for any contingency. Out of the
total appropriation about $25O0,O0O
has been apportioned to the guns and
carriages for seacoast batteries.
According to official figures the 16-
inch gun is capable of hurting a pro
iectile of 2,4O0 pounds a distance of
1880 yard and at a range of 2.S miles
that armor-piercing shot will be able
to bore its way through twenty-one
inches of steel The projectile carries
a destructive-bursting charge of no
less than 125 pounds of Dunnite.
Thee gun alone, when hung in the
yoke of the disappearing carriage.
will represent suspended weight of
1870 tons, and this will be augmented
by the 2,4O0-pound proiectile and the
propulsive powder charge of 666
pounds. But this is only part of the
story.
The moment the powder is ignited
and the generated gases drive that
great shell seaward there will be de-
veloped within the weapon an impuls-
i've energy amounting to more than
$4,000 foot tons, that is, motive force
equivalent to lifting more than $4,000
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 absorbed by the gun car
riage so nicely and easily that the
weapon shall sink without violent
shock to the loading position with its
muzzle again below the parapet. This
is like bringing a racing express train
to a halt within the space of a few
feet.
The weapons that will count most
against foe at Panama, are the H.
inch guns which the army has been
developing during the last few years,
and these are to measure strength
with the best that a foreign naval
power can offer
The 14-inch guns, built and building
for Panama, are of superior type.
These weapons weigh 13I3OO pounds
each. or a trifle over siYty-one tons
less than half that Of the giant 16-
inch gun. Nevertheless these newer
weapons hurl their 1,6G0-pound proiec-
tiles with sufficient velocity to pene-
trate at 5000 yards a matter of 1S1
inch of Krupp armor. This means
that at that range the shot is travel
ing with velocity Of 1850 feet a sec
ond !
The pent-up energy in the shell at
the instant it leaves the rife amounts
to the equivalent of a colliding force
of 50, j2S foot tons, and the disappear
ing carriages which bear these weap.
ems, must work smoothly and without
injury when absorbing the recoil in
yolved We stand alone practically
in the possession of this sort of car
riaga for big guns. While some OF
these carriages have met the tests
of the proving grounds none OF them
has been subjected at target practice
to the tax of full service charges, and
it is this latter which will represent
what may be expected in time Of act
ual battle.
For indirect attack upon a foe the
sea coast defenses at Panama will
rely mostly upon the new design OF
12-inch mortars The very latest re-
port of the chtss Of ordnance of the
army says:
"A number of the more powerful
Pinch mortars OF new design refer
red to in my last annual report as be-
ing under manufacture for the fortif-
cations of the Panama Canal, have
been completed and successfully test
ed. They will have a maximum range
of slightly more than eleven miles, as
compared with approximately eight
and one-half miles for the most power
ful type previously in use"
To be exact. the total range OF these