Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-03-27
GUNS TO PROTECT CANAL
Some Weigh 1870 Tons and HurI Mis-.
sIes of 2.4OO Pounds.

sIes Of 2,400 Pounds.
The military authorities Of the Unit |
ed States have been busy for some
ing the two approaches to the Panama
canal. Once in a while the public has
heard something Of this, but as rule |
the work has gone on rather quietly, |
and II is only Of late that some Of the
facts have leaked out regarding the
scope and character Of the defenses
which are being prepared.
A little more than three years ago
congress appropriated nearly $20,000,-
900 for the fortification Of the canal So
energetically has the undertaking 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 $2,5O0,O 900 has been
apportioned to the guns and carriages
for seacoast batteries.
According to official figures the six
teen-inch gun Is capable Of hurting a
projettile of 2,40O pounds a distance Of
10, $50 yards, and at range Of 2.8 mile
that armor- piercing shot will be able
to bore its way through 81 inches Of
Steel The projectile carries destruc-
tive bursting charge Of no less than
1875 pounds of Dunnite.
The gun alone when hung in the
yoke of the disappearing carriage will
represent a suspended weight Of 130
tons, and this will be augmented by
the 2,400-pound projectile and the pro-
pulsive 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 impul-
sive energy amounting to more than
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 carriage
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 bring
ing a racing express train to a halt
within space Of few feet.
The weapons that will count most
against a 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 137,300
pounds each, or a trifle over 81 tons
less than half that Of the giant sixteen
inch gun. Nevertheless these newer
weapons hurl their 1,660-pound projec-
tiles with sufficient velocity to pene-
trate at 5000 yards a matter Of 1871
inch of Krupp armor This means that
at that range the shot is travelling with
a velocity of 1850 feet a second.
The pent up energy in the shell at
the instant it leaves the rifle amounts
to the equivalent Of colliding force Of
5S,52S foot tons, and the disappearing
carriages which will bear these wea-
pons must work smoothly and without
injury when absorbing the recoil in
volved. We stand alone practically in
the possession Of this sort Of carriage
for big guns. While some Of these car
riages have met the tests Of the prov
ing grounds none Of them has been
subjected 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 a 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 re-
ferred to in my last annual report as
being under manufacture for the forti-
fications Of the Panama canal have
been completed and successfully tested.
They will have a maximum range Of
slightly more than II miles, as COM
pared with approximately 81 miles for
the most powerful type previously in
use"
To be exact, the total range Of these
mortars, measured by the standard Of
length usually employed. is 10000
yards, and the projectiles fired will be
Of three different weights, namely, 700
pounds, S24 pounds and 1,046 pounds
the weight Of the projectile depending
upon the range, the smallest shell be-
heaviest projectile for the inner or
closer zone covered by mortar fire.
In order to send these missiles upon
their destructive missions the mortar
can be elevated to an angle Of IS de-
grees. At this elevation the shell would
soar skyward until it had reached the
climax Of its curving flight at a height
Of little less than 5000 yards, and
then would begin to drop toward the
distant target, which is the deck or
turret tops Of the advancing ship. In
this, you see, the army strategist
counts upon hitting the foe where he
is weakest, for the decks and the tur-
ret tops are only thinly clad with pro-
tecting steel. These cannot be reached
by the direct and flatter flight Of the
guns, but can be attained by the plung-
ing fire Of he mortar shell.
Because Of their particular manner
Of action the mortar does not need a
disappearing carriage. Groups Of four
Of these weapons are placed in sunken
batteries technically termed mortar pits
and the enemy never has n chance to
see them at all. At Panama the sea
approaches to the canal will be theo-
retically divided into a series Of small