New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-07
Both Useless Against For
eign Sea Fighters,
Says Expert.
u. S. RIFLES TOO
SHORT IN RANGE,
Louis Gathman Asserts One
Japanese BattIeship Could
Destroy DreadnoughtS.
fFrom The Tnhuns Bureau.l

Washington, Dec. Cit seems al
most unbelievable hat of all the ma
tions ours Is the only one not aware
of the depiorable condition of our ma
tional defence" declared louis Gath
man, inventor of .he Gathmsn gun
and the Gathman torpedo shell. to-
day. "Other Iations well know that
most of our guns for coast defence
fer which our government has paid
many millions of dollars have range
of only six miles. Any modern fleet
with high explosive shells and long
ranxe guns could disable our guns be
fore we could harm them. First, be-
cause our guns could not reach the
enemy; second, because the armor
piercing shells of our long range guns
have no efficiency, even at six miles.
Congress and the American people
are entitled to know that which all
other countries have known for ars
d awaken 70 a realization OF our
great peril and fix the blame for this
regrettable state Of affairs on those
whose fault it is. At the same time
all knowledge of the particular. steps
we contemplate taking to rectify our
should be kept from foreign powers.
NAVAL engineering is a science. All
intelligent officers and naval engineers
the world over must know as well as
| do that we have practically no de-
fence against the battleships II a
naval power like Japan. In fact, one
of their newest battleships g.ith shells
carving three hundred pounds Of high
explosive could destroy all our dread
noughts in an open sea iight oeiore
we could get close enough TO do any
serious damage to her. These tacts
are common knowledge among foreign
governments and even among our own
naval experts.
Mr.. Gathman said that dreadnought
destroyers would be the most formi-
dable machines for defence.
81 mean," he said, "a type Of war
craft which can destroy any warshlp
with a minimum danger 20 itself; and
we should construct three different
types: (A) proper alrcrafts, OBJ
proper submarines, and co proper war
vessels. These vessels should be pro-
tected with modern armor, which can
not be penetrated by armor-piereing
shells, even at close fighting range, ana
such ships should be constructed on
the three-hull system when was OF
fered in vain to our government III
1902.
at was adopted by the German navy
in 1905. after thorough test. rms
system gives protection against tor
pedoes, armor-piercing and high eX,
plosive shells DIP to 16-inch guns and
300 pounds of high explosives. Such
dreadnought destroyer would cost
about So 900, 900, and one could destroy
any number of our dreadnoughts IN an
open sea fight.
"Nothing floats to-day which can
withstand "A shell containing oOu
pounds of high explosive, II properly
detonated on impact. This fact was
proven by a demonstration on May
ia 1898. when | destroyed lf-iHcn
turret nrmor in fraction OF a second
AT the navy proving grounds: Inc re
mort of this test was smothered, al
thourh there can be no doubt some
foreign governments received iuii
report of il. and gained thereby an I'M
uense advantage. which was 1uily
nrovod bv Japan in 1905 when she de-
stroyed the Russian fleet, aitnough lne
Russian fleet was more modern than
ours as they used high explosives "
tbe.r armor-piercing shells "hiie we
still used POWDER .or,d
"rbe Russian 12-.nch guns c9uId
have nierced any armor on inc JAP
anese battlcships and eNplodeu ino
aheiIs inside the ships. The only thing
shet nrcventcd them from doing TINS
was @ because they were put out OF ac
,ion bv the Japanese high eXpiosNe
shells before they could ge' 49, 49,
enough TO pierce the Japanese armor
w;tb their armor piercing shells.
"Comparing the efficiency OF nigh eA,
,,os;v"s with our service shells, the
tests in 1911, when the Navy pepsr,,
u,Srt ueSr selected the Puritan and the San !
Wsrcog for target showed that one
isbam high explosive shell containing
300 mounds of explosive was suihcient
70 sink the Puritan, while IT took two /
davs' firing at the San Marcos WIN
arg,or picrcing she'll before she SANK
Tbe greater efficiency Of high c~pio-
s;ves was further demonstrated on July
II 1914. when one shell sunk target
the Pennsylvania our
newest and strongest battleship rms
shell also contained but 200 pounds OF |
high explosive. This superiority IS
further shown by the tremendous ei-
fectiyeness Of the large German high
explosive shells against t0FtIhea'i0nS.