The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1915-08-07
inch. owing 10 the lower murrle veloc
~ % the latter
Arnor No Longer
Protection Fror, Moaerr Guns

ity % the latter.
Arr'or Ne Longer
Protection From Meoerr cuns
The untIity amount. and distribu-
ton % armor have always been vexsd
questions. In the hrst place. 90 -
impossible adequately 90 protect any
eKlsting dreadaaught from the ire
mendous power-the smashing eject
particularly-of modern guns. Under
the full IRE OF another dreadnauEht
she would De destroyed In less tnan
hNe minutes. Two men. eucased m
eEgshells. striking a. each other win
sledge hammers" is some ones era
phic description Of the present conui-
lions. suppose. for example. that the
pennsylvania lst loose her fun bat
tery power on a 80 .U0O-ton dreAdnauFh
az battle range. Her twelve laIncn
guns have each muzzle energy OF as
80 toottons and each can BE- nred
ihree times minute Then In one
minute. she would strike her Zoe Win
an energy Of 26ls.O0O foot-tons. ana.
IN hNe minutes. with l3.OsO. UuO foot
lons-or enough 20 lift her 80 .uUo ton
antagonist 436 feet In the air
The armor for the California our
,stest dieadnnught. VII cost S8.Tg2 900
Roughly, the armor OF hatffesnfp
represents about one fourth OF its total
Cost lts weight ranges from one
uiln 20 one thlrd % the normal dis
Placement. and a. about Is that OF
the armament In other yro-ds ne
ndtllcship- primarily but a gun plat
~ m carrying kuns-eNpends. in sis-
placement. 90 per cent more on rs
protective armor than 10 does on lis
nsntlhg power. the guns The mili-
tary value OF all this Is a disputed
Question-on con which o,I,. -,
actions on grand scale can throw
answer "N'tNa'N
,, Thus far in the engagements OF the
Eui opean war high speed and lone.
Isnse gun power have been tho DOM.
ne,iuE factors. The winners OF those
aStlons nave escaped with their ar
| NOR virtually unscathed. aud the los.
,IS seem 20 have gained little bv ar
/ I.vl protection. Further. as the on
CVh Engineer points out admiral
us ,ahce, IN his essay. The shin of
~ t-lHt IN baitie. mas shown how. IN
s'i'sl All cases. armOred snIus have
q uttn beaten before they have heen
SUNK, and even beaten without b,ior
I SUNK, OF without their armor b.ing
perforated that Is. their unarInorsd
suPt structure became an untenable
wreck ana shambles. as was the case
win the Russian Orel in me. bsftla
i OF the Sea OF Japan
So, the battle cruiser. with us bsr.
& Yer OF reduced armor for higher speed
{ nay be pointing the way for batfle'
ship development. especially as since
I our famous Oregon OF twenty wears
I ago. accuracy In Eunnery has In.
creased enormously. the number Of
heaNy guns per ship has grown from
-FOUR 10 twelve. and the rapidity on
Ihelr IRE is more than ten times
Uncle Sans Need Of Battle Cruisers
The battle cruiser Is swiftly grow.
lhs FACTOR IN the great navies OF the
world. Great Britain mas 40. GERMANY
I !, Japan I. and Russia Is buiIding
four mammoths OF $4,000 tons as,
placement and % knots speed. Rourh.
y. the proportion OF battle cruisers
u dreadnaught battleships in these
nayies Is one-third on this basis me
J Inicd states should now have com.
pleted one SQUADRON Of four OF these
vessels, and should have another nm
Ger construction. But. We have none
Mr.. Orbanowski. distingllisbed
/ russian naval constructor. who mas
designed dreadnauEht battleships and