Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1915-01-21
Wonderful Devices Which Make
Accurate Workmanship Com
paratively Easy.
EACH SOLDIER DOES HIS PART
How United States Soldiers Determine
Distance for Effective Fire
Upon the Enemy.

denuded of men, while all rails and
other outstanding membranes have
been laid fiat on deck.
The gun turrets, five Of them, are
trained round, with the long, lean
muzzles of their twin weapons pointing
out over the sea, and every now and
then one of the guns twitches ever so
slightly or turret revolves a little,
as the gunlayers keep their sights on
the distant target.
The 10 1855 the ship carries are
powerful weapons. Each one of them
is over so feet long and weighs close
to eighty tons, while their 1850 pound
shells can be hurled distance of fif-
too, leave the muzzle at the rate of l.
800 miles an hour, and can penetrate
the thickest armor afloat at a range
Of 5000 yards.
But now, as the ship moves on
through the water, with her sharp bow
sending up two little cascades of spray
on either side of the stem, she looks
like a great mastodon uncontrolled by
man. There are no signs of life on
board-nothing except the twitchfng
gun turrets and the black smoke roll.
ing from the squat funels, which tells
Of the men laboring below. But every
man on board is at the station he
would occupy in action and before long
the uproar of the guns will have begun.
! In the coming tower, with 12-inch
armor, stands the captain, his nayigat-
ing officer, midshipman or two and
several other officers and men. The
small circular erection, barely 10 feet
In diameter, seems very cramDed for
all 1t has to contain.
Above the coming tower Is another
armored erection, Containing a range
finder, and inside this is the gunnery
+ lieutenant, with half a dozen more of.
| ficers and men. He is surrounded by
strange looking instruments, while the
man at the range finder, with his eyes
at its rubber eye piece, is monotonous-
ly chanting out the distance of the ap-
preaching target.
Inside the turrets themselves the ex-
! pectant men are grouped round their
guns. The great projectiles, and the
cordite charges behind them, have al
ready been pushed home by the hy-
draulic rammers, and, since their
weapons are thus fully loaded, the
guns crews are idle for the time be-
ing.
But the gunlayers-the men who aim
and fire the guns-and the trainers
those who keep the n pointing to the
right direction-are anxiously keeping
bn ci0 10 a and
now and then, as they move their small
brass handles, there is wheeling of
hydraulic machinery, and the great
breeches rise and fall ever so slightly.
while the whole armored structure
containing them revolves an inch or so
at time to keep tt sights on.
|, A minute or two later, after an order
has come through from the control po-
sition, the lieutenant in charge of the
foremost turret suddenly raps out the
order, Bring both guns to the ready"
The men standing by the breeches
flick over their small levers. Fright
gun ready! Left gra ready!' they re-
port in rapid succession.
The range, meanwhile, is decreasing
rapidly, and about 10 seconds later
there comes the stri lent rafting of an
electric bell.
1t is the signal to open fire. The
gun-layer holds his breath, sees the
crosswires of his telescope cutting the
Ilatticework of the target, and then
presses an innocent-looking brass
thumbpiece. AS he does so there is
roar, and with blaze or orange fame
and a pail of brown smoke, projec-
tile, weighing more than half ton,
is sailing through the air on it's way
toward the target.
Outside the turret the concussion is
terrible, but inside it is barely felt, and
the only means the guns crew have f
knowing their weapon has gone off Is
by the rocking Of the turret and the
recoil of the gun. Back she slides.
with the water whistling and gurgling
through the hydraulic valves far be-
low She stops, and then, as the run.
ning-out springs exert their strength,
is driven back to the firing position.
The men, meanwhile, are working
like demons. Some one, by moving a.
small lever which actuates hydraulic
engine, has opened the breech A
cloud of acrid cordite smoke fills the
turret, but another man, turning tap,
sends a jet Of water spouting into the
chamber to extinguish any still-burn-
ing fragments.
Everything seems chaos, but every.
one knows what to do-they have done
It time after time, and in less than
thirty seconds we have sharp order:
Fright gun-load!"
A man moves an upright lever, and
an arrangement looking like minia.
ture lift climbs into view through the
floor. 1t has come up from the she'll
room below laden with the new charge
and projectile, and stops dead in the
rear of the gun.
Reposing in tray is the shot itself
Another lever Is worked and flexible
chain hydraulic rammer. looking like
q snake. darts out OF its resting place