The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1915-05-25
AIR IS EXPLOSIVE
IN NEW MONSTER GUN
Impelling Power Is Derived From
Highly Explosive Gas Mixture,
Not Big Powder Charges.

Inc ueM sun " IIIC'- Ge4 41lo11 y
brought into use for the first time on
April 80 against Dunkirk threw its
missile from q to % miles, establish
ing a record as the greatest long-range
firing ever known in actual warfare.
DR.. Franz Erich Junge, a German
naval constructor, who has been in
America for some time as consulting
engineer for German and American in
dustrial concerns, said last week, in
discussing some of the features which
have aroused the attention Of war eX-
perts, tat he did not believe the limit
of long-range firing had by any means
been reached. He also explained sew
eral things about the mechanism OF
Germany's long-distance gun which
clear up some of the erroneous ideas
about it.
"This latest German gun, which !cas
been tried out against Dunkirk for
the first time" said DR.. Junge, sis one
of the new 50-centimeter type about
which muca has been heard, but little
definite information generally known.
The radical difference between this
and other long-distance guns lies in
the impelling power, which is derived
from a highly explosive gas mixture,
thereby doing away with enormous
charges of powder and reducing to a
considerable degree the cost of oper-
ating.
'This mixture is prepared by COM
pressing air to very hig1 pressures
and injecting oil into it at the proper
time thus obviating the use of large
charge of powder for each firing OF
the gun. Not only does it reduce the
initial cost, but it facilitates the work
ing of the gun.
Cylinder with Piston.
"The construction of the modern
gun is based upon the same lines as
the construction of the internal COM
bustion engine; so much so that even
the designers of internal combustion
engines become designers Of large
guns. The big gun is practically a
cylinder with a piston in it, but with
this difference from the engine-that
the gun piston is the projectile itself,
Also, like the engine, guns must be
cooled by water and oil.
"Another important feature of this
latest gun and one which has not been
generally appreciated is that it is pos
sible to use projectiles of different cal
ibre. For long-distance firing smaller
proiectile is used, while for attacking
fortresses at S. orter range the large
5O-centimeter calibre projectile can be
used. This is managed by the use of
different cylinders. Let us say that
the 5O-centimeter gun is built for firing
missiles of three different sizes. 1t
is evident that a projectile of about
12-incn calibre was fired in the long
distance attack upon Dunkirk. At the
present state of gun-fring ability that
Is the largest-sized projectile which
can reasonably re fred for such long
distance. The heavier weight of the
larger projectiles makes carrying
distance OF % miles impossible now"
The ability of this so-called Dunkirk
gun to use different sized cylinders
readily explains some of the confused
views which have prevailed about this
instrument of destruction. The ord
nance experts at Washington, in dis
cussing the 23-mile feat few days
ago, were of the opinion, and rightly,
that a gun of no greater calibre than
y inches could have been used sue
cessfully in the attack on Dunklrk,
stating that it would be impossible TO
attain a distance OF from Il 10 zo
miles with the 50-centimeter projec-
tile, equal to 1916 inches. DR.. Junge's
explanation that a Pinch cylinder
may be slipped into the gun shows
how missive of that calibre may be
fired from a gun constructed to fire
a missile of nearly 20 inches.
TOrpedoeS From ZeppelinS?
1t is of interest to note, as con-
trasted with the 23-mile carrying abil-
ity of the new German gun, that tie
American army experts have made
elaborate computations of what might
be accomplished by the latest Ameri-
can 12-inch coast defense gun, and it
has been shown that when fired at
an angle of As degrees such a gun has
a range of $4,000 yards, or over 81
miles.
''No actual limit can be placed on
the long-range firing possibility of big