The sun., 1916-10-15

I 1t has'been stated that the adoption
OF The Is inch CUR is intended to facili-
tate attack upon steel clad coast de-
fences rather than to promote greater
striking power in dealing with enemy
ships. This statement. however, must
DO taken with a grain of salt. because
the first purpose of a battle fleet is to
measure forces with the foes armored
squadrons.
A British naval officer who was pres
ent during the Jutland battle has writ
ten: 1T VAS really had luck that the
Queen Mary. 1ndefatigable and In
vincible were lost, because it was
purely chance shots which brought
about their destruction. The armor
would have withstood any amount OF
shell fire, but in each case u shell took
the top off the turret and the explosion
vent down to the magazine. with the
result that the ship blew up" The
point OF greatest interest in this state
ment is that the protecting armor was
smashed and flame was carried right
down into the bowels Of the vessels.
h question is. then, whether there
Is a form OF attack using other than
armor piercing projectiles which makes
results OF this sort extremely proha-
BILE. Has the German navy, carrying
weapons Of smaller calibre than the
British feet. been able to score by rca-
son Of a modified form OF high expo
sive shell? II this Is the case it may
be concluded that the new Is incl gun
Is not to throw armor piercing shells
but instead projectiles carrying a much
larger charge of high explosive.
In her two great European battles
with the British fleet Germany has APP
parent.y put to scrvice the lessons
learned In her attack upon the steel
clad forts OF Liege and Nlmur. The
Belgian and French ordnance en-
gincers were disappointed IL not sur
prised by the manner in which the
great cupolas OF steel were crushed or
smashed like mushrooms under heel
Those defences were the latest thing
In Notifications. Similar dcfences sur
rounded Antwerp. and they too SUI
fered the same fatc when the Ka.ser's
biggest howitzers were turned against
them.
What the Germans tried ont first
upon L!ege they afterwHrd used else
where. and finally It is believed they
employed this system OF high explo-
sive shell attack In measuring forces
with the British fleet. The Is inch
gun may therefore be considered a
tribute to the Kaiser's experts and
the imitation Is all the more fiatter!ng
because Of the scale employed. Ye,
the truth is the EHiser's ordnance en-.
gineers are In our debt: Yankee in
genuity and certain Government tests
have helped the Fatherland where
they failed to bring conviction here.
As far back as 1898 a test was made
at the Naval Proving Grounds, Indian
Head. that.may properly be said &c
have hlazcd the way FOR the present
day high explosive attack. In tnar
test a Is inch turrot plate was de.
stroyed by an outsid" explosion of q
single shell loaded with g%nnc0t'on
The shell was simply suspended
lenGthw!se against the face Of the up
right plate. When the charge was
detonatcd il shattered the massive
piece of steel.
The chief OF the Bureau NJ ord
nance. at that time Rear Admlra,
Charles O'Ne!l, was not disposed 20 at
tach importance to that demon
stration. Indeed he unhesi,a1ingly de-
clared that the nav WIS fearful oi
high explosives on s~h,phoard. even
though they might be fired from guns