The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1917-09-19
MODERN WARSHIPS.
And the Brave Old Wooden Fight
ers Of a Century Ago.
THEIR BIG GUNS COMPARED.
The Old Constitutions Twenty four
Founders Were ores, Cannon, but .
Modern Monster Gun Could Fire One
Of Them Bodily Ten Miles.

NOdtFU WON3ISF Sun SOuld EtTo one
Of Them Bodily Ten Miles.
The frigate Constitution. fighter of
thirty-nine battles and winner Of every
Que of them. today offers the student
an exceptional opportunity to compare
the naval lighting machine of hun.
dred years ago with the supcrdrcad.
naught Of the hour Peacefully float
ing at wharf in the Charlcstown
Mass.j navy yard, "Old IrOnsides'
speaks volumes TO the thoughtful WIS.,
itor who has perhaps just few min
utes before stepped down the gangway
of modern ship.
Aside from the vastly different meth
DDS of placing the guns. perhaps the
most striking contrast between the ma
val architecture of century ago and
that of today Is seen in the actual
structure of the hull and supprstrnc-
lures. The warship of today has not n
piece of wood visible. with the posi-
bic exception of the deck. which is
wood over Il steel foundation Stripped
for action. the modern fighting craft
presents positively naked appearance
with every movable object cast over
board or slowed away.
The Constitution. on the other hand,
presents IA bewidering array of rig
Ging and sparS. and she is wholly con
structcd of wood. \ single modern
shell exploding under her or on her
deck would do as much damage proba-
bly, rs an entire brOadside from a ship
similar to the Guerrierc. This vast
change in the design is. of course. due
in large measure to the Introduction of
steam as n means of propulsion. Fol
lowing this the ali steel hun was intro
duced
The gun deck Of the Constitution
stirs the imagination perhaps still more
than does the spar deck. Topped by
low ceiling. which makes one want to
stoop as he walks. this deck snvors of
a prison dungeon. CHANGING at the row
of long twcnty-fOur Founders. thirty in
number. one can readily picture the
smoke filed atmosphere. the terrible
din. the sweating. half naked figures
W ltlodu Niit 'luillNN lltlfo
of ordnance and ever and anon shot
crashing through the futile wooden
wall. sending splinters in all direc-
lions.
Stepping from the gun deck and the
turrets of the Rhode Island 70 this old
time chamber of horrors. the visitor
cannot fail to wonder how in her ia
nous engagement the Constitution suf-
fered loss of but seven killed and
seven wounded ont of a crew of 45G
officers and men. Perhaps the answer
Is found in the inaccuracy of the guns
and poor craftsmanship of the gun
ners More likely. however. It is due to
the fact that the explosive shell had
not then been invented. Aside from
the splinters. n twcnty-four pound shot
through the full stood little chance of
doing really great damage unless it
struck mast. gunner or the gun car
rage itself
The guns Of the Constitutions day
had an effective range Of possibly
mile. although history tells us that the
real execution was done at ranges
of from one to three hundred yards.
think OF the engagements of modern
warships. wherein naval duels are
fought at ten miles range and where
the opposing ships are actually out of
sight from the gun deck and barely
visible from the fighting tops. Think
of guns aimed with the aid of mathe
matics! What marvellous strides sci.
ence has made In times of peace and
in the short sp2ce Of hundred years,
As an interesting comparison of the
guns Of today with those Of 1912 we
may call attention to the fact that,
while the total broadside discharge
OF the Constitutions battery would
amount to GS4 pounds Of metal a sin.
gle projectiie from one of our cOasc
defense mortars weighs half ton.
Even more striking Is the fact thai
the projectile from modern fOur'
teen inch piece of ordnance such az
that carried by the superdreadnaughta
weighs practically as much as one OF
the big guns OF the Constitution. In
other words. instead of hurting small
hall @: iron at its enemy the modern
fighter OF the seas could actually throw
one OF the Constitutions cahnOns itself
at the opponent were the cannon or
suitable shape and form.
And. furthermore. the explosive
charge in the projectile would be great
err by far In power than the entire
charge used to fire the old cannon.
This means that the modern engine of
actually takes a mass OF
steel equal in weight to the old gun
loaded with high explosive and lands
this entire mass on the deck or inside
the hull Of the enemy's ship, where II
expl1les. Stanley Curtis I'm
Popular Science Monthly.