The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1918-11-01
MONSTER NAVAL
GUN USED IN FIELD
Greatest Employed Ashore or
AfI0at in Pre- sent War.
MANNED BY NAVAL CREWS
Throw Heavier Projeetile And Have
o--- Greater Velocity Than Any
Land Weapon
Known.

Washington.-Details of the achieve
ment of the Navy Department in max
ing available for use on the western
front the great naval guns, which press
dispatches have reported to be ham,
mering the German railway centers
back Of the Oise7Serre front, were
made public by Secretary Daniels.
The naval guns, which have been in
operation since September Is, original
ly were intended for new battle cruis-
ers, but a change in the design of the
vessels left the guns unavailable for
that use. Rear-Admiral Earle, chief of
the navy Bureau of Ordnance, then
recommended that the guns be sent to
the western front and he was directed
to proceed with the design and con-
struction.
The guns are manned and operated
by officers and men of the United
States Navy, under the command of
Rear-Admiral Plunkett, former direc-
tor of the Office of gunnery exercises
and engineering performance.
The great party of officers and men
to handle the guns arrived in France
on June 8; the first shipment of mate
rial left this country June 20 and the
entire organization was completed and
| ready to move to the battle front in
France late in August.
The guns are said to throw
heavier projectile and have greater
muzzle velocity than any weapon ever
placed on mobile land mounting The
weight of the explosive used with each
projectile is many times greater than
that used in the freak German long
range guns, and in point of their de-
structive force they are Incompatible.
The organization to man one gun re-
| quires an entire train, including the
gun car itself, ammunition cars, a
crane car and construction, sand, tim
Der, kitchen, fuel, workshop, berthing
and staff radio cars. Many of the cars
were especially manufactured by the
Standard Steel Car Company, and the
locomotives, 83-ton types with four
| pairs of drivers, were built by the
Baldwin Locomotive Works. One car
is complete machine shop, equipped
with forge, lathes, grinders and drill
presses. The gun car, as we'll as the
ammunition cars, are heavily armored
1900 square feet of plate being re-
quired.
The gun car is convertible into a
form of pit foundation to permit fire
at high angles of elevation, and it was
said the entire process of placing the
gun in that position and restoring it
to complete mobility requires only a
| few minutes. Under test, ON its steel
car mounting, the gun has shown ac
| curacy of fire at longer ranges than
ever before possible with guns of such
great caliber. Direction of the fire
upon any target is made possible sim.
! ply by shifting the position of the gun
| mount on the tracks.
Plans for the gun mountings as well
| as for the trains were worked out at
| the Naval Gun Factory in Washington
within 80 days and contracts were let
/ January rs. The first gun was. com.
! pleted in April and tests were held at
the Army Proving Grounds at Sandy
Hook, N. j., the only field large enough
in the presence of army and navy Off
cials and representatives of the Allied
/ Governments.
The training of the men to operate
the big guns was of most intensive
nature. The gun crews, who are com
posed of officers from the regular
naval forces and the Naval Reserves
and of men taken for the most part
from the Great Lakes Training Sta.
ton, were employed as inspectors at
the plants manufacturing the guns.
This training. combined with expert.
ence gained in handling heavy projec,
tiles and power charges at the Naval
Proving Ground, Secretary Daniels
said, made possible the obtaining of
thoroughly efficient force.
Details of the construction of the
guns and the part they have played in
the victories on the Western front
have been withheld for military rea.
sons