STRENGTH OF THE OPPOSING SQUADRONS AND ARMIES.
Growth of the White Squadron in a Single Decade--Progress of Our
Navy a Gratifying Ode after It Was Fairly Started--How the United
States Stands in Comparison with the Other Nations of the World--
List of Ships in the American Navy--List of Ships in the Navy of
Spain at the Beginning of the War--Interest of All Countries
Centered on the Result of Our Naval Battles--Modern Guns and
Projectiles--The Armies of the Two Combatants--Coast Defenses of
the United States.
Three elements enter into the fighting efficiency of nations at
war: the strength of their navies, the strength of their armies
and the condition of their coast defences. For the first time in
many years general attention of the people of the United States
was centered upon these conditions when the outbreak of
hostilities began to threaten. Inasmuch as it was an admitted fact
that most of the fighting would be done at sea, or at least that
the efficiency of our fleets would be the most important factor,
most of the attention was directed to a study of the navy.
The constructions of what we call the new navy of the United
States, "the white squadron," which has placed us sixth in the
rank of the naval powers of the world, instead of so far down that
we were scarcely to be counted at all, has all been done in less
than twelve years. It may be that to stand sixth in rank is not
yet high enough, but the progress of a single decade certainly is
remarkable.
After the Civil War, when hostilities on our own coast and
complications abroad seemed to be at an end, the care of the navy
was abandoned and ships were sold with scarcely a protest, almost
as entirely as had been done eighty years before, at the end of
the Revolution. There was even less reason for this policy,
because in 1785 the country was poor and needed the money the
ships brought, while in the twenty years following the Civil War
there was no such excuse of national poverty. By 1885 there was no
United States navy at all worthy the name, for the wooden vessels
on the list, with their obsolete guns, were of no value whatever
in the event of hostilities with a foreign power that had kept up
its equipment with rifled guns and ironclads.
The movement to repair the decay began when, in 1881, Secretary of
the Navy William H. Hunt appointed the first advisory board,
presided over by Rear-Admiral John Bodgers, "to determine the
requirements of a new navy." This board reported that the United
States should have twenty-one battleships, seventy unarmored
cruisers of various sizes and types, twenty torpedo boats, five
rams and five torpedo gunboats, all to be built of steel. The
report was received by Congress and the country with the attention
it merited, but to get the work started was another matter.
POLICY OF THE ECONOMISTS.
The economists had been praising the policy of idleness in naval
construction, claiming first that we were at peace and did not
need to spend money on expensive vessels and, next, that naval
construction was in an experimental stage and that we should let
the European nations go to the expense of the experiments, as they
were doing, and when some result had been reached, take advantage
of it, instead of wasting our own money in work that would have to
be thrown away in a few years.
When the country became convinced that a navy was needed, it was
found that we could not follow out that pleasant little theory.
Our naval authorities could not obtain the facts and the
experience they wanted from other nations, and our shipyards could
not build even one of the armored ships. We could not roll even
the thinnest of modern armor-plates, and could not make a gun that
was worth mounting on a modern vessel if we had it.
The shipyard of John Roach did the first work on the new navy, and
during Secretary Chandler's term of office built the Chicago, the
Boston, the Atlanta and the Dolphin. Instead of battleships, the
first of the fleet were third-rate cruisers. Armor-plate was
bought in a foreign market, and we actually went abroad for the
plans of one our largest cruisers--the Charleston.
In 1885 the navy department came under the administration of
Secretary William C. Whitney, and it was beginning with his years
of service that the greatest progress was made. While our
shipyards were learning to build ships, the gunmakers and the
makers of armor-plate were learning their craft too, so that
progress was along parallel lines. In 1886 the sum of $2,128,000
was appropriated for modern rifled guns. The first contract for
armor-plate was signed in 1887. Since that time the plants for
construction have been completed and armor-plate equal to the best
in the world turned out from them. Ten years of apprenticeship
have taught us how to build whatever we need to carry on naval
warfare.
TAKES THE RANK OF SIXTH.
By 1894 the United States had risen to the sixth among the naval
powers of the world, the first ten and their relative strength
expressed in percentage of that of Great Britain being as follows:
Great Britain 100 United States 17
France 68 Spain 11
Italy 48 China 6
Russia 38 Austria 5
Germany 21 Turkey 3
Since that time the relative position of the leaders has not
materially changed, although some estimates are to the effect that
Russia and Italy have changed places and that Spain has gained
slightly on the United States. Of the ones at the foot of the
procession all have dropped below the station assigned them, by
the advance of Japan, which has come from outside the file of the
first ten and is now eighth, ranking between Spain and China. The
estimates are based on a calculation of all the elements that
enter into the efficiency of the navies, such as tonnage, speed,
armor, caliber and range of armament, number of enlisted men and
their efficiency. Such calculations cannot be absolute, for they
cannot measure at all times the accuracy of the gunnery of a
certain vessel. The human equation enters so prominently into
warfare that mathematical calculations must be at all times
incomplete. Americans will be slow to believe, however, that they
are at any disadvantage in this detail, whatever their material
equipment may be.
The following table shows the strength of the navy of the United States.
In that part of the table marked "first rate" the four ships placed
first are first-class battle ships, the Brooklyn and New York are
armored cruisers, the Columbia, Olympia and Minneapolis protected
cruisers, the Texas a second-class battle ship and the Puritan a
double-turret monitor. Among the second-raters all but the Miantonomah,
Amphitrite, Monadnock and Terror (monitors) are protected cruisers. The
newly bought boats, New Orleans and Albany, belong in this class. The
third-raters are a heterogeneous lot, consisting of cruisers, gunboats,
old monitors and unprotected cruisers. Of the fourth raters, Vesuvius is
a dynamite ship, the Yankee and Michigan are cruisers, the Petrel,
Bancroft and Pinta are gunboats and the Fern is a transport. The
remaining classes of the table are homogeneous. The government has
recently purchased numerous tugs and yachts not accounted for in the
table:
FIRST RATE.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
Iowa 11,340 18 12,105 Steel
Indiana 10,288 16 9,738 Steel
Massachusetts 10,288 16 10,403 Steel
Oregon 10,288 16 11,111 Steel
Brooklyn 9,215 20 18,769 Steel
New York 8,200 18 17,401 Steel
Columbia 7,375 11 18,509 Steel
Minneapolis 7,375 11 20,862 Steel
Texas 6,315 8 8,610 Steel
Puritan 6,060 10 3,700 Iron
Olympia 5,870 14 17,313 Steel
SECOND RATE.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
Chicago 4,500 18 9,000 Steel
Baltimore 4,413 10 10,064 Steel
Philadelphia 4,324 12 8,815 Steel
Monterey 4,084 4 5,244 Steel
Newark 4,098 12 8,869 Steel
San Francisco 4,098 12 9,913 Steel
Charleston 3,730 8 6,666 Steel
Miantonomah 3,990 4 1,426 Iron
Amphitrite 3,990 6 1,600 Iron
Monadnock 3,990 6 3,000 Iron
Terror 3,990 4 1,600 Iron
Lancaster 3,250 12 1,000 Wood
Cincinnati 3,213 11 10,000 Steel
Raleigh 3,213 11 10,000 Steel
Atlanta 3,000 8 4,030 Steel
Boston 3,000 8 4,030 Steel
THIRD RATE.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
Hartford 2,790 13 2,000 Wood
Katahdin 2,155 4 5,068 Steel
Ajax 2,100 2 340 Iron
Canonicus 2,100 2 340 Iron
Mahopac 2,100 2 340 Iron
Manhattan 2,100 2 340 Iron
Wyandotte 2,100 2 340 Iron
Detroit 2,089 10 5,227 Steel
Montgomery 2,089 10 5,580 Steel
Marblehead 2,089 10 5,451 Steel
Marion 1,900 8 1,100 Wood
Mohican 1,900 10 1,100 Wood
Comanche 1,873 2 340 Iron
Catskill 1,875 2 340 Iron
Jason 1,875 2 340 Iron
Lehigh 1,875 2 340 Iron
Montauk 1,875 2 340 Iron
Nahant 1,875 2 340 Iron
Nantucket 1,875 2 340 Iron
Passaic 1,875 2 340 Iron
Bennington 1,710 6 3,436 Steel
Concord 1,710 6 3,405 Steel
Yorktown 1,710 6 3,392 Steel
Dolphin 1,486 2 2,253 Steel
Wilmington 1,392 8 1,894 Steel
Helena 1,392 8 1,988 Steel
Adams 1,375 6 800 Wood
Alliance 1,375 6 800 Wood
Essex 1,375 6 800 Wood
Enterprise 1,375 4 800 Wood
Nashville 1,371 8 2,536 Steel
Monocacy 1,370 6 850 Iron
Thetis 1,250 0 530 Wood
Castine 1,177 8 2,199 Steel
Machias 1,177 8 2,046 Steel
Alert 1,020 3 500 Iron
Ranger 1,020 6 500 Iron
Annapolis 1,000 6 1,227 Comp
Vicksburg 1,000 6 1,118 Comp
Wheeling 1,000 6 1,081 Comp
Marietta 1,000 6 1,054 Comp
Newport 1,000 6 1,008 Comp
FOURTH RATE.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
Vesuvius 929 3 3,795 Steel
Yantic 900 4 310 Wood
Petrel 892 4 1,095 Steel
Fern 840 0 0 Wood
Bancroft 839 4 1,213 Steel
Michigan 685 4 365 Iron
Pinta 550 2 310 Iron
TORPEDO BOATS.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
1-Gushing 105 3 1,720 Steel
2-Ericsson 120 3 1,800 Steel
3-Foote 142 3 2,000 Steel
4-Rodgers 142 3 2,000 Steel
5-Winslow 142 3 2,000 Steel
6-Porter 0 3 0 Steel
7-Du Pont 0 3 0 Steel
8-Rowan 182 3 3,200 Steel
9-Dahlgren 146 2 4,200 Steel
10-T. A. M. Craven 146 2 4,200 Steel
11-Farragut 273 2 5,600 Steel
12-Davis 132 3 1,750 Steel
13_Fox 132 3 1,750 Steel
14-Morris 103 3 1,750 Steel
15-Talbot 46 1/2 2 850 Steel
16-Gwin 46 1/2 2 850 Steel
17-Mackenzie 65 2 850 Steel
18-McKee 65 2 850 Steel
19-Stringham 340 2 7,200 Steel
20-Goldsborough 247 1/2 2 0 Steel
21-Bailey 235 2 5,600 Steel
Stiletto 31 2 359 Wood
TUGBOATS.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
Fortune 450 0 340 Iron
Iwana. 192 0 300 Steel
Leyden 450 0 340 Iron
Narkeeta 192 0 300 Steel
Nina 357 0 388 Iron
Rocket 187 0 147 Wood
Standish 450 1 340 Iron
Traffic 280 0 0 Wood
Triton 212 0 300 Steel
Waneta 192 0 300 Steel
Unadilla 345 0 500 Steel
Samoset 225 0 450 Steel
SAILING SHIPS.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
Monongahela 2,100 4 0 Wood
Constellation 1,186 8 0 Wood
Jamestown 1,150 0 0 Wood
Portsmouth 1,125 12 0 Wood
Saratoga 1,025 0 0 Wood
St. Mary's. 1,025 0 0 Wood
RECEIVING SHIPS.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
Franklin 5,170 4 1,050 Wood
Wabash 4,650 0 950 Wood
Vermont 4,150 0 0 Wood
Independence 3,270 .6 0 Wood
Richmond 2,700 .2 692 Wood
UNSERVICEABLE.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
New Hampshire 4,150 .6 0 Wood
Pensacola 3,000 0 680 Wood
Omaha. 2,400 0 953 Wood
Constitution 2,200 4 0 Wood
Iroquois 1,575 0 1,202 Wood
Nipsic 1,375 4 839 Wood
St. Louis 830 0 0 Wood
Dale. 675 0 0 Wood
Minnesota 4,700 9 1,000 Wood
UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower
Kearsarge 11,525 22 10,000 Steel
Kentucky 11,525 22 10,000 Steel
Illinois 11,525 18 10,000 Steel
Alabama 11,525 18 10,000 Steel
Wisconsin 11,525 18 10,000 Steel
Princeton 1,000 6 800 Comp
Plunger 168 2 1,200 Steel
Tug No. 6 225 0 450 Steel
Tug No. 7 225 0 450 Steel
Training ship. 1,175 6 0 Comp
SPAIN'S NAVY IS A WEAKER ONE.
Spain's navy is decidedly weak when compared with that of the
United States. A mere glance at the two tables will be sufficient
to show the difference. Spain's list of unarmored cruisers is
long, but four of our battle ships or swift, modern, armored
cruisers could blow the lot out of the water. In torpedo boats we
compare favorably with Spain. In one respect Spain is stronger,
that is in her six speedy torpedo boat destroyers. This table
accounts for every war ship Spain has, to say nothing of the few
antique merchantmen of the Spanish liner company which can be
turned into cruisers.
FIRST-CLASS BATTLE SHIPS.
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Pelayo 9,900 22 17.0 Steel
Vitoria (inefficient)7,250 0 11.0 Iron
OLD BATTLE SHIPS.
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Numancia 7,250 10 11.0 Iron
FIRST-CLASS ARMORED CRUISERS.
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Carlos V 9,235 28 20.0 Steel
Cisneros 7,000 24 20.0 Steel
Cataluna 7,000 24 20.0 Steel
Princess Asturias 7,000 24 20.0 Steel
Almirante Oquendo 7,000 30 20.0 Steel
Maria Teresa 7,000 30 20.0 Steel
Vizcaya 7,000 30 20.0 Steel
Cristobal Colon 6,840 40 20.0 Steel
SECOND-CLASS ARMORED CRUISERS.
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Alfonso XII 5,000 19 20.0 Steel
Lepanto 4,826 25 20.0 Steel
UNARMORED CRUISERS.
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Reina Christina 3,520 21 17.5 Steel
Aragon 3,342 24 17.5 Steel
Cartilla 3,342 22 17.5 Steel
Navarra 3,342 16 17.5 Steel
Alfonso XII 3,090 23 17.5 Steel
Reina Mercedes 3,090 21 17.5 Steel
Velasco 1,152 7 14.3 Steel
C. de Venadito 1,130 13 14.0 Steel
Ulloa 1,130 12 14.0 Steel
Austria 1,130 12 14.0 Steel
Isabel 1,130 15 14.0 Steel
Isabel II 1,130 16 14.0 Steel
Isla de Cuba 1,030 12 16.0 Steel
Isla de Luzon 1,030 12 16.0 Steel
Ensenada 1,030 13 15.0 Steel
Quiros 315 0 0 Iron
Villabolas 315 0 0 Iron
---- 935 5 0 Wood
TORPEDO BOATS. [Footnote: Armed with two and four torpedo tubes,
six quick fire and two machine guns.]
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Alvaro de Bezan 830 0 20.0 Steel
Maria Molina 830 0 20.0 Steel
Destructor 458 0 20.0 Steel
Filipinas 750 0 20.0 Steel
Galicia 571 0 20.0 Steel
Marques Vitoria 830 0 20.0 Steel
Marques Molina 571 0 20.0 Steel
Pinzon 571 0 20.0 Steel
Nueva Espana 630 0 20.0 Steel
Rapido 570 0 20.0 Steel
Temerario 590 0 20.0 Steel
Yanez Pinzon 571 0 20.0 Steel
GUNBOATS. [Footnote: There are eighteen others of smaller size,
which with the above were built for service in Cuban waters,
and are now there.]
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Hernon Cortes 300 1 12.0 Steel
Pizarro 300 2 12.0 Steel
Nunez Balboa 300 1 12.5 Steel
Diego Velasquez 200 3 12.0 Steel
Ponce de Leon 200 3 12.0 Steel
Alvarado 100 2 12.0 Steel
Sandoval 100 2 12.0 Steel
TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYERS.
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Audaz 400 6 30.0 Steel
Furor 380 6 28.0 Steel
Terror 380 6 28.0 Steel
Osada 380 6 28.0 Steel
Pluton 380 6 28.0 Steel
Prosperina 380 6 28.0 Steel
SMALL TORPEDO BOATS.
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Ariete 0 0 26.1 Steel
Rayo 0 0 25.5 Steel
Azor 0 0 24.0 Steel
Halcon 0 0 24.0 Steel
Habana 0 0 21.3 Steel
Barcelo 0 0 19.5 Steel
Orion 0 0 21.5 Steel
Retamosa 0 0 20.5 Steel
Ordonez 0 0 20.1 Steel
Ejercito 0 0 19.1 Steel
Pollux 0 0 19.5 Steel
Castor 0 0 19.0 Steel
Aire 0 0 8.0 Steel
GUN VESSELS (SO-CALLED).
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
General Concha 520 0 0 Steel
Elcano 524 0 0 Steel
General Lego 524 0 0 Steel
Magellanes 524 0 0 Steel
BUILDING.
(Battle ship.)
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
---- 10,000 0 0 Steel
(Armored cruisers.)
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
---- 10,500 0 0 Steel
Pedro d'Aragon 6,840 0 0 Steel
(Protected cruisers.)
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Reina Regente 5,372 0 0 Steel
Rio de la Plata 1,775 0 0 Steel
(Torpedo boats.)
Five of Ariete type and one of 750 tons.
LINERS FOR CONVERSION.
NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull.
Batteries. knots/hour.
Magellanes 6,932 0 17.0 Steel
Buenos Aires 5,195 0 14.0 Steel
Montevideo 5,096 0 14.5 Steel
Alfonso XII 5,063 0 15.0 Steel
Leon XIII 4,687 0 15.0 Steel
Satrustegui 4,638 0 15.0 Steel
Alfonso XIII 4,381 0 16.0 Steel
Maria Cristina 4,381 0 16.0 Steel
Luzon 4,252 0 13.0 Steel
Mindanao 4,195 0 13.5 Steel
Isla de Panay 3,636 0 13.5 Steel
Cataluna 3,488 0 14.0 Steel
City of Cadiz 3,084 0 13.5 Steel
INTEREST IN THE WORKING OF MODERN WAR SHIPS.
The puzzle that was troubling every naval authority as well as
every statesman in the civilized world, at the outbreak of the war
between the United States and Spain, was what would be the results
of a conflict at sea between the floating fortresses which now
serve as battle-ships. Since navies reached their modern form
there had been no war in which the test of the battle-ship was
complete. Lessons might be learned and opinions formed and
prophesies made from the action of battle-ships in the war between
China and Japan, the war between Chili and Peru, and from the
disasters which had overtaken the Maine in the harbor of Havana
and the Victoria in her collision with the Camperdown, as well as
the wreck of the Reina Regente and others. But in all these,
combine the information as one might, there was insufficient
testimony to prove what would happen if two powers of nearly equal
strength were to meet for a fight to a finish.
Whatever was uncertain, it was known at least that there would be no
more sea fights like those of the last century and the first half of
this, when three-deck frigates and seventy-four-gun men-of-war were
lashed together, while their crews fought with small arms and cutlasses
for hours. Those were the days when "hearts of oak" and "the wooden
walls of England" made what romance there was in naval warfare, and the
ships of the young United States won respect on every sea. In the fights
of those days the vessels would float till they were shot to pieces, and
with the stimulus of close fighting the men were ready to brave any odds
in boarding an enemy's craft. It was well understood that the changed
conditions would make very different battles between the fighting
machines of to-day.
That a naval battle between modern fleets, armed with modern guns,
would be a terribly destructive one both to the ships and to the
lives of those who manned them, was conceded by all naval
authorities. The destructiveness would come not only from the
tremendous power and effectiveness of the guns, but also from the
fact that the shell had replaced the solid shot in all calibers
down to the one-pounder, so that to the penetrating effect of the
projectile was added its explosive power and the scattering of its
fragments in a destructive and death-dealing circle many feet in
diameter.
MODERN GUNS AND PROJECTILES.
The modern armor-piercing shell, made of hardened steel, and with
its conical point carefully fashioned for the greatest penetrating
power, has all the armor-piercing effectiveness of a solid shot of
the same shape, while its explosiveness makes it infinitely more
destructive. For the modern shell does not explode when it first
strikes the side or armor of an enemy's ship, but after it has
pierced the side or armor and has exhausted its penetrative
effect. The percussion fuse is in the base of the shell, and is
exploded by a plunger driven against it by the force of the impact
of the shell on striking. The time between the impact of the shell
and its explosion is sufficient for it to have done its full
penetrative work.
It first must be understood that all modern guns on ships-of-war are
breech-loading and rifled, and that the smooth bore exists only as a
relic, or to be brought out in an emergency for coast defense, when
modern guns are not available. From the thirteen-inch down to the
four-inch, the guns are designated by their caliber, the diameter of
their bore, and the shot they throw, while from that to the one-pounder
they take their name from the weight of the shot. Everything below the
one-pounder is in the machine-gun class.
The base of rapid-fire work is the bringing together in one
cartridge of the primer, powder, and shell. When the limit of
weight of cartridge, easily handled by one man, is reached, the
limit of rapid-fire action is also reached; and, although the
quick-moving breech mechanisms have been applied abroad to guns of
as large as eight-inch caliber, such guns would rank as quick,
rather than rapid firing, and would require powder and shot to be
loaded separately.
On the modern battleships the function of the great guns is the
penetration of the enemy's armor, either at the waterline belt or on the
turrets and gun positions, while that of the rapid-firers is the
destruction of the unarmored parts or the disabling of the guns not
armor protected. The six, three, and one-pounders direct their rain of
shots at the turret portholes, gun shields, or unprotected parts of the
ship, having also an eye to torpedo-boats, while from the fighting tops,
the Gatlings rain a thousand shots a minute on any of the crew in
exposed positions. With such a storm of large and small projectiles it
would seem to be rather a question of who would be left alive rather
than who would be killed.
The guns in use in the United States navy are the 13-inch, 12-inch,
10-inch, 8-inch, 6-inch, 5-inch, 4-inch, 6-pounders, 3-pounders,
1-pounder, Hotchkiss 37 mm. revolver cannon, and the machine guns. In
the following table is given the length and weight of these guns, as
well as of the shell they carry:
Length Powder weight
of gun, charge, of shell,
GUNS. feet. pounds. pounds.
One-pounder 5.1 .3 1
Three-pounder 7.3 1.7 3
Six-pounder 8.9 3.0 6
Fourteen-pounder 11.6 8.0 14
Four-inch 13.7 14.0 33
Five-inch 17.4 30.0 50
Six-inch 21.3 50.0 100
Eight-inch 28.7 115.0 250
Ten-inch 31.2 240.0 500
Twelve-inch 36.8 425.0 850
Thirteen-inch 40.0 550.0 1,100
HOW THE BIG GUNS ARE USED.
The 14-pounder, although not included in the navy armament, is
given for the purpose of comparison, since it is with guns of this
caliber that some of the Spanish torpedo-boat destroyers are
armed. The largest gun as yet mounted on our largest torpedo-boats
is the 6-pounder, while a single 1-pounder is the gun armament of
the ordinary torpedo-boat. The Hotchkiss revolver cannon is not
given in the table because its caliber, etc., is the same as that
of the 1-pounder, and, in fact, the latter has superseded it in
the latest armaments, so that it is now found only on the older
ships of the modern fleet. The machine guns are not given because
their effective work is practically the same. The Gatling is of
45-caliber, and uses the government ammunition for the Springfield
rifle.
A look over the table shows some general principles in the matter
of powder and shell used. The powder charge is about half the
weight of the shell, while the length of the shell is a little
over three times its diameter.
To attain its extreme range a gun must be given an elevation of about
fifteen degrees. The greatest elevation given any of the guns on
shipboard is about six degrees. This limit is made by two factors--the
size of the portholes or opening in the turrets for the larger guns, and
the danger of driving the gun backward and downward through the deck by
any greater elevation. The practical range of the great guns of a ship,
the ten, twelve, and thirteen-inch, is not, therefore, believed to be
over five or six miles, and even at that range the chances of hitting a
given object would be very small. A city could, of course, be bombarded
with, effect at such a range, since a shell would do tremendous damage
wherever it might strike, but a city to which a ship could approach no
nearer than say seven miles would be safe from bombardment.
The muzzle velocities given the shells from the guns of the navy are
something tremendous, while the muzzle energy is simply appalling. The
shell from the thirteen-inch gun leaves the muzzle at a velocity of
2,100 feet a second, and with an energy of 33,627-foot tons, or the
power required to lift one ton one foot. From this velocity the range is
to 1,800 feet a second in the one-pounder, although from the
three-pounder at 2,050 feet it averages about the same as the
thirteen-inch. The five-inch rapid-fire gun has the greatest muzzle
velocity at 2,250 feet. The muzzle energy is, of course, small in the
smaller guns, being only twenty-five-foot tons in the one-pounder and
500 tons in the fourteen-pounder.
The power of penetration has already been given in a general way,
but the power of penetration of steel is much greater. At its
muzzle velocity the thirteen-inch shell will penetrate 26.66
inches of steel, the twelve-inch, 24.16 inches; the ten-inch, 20
inches, and the five-inch, 9 inches. The one-pound shell bursts in
piercing one-fourth and nine-sixteenths-inch plates, scattering
its fragments behind the target.
It may be interesting to note that the cost of one discharge of a
thirteen-inch gun is $800, and that when a battleship like the
Massachusetts lets loose her entire battery, both main and
secondary, the cost of a single discharge is $6,000.