WHAT A NAVAL BATTLE COSTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2319, 11 August 1898, Page 63

WHAT A NAVAL BATTLE COSTS.

BIG GUNS AND TORPEDO BOATS.

When the last command "Action!" is given on board of a ship of war tho magazines are opened, and cartridges, shells, and projectiles of every description are handed up with lightning like rapidity. The final move is the battle itself. Sixteen men are required to man a big gun, and the target is always tho water-line of the enemy's ship. If the ironclad be in motion, an officer with an instrument called a range-finder calls out the distance of the enemy, and as each new distance is announced the guns are adjusted to that range. The awful effect of the projectiles hurled from a battleship cannot, and never will be, realised by those who have not been engaged in warfare. The missile fired from a sin gun weighs 601b, and 321b of powder are required to despatch it to its destination. It -vi!l plough through 9in of btcel at close ran ,1 , iiid <>n leaving the muzzle has a \elui U\ ut c/.'UOft per second. ' ' 'Or, Mm swallows up at one gulp a ■ .'•'; ' '.' 'ib of powder, and will throw a vi / iiH v Mjhing a quarter of a lon with - ii I>ji. >; („ uower as to penetrate 20in pi

steel. Its force, if applied in another direction, would raise 15,200 tons a foot high in one second. The smallest weapons used in a man-o'-war are the new Lee-Metford rifles. At a short distance they are capable of firing a stoel bullet l^in in length through !?iffc of solid oak. At a long range they will go right through a human bone without breaking it. _ It is small wonder that Governments hesitate to break the peace. It is calculated that a 4-5 minutes' engagement between two modern battleships of the first class would involve an expenditure — exclusive of damage and loss of life— of at least £250,000, tho value of tho shells and powder apent alone mount£3o,ooo. One of the targe American battleships which, at tho time of writing, is figuring prominently in tho war with Spain, could easily fire 88,0001b weight of projectiles in thivo quarters of an hour. — Cassell'ti Saturday Journal.