Mam moth Guns.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12170, 20 January 1903, Page 7

Mam moth Guns.

.AMERICAN COAST DEFENCE. " United Press Asspc'l^tSbn.— -By' Elec-: „trjc Tele^raw.-^Cbpyright'. v, 'Received January 5 25, 9t9 a.ih.- ' New York^Ja"nuar3 r 19! . -An^erica. is building lorty- four . new coast> defence guns... V The projectiles for those weapons , weigh 2400 pounds. They use smokcles^,,powder, "the ctiaxge weighing 14 640 ppu^ds, givihe a' "'velocity "of" 2300 fret and^p, .pressure of 38,000 '' poiinds to the"squa?r>?; j«cfc. " , , '"' ft ""'■"' ; ' *"• '\ The guns ''Kavc'a 1 Ttfhge of twenty mile^iand are effective at ,s miles.|tW 1 6-incii" American > ' coast -defence guns" have been snccfessfully. • -tested: at Sandy Hook. -„-,./'

These guns are ' on: the same principle as one which"i San'dy-'.Book „ receritly received from Ar- • settal. According- •to , the New York "Tribune," the* weapon .c mil. fire * a shqt the entire ,lenglih-,oi Manhattan Islaridj -and'Jfave-tlie-effect of , asmall cyclone when it strikes. The great 16-inch gun, manufactured at the ariiiy gun ;v -fao!6ry,- at the 'Watorvliet Arsenal., which .'ha? attracted the attention of Iho - / world .in the years taken, "up in its'construction ?tl is completed, and orders , \r9re recently re-,' ceived by tho commandant- at Wator-, vliet. Colonel parley, to begin, prepa-; rations for' the sWnmenf of " the gun' down the Hiidson Biyer by, barge.' to, Sandy Hook.' Th? g«n »<; 50 f«^et l«Snjr. and^ weighs ' 120 tons. It" is ' heavier tHah ih6~ heaviest iScomo'tive," art'd : iV stood onvits, br/jeclij 111 a thr.ee-.storey ■ and basement 'house ' endugt' of ' ' the barrel would prQtrude above Hhe roof to..Jornx.-a big, .chininev. ;Whfen >;f lying flat"dri*"tlie' I gr'6 : nntt two I "men 1 - 1 of ordinai-%'- heieht starfeJ«ijf J M on oppositp sides" could V 6hly. ..sfce the tops.\of each. othcr%^*hat^ Its bore is large enQ^gh." to aqcommodafe oT full gjown majj.'-fy'^ -j ' '; f \ v*** ■^^Be^pSrojectUe {his ihimensei;gun will be sft 4in long, .if stood on end. and ''wiH weigh. 2370Tb. It will require 576^" of smokoless powder to propel it,' J -and rII76R>r II76R> of the old-fashioned _" black powder. It has been, calculated by expert artillerists -that, if iie gun were mounted . at Sandy i^ook * and fired, toward Manhattan the shot

would carry as far north as Central ' Park,.r or could be dropped in. • any part, of Brooklyn. If mounted at tho Battery it coiild send a shot as far . north* as Hastings, as far as T^ci'th Amboy on the south, to Har^o'stead on'tlie east, and Chatham, 2fi7jl, en the west. This projectile could .penetrate 4234 1 inches of steel at the muzzle^ aild nothing thus Unjwii in j the line of defensive armour could resist It. In, spite of its enormous^ >a»lk and powei" this giant, piece/of 'nic Sha- j ism' "is!, as.-"ea*sily" operated -as the Bglrtest fieldpiecei The breech block weighs a t6n,'but iihe strength- of -A, *childis all .siifficient to operate : . th(i. machinery which »opens it and swings it clear of the gun. Three separate movements are reqxtirecl fo, opfth" the breech.; but they are all controlled by a set of worm gearing that Is' simplicity itself in operation, and . oisly a few turns of a' crank are- requited.