Show Powerful Guns Shoot 25 Miles I New U. U S. S Artillery for Panama Canal Defense Washington A A A battery of 14 Inch railway guns capable of ot scorIng scoring scoring ing hits on moving vessels 25 miles away and said to be the most powerful powerful powerful pow pow- erful artillery yet developed for tor American armed forces Is now an effective effective effective ef ef- ef- ef part of the defense of the Panama canal supplementing the fixed Inch IC guns there The guns are so 50 mounted they may be hauled from one side of the isthmus to the other set up and made r ready dy for firing within six sis hours Heretofore the Inch 14 guns at the canal have not been able Precision of Rifle Outranging the tho longest Inch 10 battleship guns In the world by sIx sir miles the new railway gun fires with the precision of a rifle In recent practice out of ot 11 shots fired the battery scored a hit on the forward turret of ot a moving target the size I of ot the battleship California 23 miles away A development t of the 1920 army gun and the old navy Inch 14 railway railway railway rail rail- raili i way gun that was used In France I during the World war the new piece I of ot artillery weighs pounds I with carriage has a maximum range of yards ards with an Initial velocity velocity velocity ve ve- of feet a second and a n maximum elevation of 50 degrees as compared with about 27 degrees In the old gun The Tho new gun traverses without moving Its carriage whereas the old pieces had to be mou mounted ted on a curved track and swung around to change direction Each Shot Costs Using a projectile weighing 1 1200 00 pounds It 11 costs every time one of these giants Is fired Built in the carriage Is a power plant consisting of ot a horse power engine engine engino en en- gine gino directly coupled to a kilo 50 watt generator which watch furnishes power for motors that raise and lower the mount operate power and shot cranes elevate and depress the depress the gun turn the mount around on Its base and furnish air for closing the breech and for blowing out bases after firing Because of ot Its Its' heavy weight In traveling the gun and locomotive must be separated by three to eight gondola cars to prevent the two heaviest weights crossing a bridge at the same time |