Show 0 00 0 0 3 4 ra r A 0 0 awil ada 46 W 4 4 4 v e 4 ima he MA A r ai pa V ac Q w A t A I 1 I 1 t N E AA 5 ohr aff 0 OR ONA a e y by all pos 77 e inq sible precautions for secre cy the united states navy is now engaged in the con st ruction of its first 14 inch gun thus gaining 1 IV a lead foreign powers nd in a measure 91 forestalling the united states army which has parallel ambitions for heavier ordnance the primary object in the construction of this largest and most powerful of naval rifles is of course experimental but if there Is a favorable outcome of the tests which the new gun Is to undergo at the indian head proving grounds there Is ro I 1 fr ng J A k A KA 5 1 I 1 WR A Y 7 4 ak iff t TZ W 4 47 A A ku 5 1 F fa 16 34 v ecea 4 fg fill J V AV 1 I 4 le INN 4 04 7 P 4 4 VW 11 i A 1 I 1 4 fa A AA ro na be b e 6 s va V ak VZ 1717 OW C 4 A uncle danly W factory f ol 01 4 enery likelihood that the 14 inch gun nw will vill make its appearance in the equip ment of the heaviest of our new battleships indeed it is stated that the board of naval construction has al ready prepared plans for tva in 6 different types of battleships each design call ing for a main battery of eight 14 inch guns in the construction of this initial 14 inch gun for the navy there has been as is customary with all our na val ord ordnance e operation cooperation between a private manufactory mapu factory and the govern ment ordnance the naval gun factory at washington does not include a foundry although congress has been urged several times in rec ears to provide this adjunct so that heavy ord v pw nance could be constructed complete under government auspices the pres f P v ent limitations make it necessary to ae api il f procure gun castings from private firms and finish them at the navy de apartment part ment shops this procedure is 19 be t ing followed in the case of the 14 inch gun the contract for the assembled forgings ings was awarded to the midvale steel company early in the present A BIG FOR 7 H year the firm being allowed 42 weeks to complete the work and make delivery at washington where will be conducted the dell ate operations of rifling and chambering the tun etc IN in preparation for handling the 14 inch gun some ome important changes have been made in be the arrangement and equipment of the great naval gun factory on the banks of the potomac one of the most important institutions of the kind in the world these emergency preparations as they may possibly be termed are but the forerunners of yet more imbor tant permanent revision at the big factory it is the desire of the bureau of ordnance of the navy to enlarge the gun factory buildings and increase the size and power of the ma chinery equipment to a point where it will be possible to handle all classes of breech loading rifles up to 17 inch of course there are no 17 inch guns in existence now or in immediate contemplation but the navy desires to be pre pared for all eventualities As in a measure indicating the trend of development it may be recalled that the united states war depart T ment a few years ago constructed and has mounted on romer shoal in new york harbor a 16 inch gun to be sure there were rumors at the time the 16 inch gun was tested at sandy hook that the showing made was bc arcely as gratifying as the officials had an but evidently the naval experts are confident that the deficiencies it if any exist will be remedied no other interpretation can be put on their ambition to be in a position to manufacture 16 inch or even heavier guns just here it may be explained that the energy anich has been displayed in pushing toward the new naval gun Is in some neasure attributable to that perpetual ginev table rivalry between the two arms of the service jervice for superiority in the range and power f guns the war department has five 14 inch uns under construction and two of them have iad the construction work expedited in every Qs possible ible manner but it would not be strange I 1 hp w ravy was enabled to begin its 14 inch d dr gun tests at indian head ere the army Is ready to try out the first of its new heavy hitters at sandy hook N J for the purpose of comparative tests the war department is constructing one of the five 14 inch guns abbi abbie e mentioned as a wire wound piece but the other four are built up in ac corrance cor dance with the usual plan of concentric cylinders assembled by shrinkage this Is the practice likewise in the case of the new naval gun the army Is already firmly committed to the 14 inch gun and congress has authorized the construction of four such weapons in add addi tion to the five already ment lored fored but work on them has not been commenced it is the claim of brig gen william crozier the very progressive chief of ordnance of the united states army that the 14 inch gun Is vastly superior to the 12 inch gun which it Is displacing tor for the defense of 0 wide channels and harbors where the highest power Is re quiren he claims that the army s new 14 inch guns will be capable of firing a greater number of rounds than the 12 inch guns inas much as the same striking force can be im parted to the projectile with less velocity rear admiral N E mason chief of ordnance of the navy who has personal supervision over the construction of the first 14 inch gun tor for the navy has not yet come out 0 o fiedle in favor of the heavier ordnance as has his confrere of the army but admiral mason masons s verdict after the tests will be awaited with great interest for there Is no officer in the bernice more thoroughly conversant with the ordnance requirements of the navy during the greater portio of his naval ca reer admiral mason has specialized in ord nance work A native of pennsylvania and a member of the graduating class of 1869 at the united states naval academy the young am cei cel fol following loNing a varied experience in sea ser vice in all parts of the world was in 1884 de tailed for ordnance work at the navy yard at washington after two years of this service he was given a post in the bureau of ordnance A i 4 AA e im wf A afy oar are IYA VAL Y e where he remained for five live years after an interval of sea service he came back to the bu reau and from 1893 to 1896 was inspector of ordnance in charge of the naval proving grounds during the spanish american war the present head of the ordnance bureau had an to study the other side of ordnance work as an officer of the cruiser brooklyn after the war he helas was successively inspector of ordnance at the I 1 eague island navy yard and at the naval torpedo station and latterly was vms promoted to the highest post in the naval ord nance organization another officer of exceptional ability who is playing an influential part in the creation of the navy s new weapon is rear admiral E N C leutze superintendent of the naval gun factory admiral leutze is a native of prussia and graduated from the naval acad emy in early in his career he was in charge of surveying parties that went over the panama and nicaragua routes during the spanish american war in command of the monterey he was ordered to the relief of ad miral dewey in manila bay was present at the taking of the city of manila and took part in several engagements with insurrectionists it tell fell to his lot to re establish reestablish the cavite navy yard an experience which aided to afy him tor for his present responsible position which he has held for upward of nine years in the eyes of the average layman the navy navys s tentative adoption of the 14 inch gun appears somewhat revolutionary in view of the fact that it was but a few years ago that the naval authorities seemingly proceeded in the opposite direction by declaring in favor of the 12 inch gun in preference to a 13 inch gun with which our earliest battleships were equipped any inconsistency of policy is how ever apparent rather than real and the new 14 inch gun will be much more effective in hit ting power than either the 12 or 13 inch type the new gun with a length of feet will weigh in excess of 63 tons that is 10 tons more than the 12 inch guns built for the new battleships north dakota and delaware and six tons more than the yet more powerful 12 inch guns designed for the new battleships arkansas and wyoma g the 14 inch gun which will hurl a 1400 1 pound projectile at a speed of 2 feet per second will have an ex range of more than 25 innes but what might be termed its effective range that is the range at which it would engage the enemy tn lu battle conditions Is five miles the most spectacular operation in the construction of this new peacemaker peace maker as in the manufacture of all heavy ordnance Is the jacketing of the gun the method of procedure is to first bore the tube of the gun and finish its outer surface then finish the jacket inside and finally shrink the jacket on the tube As a preliminary to the delicate operation the jacket Is heated to a temperature of de grees in a cylindrical furnace occupy ing a pit 40 feet deep air blown through a furnace where white heat is maintained is forced through and around the jacket for 29 hours fhe I 1 burning blasts of oil make aj roaring I 1 that completely drowns voices and therefore the entire operation Is di acted by signals and without a word ailing spoken after the ponderous jacket has re calved its baptism of fire the mass of glowing metal Is lifted from the heat ing furnace by means of a crane which despite its tremendous power is capable of such delicacy of opera tion that it centers the jacket within one thirty second of an inch over the tube and lowers it over the tube at the rate of a foot per minute after the jacket has cooled and shrunk on the tube its outer surface Is finished on one of the largest lathes ever built late later the breech mechanism la Is attached aiom a technical standpoint the lathe work and un kin dred operations may be considered the most important operations in connection with the construction of the 14 inch gun to Indi indicate pate the score scope of this work ork it may be cited that one of the cutting tools in going from end to end of a jacket hoop travels 12 miles and ires GG 66 hours tor for the OPe operation Tation an ex tension must needs be provided to enable the largest lathe at the naval gun factory to ac the 14 inch gun b it with such ex tension provided there are several lathes at the big plant any of which are capable of handling this new size weapon oil extreme accuracy in fashioning the tube ot the 14 inch gun is essential since the general effle efficiency lency of the gun is dependent upon the uniform d ameter of this foundation tube upon which in due course the layers of hoops and bands are shrunk the tube contains first the entire bore in which the big projectile will travel a distance of inches ere it leaves the muzzle of the gun this bore should not be more than two thousandths one of an inch out of a straight line it if it Is to meet require irenta and it Is fitted with 62 52 rifling grooves which decrease in width as they approach the muzzle and the purpose of which is to im part to the projectile a rotary motion that will prevent the missile from turning length wise in flight and thus losing its itel force sec see andly the tube contains the powder chamber in the new 14 inch gun the capacity of the chamber Is 15 cubic inches being designed to accommodate the pounds of smokeless powder which will constitute the full service charge of the new weapon interesting as Is the construction of the new gun it will be equaled by the importance of the tests of the monster shooting iron at the indian head proving grounds it has been figured that a projectile fired with a tull full charge will have a penetrative power at the muzzle of more than 22 inches of the latest krupp steel armor at 3 yards range the projectile could pierce armor Is 18 inches in thickness and at yards the penetration would eni embrace brace everything up to krupp armor 12 inches in thickness at 9 yards an extreme battle range the penetration will be in erces of 11 inches which Is the thick thickness nesa of the heaviest armor on n modern a ft |