AMERICA'S COAST DEFENCE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1629, 21 December 1912, Page 23

AMERICA'S COAST DEFENCE.

NEW 14-INCH. GUN. ■ The American Ordnance Department' ' officially tested the 14-inch gun; which: it-' ! isproposed to mount for purposes of coast . defence,, and to safeguard' the Panama Canal;'' This type of gun. has been somewhat of a problem over here, writes the New York correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph," but the experiments made at the Sandy Hook proving-grounds apparently satisfied all the critics present. According to officers who attended; the 14-inch variety of gun places the 12-inch in the shade, and the latter must now go; According to General Crozier, head of tho War College, who gave a little lecture to the officers at the commencement and at the end of the tests, the new pin weighs, apart from the carriage,. • fifty tons, .'and ."will furnish one of tho most valuablo arguments for peace in Uncle Sam's armoury." ; 'The: 12-inch weapon is good for only seventy. shots, whereas the new gun will (stand nearly 250 before it is borne to the : "junk-pile." Tho projectile, which weighs 16601b.' and",is 65in. long, is 60 per : cent. • greater than that of the 12-inch "filling,": and the bigger weapon has 30 per cent, longer range. Tho only disadvantage is that the. trajectory is more curved, and : that tho projectile ; has elightly less velocity.. The carriage complete weighs 256 tons. It is of a new 6tyle too, and was just as much under test as the gun itself, and stood the trial equally well.'': The :weight of all parts of the gun that move is 202 tons, and the weight of all recoiling parts is IGO tons. After tho projectile has been rammed home, four bags of smokeless powder, weighing each 851b., are tucked snugly at the back of it, the-. breech is fastened, and then woe betide anything that gctjs in the way. Each shot that is fired costs the United States ;Gl5O.- The gun itself represents an outlay of ,£22,000. General Crozier said each projectile, would penetrate any armour yet manufactured up (;o a distanoe of 12,000 yards, and that no i battleship afloat could stand up after a 1 hit 1 in a vital part, even at; a .range of i seven miles. Such, at' least;. is the theory. In tho rapidity test six 6hota , 'were fired'in 3min. 45sec M and the crew of sixteen men did not seem', by any mean 3 overtaxed.