THE BIGGEST GUN IN THE WORLD.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 156, 17 March 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE BIGGEST GUN IN THE WORLD.

Tho biggest gun in the world has just arrived in New York harbour. It is being nursed and petted and encouraged and tried out to se,e if there is anything wrong .with it and to make sure that it will do all that it is expected to. This is the first of the giant coast-defence guns which will eventually bo scattered around the harbour defences of our big coast cities and the Panama Canal.

It is the biggest gun ever constructed. Some of the great German cannon arc of slightly larger calibre, but they are mortars, a different kind of weapon, and do not weigh near'y so much.

There are to be many of these huge guns (says the New York "American"), according to th.e War Department's present plans. Seven of them are to be mounted in the forts that guard the entrances of the Panama Canal. Just how many will be provided for the coast defences of the United States proper is as yet a Government secret;, but an official board quite a while ago reached the conclus ion that 18 should be mounted vor the protection of New York City. ASo ;t recommended that ten should 'tie emplaced at San Franscisco, eighi at Boston, and four at Hampton Roads, to defend the entrance of Chesapeake Bay.

It is now fully realisedthat th,e 12inch guns which furnish the major armament of our sea-coast fortresses arc not powerful enough. A battle-cruiser of the Qii/?en Elizabeth type could take up a. position beyond reach of their projectiles and. with her rifles of superior rang.\ destroy a large part of New York.

Evidently, tlien, our forts must have bigger guns. The new ones (of which the giant just arrived at Sandy Hook is a type) will be of 16in. calibre, and will throw an explosive projectile o'glit miles farther.

against a hostile fteet especially in view of the

fact that, as reckoned by experts,

An idea of the enormous size and effectiveness of this new gun js best conveyed by comparing it, point for point, with the 12in. weapon. The 12in. gun is 40ft. long The length of the 16in. breech-loading rifle is 9 inches short of 50ft.

The 12in. gun weighs o" tons. The weight of the 16in. monster is 130

tons —more than twicv as gre:it,

The 12in. gun throws a 10001b shell 13 miles. The projectile discharged by the lGin. gun weighs 24001b., and is thrown 21 miles.

The firing charge of the 12:n. gun is

2501b. of smokeless powder. For the 16in.

pun it 1S 066#-

The 12in. gun throws a IOOOHi. shell 13 miles. The projectile discharged hy tho l(i:n. gun weighs 240011)., and is thrown 21 mi'.'.M.

Tho firing charge of the 12in. gun is 52011). of i-mokeless powder. For tho 16in. gun it is 6G6ilb.

The shell of the 12in. gun carries an exploding charge of 6011). of high o.y plosiv.o. That of tho ICin. gun carries 12011).

It may he added that the projectile discharged by the l(3in. rille, weighing more than half a ton, is nearly as ta 1 ! as a man —when stood on end —or, to speak with exactness, oft. 4in. high. At a distance of three miles it will strike with an energy of 90,000 foottons—enough, as it is reckoied, to smash a battleship at onp blow. The monster gun hero described was built by the " War department at Watervliet. in order thut it might receive some minor alterations and improvements. particlaurly in respect f) tho firing mechanism. This being accomplished, the gun was sent to AYatertown (near Boston), where the Government maintains what it calls a ''carriage factory"—meaning by that term ,-in establishment for making gun carriages. There it was pi.u eci upon the carriage which had been nrw'y made for it, and subjected to 'i ' shop test, to make sure that ,U'd carriage would work tog/'ther pnijvt.y, and fir. i i.v tn. 1 carriage and gun we;o sh.;:'od to Sandy Hook.

A train of speci.ulv con>tri'.< iec. ha•. cars was required for thejr transport \- tion; ami orders wire i'-sned b\ lb" railroad officials to have a'l lights in the Hoosic Tunnel while the war-freigut was p;»«vn; il'i oii<:h lest the presence of such great masses of steel cause a i-bort e'reut and set fire to the train.

On reaching Sandy Hook tlie gun was placed on its carriage, with tlv help of powerful machinery reidy at hand, and thus made ready for the "firing test. " It must be five!] several times to be pure that nothing i< wrong with it. and then no t'ine wi'l be lost in forward ng the giant weapon to the 1 -t-lnii l -;.

Inasmuch a- fiftv shots will wear i'

eim out. through destrnct on of it rifling by the enormous e uvdor 11", s sere, the test firing will be careful!. <■; ononr- • '.

From the wharf at Sandv Mock ■ l,r * null lllld earr age wil' be t r "i-lerre l bv a wreck'ilg derrick to lis'litel's. which will eonv.M- them to the Brooklvi N'aw Yard, where hill'" cranes , 1. tiiem Uii and olaee t'o'lll '"1 I !, e (1 f • frei"bt sf«■•!inslli»). Lashed

Fast to her deck. as a precaution again 4 damage ill a pos-ible storm.

For United States Coast Defence.

they will make the voyage to the Atlantic terminus of the Panama luulroad, at Colon. The railroad will carry thom on flat cars across the Isthmus, and the gun will he mounted .n an emplacement of one of the forts «.t the Panama end of the Canal. In order to realise the size of the transportation job one should understand that tne War-carriage of the giant gun weighs something like 450 tons. It » of the -disappearing" type (built at a cos. of £25,000), and its counterweight alone —bv the help of which the w.oapon Is lowered and raised between shotsis a hit heavier than the gun itse.t The constructionr.l ingenuity of this carriage may be judged from ihe tact tnat it must endure, without rneak.n or straining any of its parts the motremendous explosive shocks, mean while, hrtween shots, lowering the gun Sft. to the loading position ■'ind rotu ning it to the firing position. It m.M do this rapidly, certainly, and easily, bv mechanism not liable to ' r order and readily operated by the ir cniflier The performance is comto tint of a 50-ton locomotive S of ordmW M.<* One,»noWlsi™e«^ at 18 such guns could do for the defence of New \ork, or ten of them for that of San Franscisco,

Sun on land is (equal to s'x on ship-' ciiliiire for calibre, owing to bettor protection and steadiness of platform. With a range of 21 miles, a projectile from tin l gun would mount nearly s'x miW into the air. reaching a he ; g'-' of HO.olGft., an alt it ulo at which no human lieing can get enough oxy ei: for hir-, lungs to keep him alive.

If Pike's Peak (U.flK'jft.) were placed on top of Mount Blanc (!."),770 feet), midway betw.on the Battery and Hastings-on-the-Hudson. the projectile fired from the Battery would land at Hastings afters passing clear over them both with 6 loft. to spur.'.

Tiie giant gun is to be mounted at the Pacilfic end of the Canal, because that entrance is deemed more open to attack by a host'le fleet than the Atlantic entrance. The forts there located have be,en bui't on four islands, most conveniently situated for the defensive purpose, which were purchased by the War Department from the l-'acidic Mail Steamshi]) Company. On each of these islands :s a tort, and each fort will be provided with one 16.11, gun ol the type described. The islands have boen connected with each other, and also with the mainland. 1 -.v causeways of solid concrete. In fact, as designed, tlie four forts are integrated into a single system, and

.even if all enemy were to capture one of tilt-in he could be driven out by concentrating the guns of the others upon

On the si-a-frontage of each inland on mcl'ii/'d piano of <■<mcr«*t«* r.scs troi.i the shore with a hunt and low <;lant toward the mainland. Tliw s covered with several feet of earth, turfed so as to present- the apjvarance ol a greensward. Xo casual observer would suspect that beyond there are eon<icte lirso.-l pit.; concaling formidable «uns. Kach fort consists of several such jumpts It is a series oi holes mi the ■/round, with the land-cape for a roof : there's nothing for :.'i en -my to shoot

There will he in caeh fort several 1 I in. trims- vei'y formidable weapon*, (■■o'-resjiondiii!; in st7." and power in the ]. ir ,M-t rill 1- carried l.v our ha!tles!,:trs. 1,, "the r-ar of the ordinary pin-pus, IHrthi rniore, nil! he. on h <>■ ll| e four vamk a hattery '>) lour mortars, s'mi'ar'y emnhie.'d. I aey are shoit i ft-1 eiuis <>f 12: ii. c dibre. meant for |ii«!i iii'de (irintr. and to -<e them an eiiemv would have to he hi a halloon. s.' n( l|' mortar is l-'ift. lomr. uses a , 'nvde!' ehanre of Hi-Mb. and throws j.u SOU'I, «MI ovM- live miles. One stub ; .j •!,, | niliiiL' oil the deck of a n,e:e!i,o.-ht would he likely to pul

•• mo of action. The fort- at the Atlantic cntran

of the Canal are three in number, and arc situated on the mainland. In other respects their arrangements and armament are much the same. Each of them is to la 1 provided with one giant 1 Gin. rifle. The seven huge guns thus provided for the defence of the Panama Canal would alone be sufficient to "stand (iff the most formidable fleet. Constructed, as they are. in accordance with the very latest military ideas, and armed as they will bo, the torts here described are expected to lie practically impregnable. That they will ever be captured by attack from the sea is not for a moment to be imagined. The danger lies in the possibility of attack by an army landed by an enemy ■> few miles up or down the coast. It is a pe.rjl that would be quickly made real if. through the defeat of our fleet, we lost control of the sen. Another danger is from military or naval aeroplanes —one well-aimed bomb would knock a gun and its carriage into a s ,- r:;n heap.