MONSTER AMERICAN GUN

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 16 January 1913, Page 6

MONSTER AMERICAN GUN

£l5O KOR KACH SHUT. The American Ordnance Department has officially tested the 14-inch Kiin, which it is proposed to mount For purposes oi' coast defence, and to safeguard the Panama Canal, This lypo of gun lias been somewhat oi a problem." hut the experiments made at the Sandy Hook proving grounds apparently satisfied all the critics present. According to officers who at-. tended the 14-inch variety of gun places tfio 12-ineh in the shade, and. the latter must now go. According to General Crozier, head of the Wnr College, who gave a little lecture to the officers at the commencement ami at the end of the tests, the new gull weighs apart from the carriage, fifty tons', and "will furnish one of the most valuable 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 i- home to the "junk pile.'' The projectile, which weighs lfifiOlb. and is (Join, long, is (50 per cent, greater than that of the -12-inch "filling," and the bigger weapon has DO per cent, longer range. Tho o:nly disadvantage is that the. trajoetorp is more curved ami tho projectile has slightly less velocity. The carriage completely weighs 280 tons. Tt is of a new style, too, and was just as much under test as the gun itself, and stood the trial equally well. The weigh of all parts of the gun that move is 202 tons, and the weight of all recoiling parts is TOO tons.

After the nrajoet ile has been rammed home, four bags of smokeless powder, weighing each Soil)., are tucked snugly at. the hack of it, the broach' is fastened, and then woe betide anything that gets in the way. Each shot that is fired costs the I'lut-d States £l5O. The .<>-uii itself represents an outlay of 1-22,000. General C:""'.ior said each projectile would penetrate 'iinv armour yet mamd'actured up to a distance of 12.(500 yards and that no battleship a'lnat could -tand up after a hit in a vital part, oven at the ransro !of seven miles. Such, at least, is the theory. Tn the rapidity test six shots were fired in 3miu. 4550e.. and the crew of sixteen men did not seem by Innv mean l -- overtaxed.