Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1895 — PROOF AGAINST BIG GUNS. [ARTICLE]

PROOF AGAINST BIG GUNS.

Plate from the Battle Ship lowa Subjected to a Test. The new battle ship lowa will withstand the projectiles of the best 12-inch gun afloat. That was the conclusion drawn from one of the most important tests ever made at the government proving ground at Indian Head. Since the equipment of modern battle ships with heavy armor there has been in naval quarters a question as to whether the framework of ships so armored could resist the crushing force of a blow from one of the big guns, even though the armor itself was capable of keeping the projectile out. Hitherto all tests of armor have been made against an unyielding wooden butt. Wednesday the United States, for the first time since the use of modern guns and modern armor, began experiments to determine the actual strain and injury to which the battle ship would be subjected if struck by a projectile. For that purpose a side armor plate of the battle ship lowa, now being built at the Cramps’ yards in Philadelphia, was fitted up on an actual reproduction of a section of the ship. The plate itself was 16 feet by 7%. 14 inches thick at the top and sloping toward the bottom to a thickness of seven inches. The shots were fired at 250 ) y ( a l rdß at right angles to the plate to secure the normal impact. The first was a 500-pound Carpenter projectile from a ten-inch gun driven by 140 pounds of Dupont's brown prismatic powder. The projectile was driven into the plate about six inches, and not a single injury to the ’backing war. discovered. The second shot was also from a ten-inch gun, but the charge was increased 126 pounds. This shot also spent itself on the plate without creating a sign of a crack or injury, or straining the framework. Finally an 850-potind Wheeler Sterling shell, driven by 460 pounds of powder, was fired at the plate from a twelve-inch gun. The projectile struck with a velocity of 1.800, or an energy of 1,530,000 potnds. This shot should, according to most estimates, have penetrated a sixteen-inch Harveyized plate. Although it cracked the plate, which was already weakened by the two previous shots, and penetrated to the wood backing, it did not get through the backing. On the whole, the result of the test with the plate and framework /was considered remarkable. Secretary Herbert greatly rejoiced at the result.