HIGH EXPLOSIVES. 493 



THROWING A HIGH EXPLOSIVE FROM POWDKR GUNS. 



By HUDSON MAXIM. 



r INHERE is noAv at Sandy Hook a battery of pneumatic torpedo 

 J- guns, and another at the port of San Francisco, the largest 

 of which have a caliber of fifteen inches and are capable of throw- 

 ing a maximum charge of 500 pounds of nitro-gelatin about a mile. 

 Even to attain this range, it is necessary to fire at a very high angle. 

 The projectile has no power whatever of penetration, being only a 

 thin casing, about an eighth of an inch thick. 



The purpose of these guns was to drop dynamite upon the deck 

 of war vessels, or into the water to explode near them. These bat- 

 teries are necessarily provided with a large plant of engines, boilers 

 and air compressors, which, together with the long and cumber- 

 some pneumatic guns and mountings, present unusual difficulties 

 in their protection from the fire of an enemy, while the range is so 

 short that a modern battleship could approach within what, for it, 

 would be a comparatively short range, and destroy the entire out- 

 fit, without in turn being in the least exposed to the fire of the pneu- 

 matic tubes. Even should a battleship, in order to enter the Channel, 

 be obliged to pass within range of the pneumatic guns, it would be 

 by mere chance that one of the torpedo bombs could be dropped any- 

 where near it. 



We will grant, however, that should these guns score a hit, with 

 500 pounds of nitro-gelatin, the stanchest battleship would have cause 

 to tremble, especially should the bomb drop into the water and explode 

 near the unprotected hull. 



The pneumatic gun owes its existence to a misconception of the 

 nature and possibilities of high explosives and of the requirements of 

 a system for their successful projection from ordnance. Congress 

 appropriated the money for the construction of the pneumatic bat- 

 teries now in service from the same misapprehension of their utility. 

 The 'Vesuvius,' with its pneumatic guns, was also the child of error. 

 The shots fired by her at the fortifications of Santiago resulted in 

 nothing more serious than the production of loud reports, which 

 possibly frightened the enemy. Her projectiles had no power of 

 penetration, and, therefore, were useless against fortifications. 



It must be borne in mind, however, that the modern powder gun, 

 with its small caliber and ponderous weight, throwing a heavy steel 

 projectile, with but a small bursting charge of black powder, or with 



