The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

1901.] THE LOCOMOTIVE. 175
to a comparable degree, by other explosives also; but the new explosive appears to be
decidedly superior to all others that have yet been tried.
The recent comparative tests of maximite and "explosive D," which were made by
this government at Sandy Hook, are described in a recent paper by Capt. E. B. Babbitt
which is printed in Engineering News. The final test was to be the firing of a twelve-
inch armor-piercing shot at a twelve-inch harveyized armor plate. An experiment of
this kind was bound to be both impressive and (to a certain extent) dangerous; and the
experimenters led up to it by what might be called easy stages. Shells loaded with the
explosive, but uncapped, were first fired through plates of various thicknesses, and these
tests having been successful, the experimenters proceeded to the trials with shells loaded
and capped. The first one is described picturesquely by Capt. Babbitt:
"At last," he says, "the final test was reached. Imagine the tensions as, from a
safe distance, we stood with eyes to our glasses, anxiously watching the distant field.
The target, a 5|-inch tempered steel plate, well backed with oak, defiantly faces the
long, slender 12-inch rifle. The red flag waves from the firing bomb-proof. It is an-
swered. The flag falls, a bank of smoke from the gun, a flash of light at the plate, a
dense, black, foreboding mass of smoke interspersed with flying timbers and bits of
plate, two mighty roars in quick succession, a sigh of relief and satisfaction from the ob-
servers, and, for the first time, a 12-inch armor-piercing shell, loaded and fused, has
passed through heavy armor. While later, heavier plates were used, and the results
were therefore more satisfactory, the first success ever stands out most vividly in the
minds of the experimenters."
In the final trial a shell, loaded and capped, was fired against a 12-inch plate, as has
already been said. The official record of this last%est is as follows: " A 12-inch armorpiercing
shell, charged with 'explosive D,' 58.6 lbs. Weight of charged shell, com-
plete, 1,010 lbs. Fired May 17, 1901, with Frankford Arsenal detonating, armor-pierc-
ing fuse, complete, against a piece of 12-inch face-hardened steel plate. Pressure in
gun, 20,000 lbs. per square inch. Velocity about 1,875 feet per second. Shell deto-
nated in plate, and completely demolished plate and backing,— all being carried forward
and swept away. Fragments of plate were thrown to a distance of 200 to 300
feet, and gave evidence that the plate was penetrated by the shell."
The consequences of a shell of this sort penetrating the interior of a battleship can
be only feebly imagined. Capt. Babbitt concludes his paper with the words, "I think
I am safe in saying that the results just enumerated are unique, and so far surpass those
previously obtained as not to admit of comparison with them."
In looking over some of the back numbers of our exchanges, we observe an item in
the Engineers' List for March, 1898, to which we desire to refer, in the interest of fair-
ness. In the issue of that paper for November, 1897, an article was printed without
proper credit to this company (as it appeared to us at the time), and in The Locomotivk
for the month of January next following we expressed our sentiments on the subject
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quite fully. In the copy of the Engineers' List for March, 1898, which is now before us,
the editor of that paper makes an explanation (which we had overlooked until today) to
the effect that he copied the article from another mechanical paper in which credit to us
was omitted ; and he adds that he was not aware that it came from The Locomotive
originally. We therefore desire to retract all that we said about the assumed dishonesty
of the Engineers' List, and to apologize for the lateness of this reparation.