The Sixteen-Inch Gun
Description
This section is from the book "Scientific American Reference Book. A Manual for the Office, Household and Shop", by Albert A. Hopkins, A. Russell Bond. Also available from Amazon: Scientific American Reference Book.
The Sixteen-Inch Gun
The great 16-inch 126-ton gun. built for the United States at the Watervliet arsenal, is 49 1/4 feet long, over 6 feet in diameter at the breech, and it has an extreme range of over twenty miles. Its projectile weighs 2,370 pounds, and costs $865 to fire the gun once. The map on page 102 will give graphic illustration of the range of this gun. If fired at its maximum elevation from the battery at the south end of New York in a northerly direction, its projectile would pass over the city of New York, over Grant's Tomb, Spuyten Duyvil, Riverdale, Mount St.
Vincent, Ludlow, Yonkers, and would land near Hastings-on-the-Hudson, nearly twenty miles away, as shown in our map. The extreme height of its trajectory would be 30,516 feet, or nearly six miles. This means that if Pike's Peak, of the Western Hemisphere, had piled on top of it Mont Blanc, of the Eastern Hemisphere, this gun would hurl its enormous projectile so high above them both as to still leave space below its curve to build Washington's Monument on top of Mont Blanc, as shown. The model, page 101, was exhibited at St. Louks.
Model Of The 16-Inch Gun, Exhibited At The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, ST. Louis, 1904.
Range Of Sixteen-Inch Gun. Height of parabola, 5 3/4 miles. Weight of projectile, 2,370 pounds. Powder charge, 576 pounds.
Radius Of Action Of Sixteen-Inch Gun.
Armies Of The Leading Powers.
Information on the above points concerning the Armies of Leading Powers is given in the following table.
Nation. | System. | Peace Footing. | †War Footing. | Guns (Approximate Number). | Term of Service or Liability. | |
Years.* | Total. | |||||
Compulsory Service........... | 374,148 | 2,580,000 | 1,912 | 3 A + 7 R + 2 L‡ + 10 L||............ | 22 | |
Belgium | Conscription and Voluntary. . . . | 51,644 | 143,000 | 204 | 8A + 5R............................ | 13 |
Bulgaria | Compulsory Service........... | 57,720 | 205,000 | 462 | 2or3A + 8or6R + 7L‡ + 8or9L||..... | 25 |
China | Enlistment.................. | About | 100,000 trained men. | ? | - | |
Denmark | Compulsory Service........... | 9,769 | 61,580 | 96 | 1/2 or l 1/4 A + 7 1/2 or 6 3/4 R + 8L‡............ | 16 |
France | Compulsory Service........... | 590,514 | 3,500,000 | 3,720 | 3A+10R + 6L‡ + 6L||............... | 25 |
Great Britain | Voluntary | 274,074 | ‡1420,000 | 1,194 | 7 or 8 A + 5 or 4 R, 3A + 9R............ | 12 |
India | Voluntary | 146,645 | 222,219 | 336 | From 3 years upward for natives | - |
Compulsory Service........... | 605,975 | 4,000,000 | 4,524 | 2or3A + 4R + 5L$ + 16L||........... | 28 | |
Greece | Compulsory Service........... | 22,104 | 82,000 | 120 | 2 A + 8 R + 8 L ‡ + 10 L|| | 28 |
Holland | Conscription and Voluntary. . . . | 27,366 | 68,000 | 120 | 1 A + 1 R + 3L ‡ + 10L ||............... | 30 |
Italy............... | Compulsory Service........... | 261,728 | 3,330,000 | 1,726 | 2 to 5 A + 7 or 4 R + 10 L‡.............. | 19 |
Japan | Conscription | 143,649 | §509,960 | 684 | 3 A + 4 R + 5 L‡ + 11L ||............... | 23 |
Mexico | Conscription and Voluntary . . . | 29,904 | 146,500 | 96 | 30 | |
Norway | Conscription and Voluntary. . . . | 30,900 | 80,000 | 66 | 50days A + 6 R + 6 L ‡ + 4L||........... | 16 |
Roumania | Compulsory Service........... | 63,280 | 173,948 | 366 | 3 A + 6 R + 5 L ‡ + 4L || ........................ | 18 |
Russia | Compulsory Service........... | 1,100,000 | §4,600,000 | 5,000 | 4 A+13 R + 5L ‡..................... | 22 |
Spain | Conscription | 119,432 | 500,000 | 408 | 3 A + 3 R + 6 L ‡...................... | 12 |
Sweden............. | Conscription and Voluntary. . . . | 37,200 | 570,000 | 240 | 68 days or 3 years A + 8 R + 4 L ‡ + 8 L|| .. | 20 |
Switzerland......... | Compulsory Service........... | 20,122 | 526,105 | 288 | 1/2 A+ 11 1/2 R+12L‡ + 6L || ............. | 30 |
Turkey............. | Compulsory Service........... | 216,530 | 1,150,700 | 1,356 | 4A + 2R + 8L ‡ + 6L|| ................ | 20 |
United States | Voluntary | 63,686 | 100,000 | 504 | 3 A................................. | 3 |
* A = Active Army. R = Reserve. L‡ = Landwehr, or Territorial Army. L|| = Landsturm, or Territorial Reserves.
† The war strength of the various armies can only be given in round numbers as official figures are not published.
‡ Estimates of 1903-4. This total includes the British forces in this country, India, and the Colonies (excluding colored men). Does not include volunteers, militia, etc., at home.
§ Subject to modification by very severe losses. - Daily Mail Year Book.
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