Ericsson's New Submarine Gun

Scientific American, Volume XLIII., No. 25, December 18, 1880, by Various, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. Ericsson's New Submarine Gun.

Ericsson's New Submarine Gun.

The protracted trials conducted on board the Destroyer to test its submarine gun terminated last week. Having, says the Army and Navy Journal, in a previous issue described this novel type of naval artillery, it will suffice to remind our readers that its caliber is 16 inches, length of bore 30 feet, and that it is placed at the bottom of the vessel, the muzzle passing through an opening formed in the wrought iron stem.

We have hitherto, in discussing the properties of the Destroyer, referred to its offensive weapon as a "torpedo," a term not altogether inappropriate while it was actuated by compressed air. But Capt. Ericsson having in the meantime wholly abolished compressed air in his new system of naval attack, substituting guns and gunpowder as the means of producing motive energy, it will be proper to adopt the constructor's term, projectile. It will not surprise those who are acquainted with the laws of hydrostatics and the enormous resistance offered to bodies moving swiftly through water, that the determination of the proper form of projectile for the submarine gun has demanded protracted experiments, commencing at the beginning of June and continued up to last week, as before stated. The greater portion of these experiments, it should be observed, has been carried out with a gun 30 feet long, 15 inches caliber—not a breech-loader, however, as in the Destroyer, but a muzzle-loader, suspended under the bottom of two wrecking scows, the gun being lifted above the water, after each shot, by shears and suitable tackle. The present projectile of the Destroyer is the result of the extended trials referred to; its length is 25 feet 6 inches, diameter 16 inches, and its weight 1,500 pounds, including 250 pounds of explosive materials. We are not at liberty at present to describe its form, but we may mention that the great length of the body and the absence of all internal machinery enable the constructor to carry the stated enormous quantity of explosive matter. With minimum charge of powder in the chamber of the gun, the speed attained by the projectile reaches 310 feet in the first three seconds.

The question may be asked, in view of these facts, whether the boasted costly steam ram is not superseded by the cheap aggressive system represented by the Destroyer. Evidently the most powerful of the English steam rams could not destroy an armored ship as effectually as the projectile from the submarine gun, the explosion of which is capable of shattering any naval structure.

It should be borne in mind, also, that being protected by heavy inclined transverse armor, the Destroyer, attacking bows on, can defy ordnance of all calibers. Again, the carrier of the submarine gun, in addition to the swiftness of its projectile, can outrun ironclad ships.

About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books.

This book is part of the public domain. Various (2007). Scientific American, Volume XLIII., No. 25, December 18, 1880. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/21081/pg21081-images.html

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org, located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.