America's Munitions 1917-1918

by Benedict Crowell; United States. War Department

In the foreground are three large gun tubes partially completed. This company started the manufacture of the first piece of ordnance material in America in 1880.

One of the answers of the United States ordnance engineers to this problem, as developed in the recent war, has been the production of a tractor to replace the horse, and this tractor has the speed of the deer and the power of the elephant. The most powerful tractors are mounted on track-laying devices and are colloquially known as caterpillars. One of these powerful caterpillars, on which is mounted an 8-inch howitzer with a range of 6 miles, which is manned and operated by only two men, and which can go up hill and down hill, over broken brushwood, trees, etc., was recently given a severe test at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Here it was sent through a dense wood in which it bumped square into a live locust tree that was 17 inches in diameter at the bottom. This tree, almost the tallest in the wood, was prostrated by the attack of the tractor, which rode over it and then emerged from the wood, took up its position, and fired its shot almost in as short a time as that which it takes to tell of the deed. Truly the power of the elephant and the speed of the deer has been brought to the aid of the ordnance engineer for any future warlike operations.

The number of workmen employed in gun production at once in this country totaled 21,329, and fully that many more are estimated to have been employed in the manufacture of gun carriages and fire-control instruments. Consequently in turning out the complete big guns there were fully 42,000 workmen engaged by the month of October, 1918. Furthermore, these men became so skilled in their work that it may be said that the difficult art of gun making has become firmly established in this country and that the United States may now and at any time in the near future rely on this trained body of artisans for the finest kind of gun-metal manufacture.

PRODUCTION OF CANNON FORGINGS.

Production of cannon forgings during the war at the various plants.

Caliber.	Contractor.	1917	1918												Total
		Dec.	Jan.	Feb.	Mar.	Apr.	May.	June.	July.	Aug.	Sept.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.
75-mm. field gun, model 1916	Bethlehem Steel Co., Bethlehem, Pa.	2	1	32	14	13	3	75	23	7	1	180	1		352
	Standard Forgings Co., Indiana Harbor, Ind.	1	5	11	10	19	5	67	29	2					149
	Buckeye Steel Co., Columbus, Ohio						154		10						164
75-mm. field gun, model 1897	do.						44	162	419	325	322	658	181	224	2335
	Standard Forgings Co.							10	32	275	310	471	245	39	1382
75-mm. field gun, model 1917	Bethlehem Steel Co.	1	7	30	38	47	33	62	61	69	121	76	247	47	839
3-inch anti-aircraft gun	do.			6	7	5	4	12	10	6	46	112	109	5	322
	Heppenstall Forge & Knife Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.										3	51	15	13	82
4.7-inch gun	Bethlehem Steel Co.			9	10	8	28		70	94	66	14		43	342
	Heppenstall Forge & Knife Co.									6	18	21	25	10	80
155-mm. howitzer	Bethlehem Steel Co.		10	26	51	9	37	25	5		11	52	19	32	277
	Standard Forgings Co.	2	3		10	20	55	44	89	74	169	127	157	10	760
	Standard Steel Co.					15	54	64	82	130	93	100	100	20	658
155-mm. gun	Bethlehem Steel Co.					1	9		21	7	5	4	1		48
	Edgewater Steel Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.									4	13	21	24	5	67
	Standard Steel Car Co., Burnham, Pa.						6	4	21	14	23	41	21	9	139
	Tacony Ordnance Co., Philadelphia, Pa.									3	15	31	26		75
	American Bridge Co., Gary, Ind.											8	7	10	25
8-inch howitzer	Midvale Steel Co.	1	5	11	10	19	5	67	29	2					149
240-mm. howitzer	Bethlehem Steel Co.									30	16	16	19	16	97
	Edgewater Steel Co.										1			14	15
	Tacony Ordnance Co.										4	15	3	12	34
	Watertown Arsenal											[10]		7	7
Total		6	26	114	174	175	440	525	872	1074	1259	2031	1214	530	8440

[10] Figures in first table indicate delivery of completed sets of forgings only. Deliveries of finished and accepted gun forgings, not in complete sets, were made in carload lots and in other large quantities by various factories prior to the dates when their receipt of machine tools enabled them to produce completed sets. For instance, Watertown Arsenal made its first carload shipment of forgings on Oct. 28, 1918.

CANNON MACHINING AND ASSEMBLING.