For breech-pieces each ingot must be reduced in diameter by forging at least 40 per cent.; in case tubes are forged upon a mandrel from bored ingots, the walls must be reduced in thickness by forging at least 50 per cent. Forgings are to be annealed, oil tempered under such conditions as will assure their resistance and again annealed, and no piece will be accepted unless the last process has been an annealing one. The forging must be left with a uniformly fine grain.
All these excellent results are the direct outcomes of the report made in 1884 by the Ordnance Board. 1st. That the army and navy should each have its own gun-factory; 2d. That the parts should be shipped by the steel-makers ready for finishing and assembling in guns; 3d. That the government should not undertake the production of steel of its own accord; 4th. That the Watervliet Arsenal, West Troy, N. Y., should be the site of the army gun-factory; and 5th. That the Washington navy-yard should be the site of the navy gun-factory. No action was taken upon the recommendation to establish gun-factories; but at the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress an appropriation of $1,000,000 was made for the armament of the navy, of which sum so much as the Secretary determined might be employed for the creation of a plant. Under this permission the gun-factory at the Washington navy-yard is now being established.
The construction of the breech-loading steel guns for the new cruisers has been energetically pushed. Slight modifications in the original designs were made necessary by the adoption of slower burning powder, which carried the pressure still farther forward in the bore, and, in the case of some foreign guns, caused their destruction. Though our guns have not suffered from any such accident, it has been deemed a wise precaution to give the 8-inch guns of the Atlanta two additional chase hoops, and to hoop all other pieces of this calibre to the muzzle.
From a memorandum kindly furnished by Lieutenant Bradbury, United States navy, it is learned that the number and calibre of the new guns now finished, under construction, or projected, are as follows:
| Name of Ship. | Calibre. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-inch. | 6-inch. | 8-inch. | 10-inch. | 12-inch. | |
| Dolphin | None. | 1 | None. | None. | None. |
| Atlanta[53] | ” | 6 | 2 | ” | ” |
| Boston[53] | ” | 6 | 2 | ” | ” |
| Chicago[54] | 2 | 8 | 4 | ” | ” |
| Gun-boat No. 1[54] | None. | 6 | None. | ” | ” |
| Gun-boat No. 2 | ” | 4 | ” | ” | ” |
| Newark | ” | 12 | ” | ” | ” |
| Baltimore | ” | 6 | 2 | ” | ” |
| Charleston | ” | 6 | None. | 2 | ” |
| Miantonomoh | ” | None. | ” | 4 | ” |
| Terror | ” | ” | ” | 4 | ” |
| Amphitrite | ” | ” | ” | 4 | ” |
| Monadnock | ” | ” | ” | 4 | ” |
| Puritan | ” | ” | ” | 4 | ” |
| Armored cruiser | ” | 6 | ” | 4 | ” |
| Armored battle-ship[55] | ” | 6 | ” | None. | 2 |
| 2 Gun-boats | ” | 12 | ” | ” | None. |
| 2 Cruisers | ” | 24[56] | ” | ” | ” |
| Floating batteries | ” | None. | ” | ” | 8[56] |
This gives a total of two 5-inch, one hundred and three 6-inch, ten 8-inch, twenty-six 10-inch, and ten 12-inch. In his last report, Captain Sicard, Chief of Ordnance, states that “for the new ships approaching completion we have eighteen 6-inch, three 8-inch, and two 5-inch guns finished, and three 6-inch and five 8-inch well advanced, together with all the carriages for the Atlanta and Boston, and all for the Chicago, except the 8-inch.... With brown powder the following are the best results obtained in the 6-inch and 8-inch guns.
| Gun. | Powder. | Muzzle Velocity. | Pressure. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foot seconds. | Tons. | ||
| 6-inch | American Brown. | 2,105 | 15.6 |
| 8-inch | Westphalian Brown. | 2,013 | 15.5 |
“It will be observed,” he adds, “that the muzzle velocities are as high, while the chamber pressures are considerably below those which the guns were calculated to support in service.”
During the preliminary trials afloat of the Atlanta’s battery in July, a few minor faults were unfairly given an importance by the newspapers which led the country to believe that the ship and her armament were useless. Unfriendly critics vented their spite and aired their ignorance in condemnations which included all who had had anything to do, even in the remotest degree, with the design and construction of vessel and gun. Indeed, so bitter and persistent were they that for a time it seemed almost hopeless to expect any further good could come out of the Nazareth of public opinion. It was not a question of politics, for the journalists of every political faith ran amuck riotously upon the subject; nor was it a matter of morals, where, through intelligent discussion, better things could be attained, for with brilliant misinformation and dogmatic dulness each scribe stuck his pin-feathered goose-quill into the navy’s midriff—it being such an easy, such a safe thing to do—and then thanked Heaven he was a virtuous citizen. Finally, a board was appointed to inspect the ship and battery, and after a thorough examination it made the following report: