| NAME OF VESSEL. | STATION. | |||||||
| ( ) | ( ) | |||||||
| Class of Gun. | Marks on Base-Ring. | Trunnions. | Pivot, or Broadside. | Where Received. | Number of Fires to Date. | |||
| Reg. No. | Weight. | Foundry. | Right. | Left. | ||||
| | ||||||||
Forwarded by | Commanding. | |||||||
59. The Bureau directs that, whenever a gun is taken on board a vessel, the number of rounds which have been fired from it be ascertained by the Commander, a record made thereof, and forwarded with the descriptive list, in the above form, to the Bureau; and whenever a gun is landed or transferred to another vessel, a similar record is to be furnished the officer receiving it, which must be stated in the receipt for the gun, and a copy forwarded to the Bureau of Ordnance by the officer delivering the gun.
The Commander shall also transmit to the Bureau a quarterly return, according to the prescribed form (See [Appendix B, No. X.]) of all firing whether with or without projectiles, in action or otherwise; noting particularly the kind of shell, species of fuze, kind, charge, and name of maker of the powder used in the gun and shell. He shall take care to note also the number of premature explosions of shells, and the point at which they take place, with the supposed causes thereof.
60. The Inspector will also furnish the commander with a set of leaden impressions of the interior orifice of the vents of the guns, secured in a suitable box, that he may be able to compare the wear and gradual enlargement. These will be transferred with the guns to other ships or when landed.
61. The protracted firing to which the Navy cannon have been subjected, and to which they will continue to be liable, renders it necessary not to exceed the number of fires designated for each vent.
These must never exceed five hundred (500) fires for each vent.
In the IX-in., XI-in., and guns of similar form, the right vent is always bored through, and the left initiated sufficiently to give it direction.
When five hundred (500) rounds have been fired from the right vent, it is to be closed by filling it with molten zinc or lead, and the left vent is to be bored, which will require a skilful mechanic.
When the left vent has been fired five hundred (500) rounds, the gun is to be disused, as it will then have been fired one thousand (1,000) times.
It may happen, from some peculiarity in the nature of the iron, that the vent may be worn to its full extent before five hundred (500) rounds have been fired, in which case the vent is then to be closed, and the other vent opened.