Gunners on board U.S. battleship New York loading 5-inch gun

Gunners on board U.S. battleship New York loading 5-inch gun

9367

The New York at the opening of the present war was one of the battleships of the Atlantic Fleet in charge of Admiral Henry T. Mayo and was in the outer line of defense. This battleship was built in 1911 at a cost of $6,400,-o8o. It has a displacement of 27,000 tons, a speed of 21 knots, and an armament of 10 14-inch and 21 5-inch guns, and 4 torpedo tubes. It carries 55 officers and 970 men. The 14-inch guns are of course more powerful than the 5-inch ones. The barrel of one of these large guns weighs 64 tons. If a wagon could be built strong enough to hold the gun, it would take 6o horses to haul it. The gun is 4 feet across its big end and 2 feet across the little end. The barrel is 52 1/2 feet long and its walls are 17 inches thick. It can shoot a shell weighing 1,400 pounds a distance almost equal to that across the English Channel. The cost of each firing is. $780.00. It requires 370 pounds of smokeless powder for each shell. In the picture you see a gun crew firing one of the 5-inch guns of the New York. This gun takes a 60-pound shell and a powder charge of about 20 pounds. The crew works with regularity and precision, each man having his own particular work to do. The trainer stands with eye at the telescope sight. The plugman opens and closes the breach. The loaders swing in the shell and powder charge. The sight-setter wears a telephone headpiece and gets orders as to range and direction from the spotter aloft. Every few seconds the crack of the gun can be heard as it discharges its shell.

1 stereograph : b&w

1 gelatine silver print stereograph (8 x 15 cm) mounted on card (9 x 18 cm)

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