Navy Press Notice

PRESS NOTICE.NAVY DEPARTMENT.

Secretary of the Navy Daniels this afternoon gave out the following report of Rear Admiral Earle, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, made at the direction of the Secretary, in regard to the alleged defective ammunition furnished to armed merchantmen:“Acting in accordance with your verbal instructions, the following rreport is submitted relative to the defective performance of certain ordnance material recently placed on board armed liners.“The first American liner to be armed was the S. S. “Manchuria”, on March 10, 1917. The arming of other large liners followed immediately. The guns used were of the best type known at the present date, and were nearly all absolutely new, having fired but the rounds necessary to test them for strength before permitting them to be used with service charges.“The ammunition for these guns was assembled according to standard methods, in December, 1916. The usual thorough tests of all this ammunition were made at the Naval Proving Ground, and all tests resulted in perfect performances.“The armed liner “St. Louis”, on her first trip to Liverpool, where she arrived about March 26, 1917, fired forty-five service shells at an iceberg for a target. This firing was held in accordance with the instructions of the Bureau, in order to test the mounts, guns, ammunition, and to train the guns' crews. Several shells burst prematurely, some inside the bore of the guns, others before striking the target. The damage to the bore of the guns caused thereby was sufficient to necessitate their being relined.“Upon her return to New York, the guns and shells were immediately removed and new guns, with a new supply of shells issued to the ship. Later on, one other shell elxploded prematurely, as well, as one of the same caliber on both the “Mongolia” and the “St. Paul”. In none of these cases was the gun damaged beyond remedy by relining, which relining has been done.“The development of modern ordnance has been extremely rapid, and the comparative freedom of our Navy from serious accidents in connection therewith has been a source of satisfaction to the service, but mishaps with ordnance material cannot be absolutely prevented.“It is necessary, in all work on explosives, to draw deductions from the actual tests made at the Proving Ground. However, it must be borne in mind that material used as an explosive is designed to spend all of its force in an instant space of time, and cannot be relied upon with absolute certainty to give the same result in all cases. An example of this is well shown by the subsequent action of the supposedly defective ammunition taken from the steamships “St. Louis” and “Mongolia”. Eighty-nine rounds of this ammunition were fired at the Proving Ground, immediately following the premature bursts, in an effort to develop a reason for such incidents. These rounds were fired, nearly all, at higher chamber pressures than were the service rounds fired on board these vessels. In eighty-seven rounds, both the shell and the fuses functioned perfectly. One shell broke up, investigation showing that it had been made prior to 1900, byut had been accepted as a suitable 6-inch shell, and the second one was a shell that had been examined prior to firing and found to have been a little thinner walled than the latest design in use.“The conclusion reached is that all 6-inch shells and fuses manfufactured since the year 1900 are satisfactory, and that the premature bursts, so unfortunately occurring on our armed liners, may be attributed to shell made prior to 1900, and made possibly with slightly thinner walls than the latest type of shells.“On the return of the “St. Lousis” from her first trip, about April 9, 1917, all such shells were removed, and no such shells are afloat now on armed liners. This procedure was also adopted at once in the case of all 6-inch ammunition for vessels of the Navy.“Prior to this happening, the Bureau of Ordnance had every reason to expect that every shell in its magazines of 6-inch caliber was a satisfactory shell.”