PIERCING TWELVE-INCH ARMOR.
THE recent tests of the twelve-inch armor-piercing shells at Indian Head have proved very successful. The plate fired at was twelve-inch imported Crusoe steel plate. The first shell was fired at a velocity of 1,300 feet per second, and was intended to go just through the plate. It went about sixteen inches into the backing, rebounding forty feet, and was found to be only slightly upset in body. The second shell was fired at a velocity of 1,325 feet per second, the increase being intended to penetrate the plate and backing. This shell went through both, and fell nine feet in the rear, and was in the same condition as the first. Commodore Sampson says that they have proved so satisfactory that he believes they could have been reloaded in the gun and fired again, as the increase of the body of the shells was only about four-hundredths of an inch. Their points, which were about as sharp as a needle, had not been perceptibly dulled.