Office of the Historian

No. 373.
Mr. Schuyler to Mr. Fish.

Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg, March 20, 1872. (Received April 11.)
No. 164.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a translation of a report made by a committee appointed by the Russian government to examine an invention by Lieutenant A. Davydoff, late of the Russian imperial navy, for the rapid and automatic firing of guns and batteries on ships of war. This committee consisted of some of the best officers in the Russian service, and inconsequence of their favorable report the invention is to be applied to one of the large iron-clad ships of war during the coming summer for the purpose of practically testing it at sea.

I was present at a trial of the apparatus, and found it to work perfectly in every detail. The general mode of operation was explained to me, though some of the details were kept secret.

The present system of firing is disadvantageous, because the short interval elapsing between the determination of the distance and |the firing is enough to destroy the aim on account of the movement of the vessel. The difficulty of aiming is very great on account of the short time allowed for it and the narrowness of the port-holes; and the firing is not at the order of the commander who can see best, but at the disposition of the captains of guns who cannot fix the favorable moment. The difficulties of a concentrated fire are still greater.

The main idea of Lieutenant Davydoff is that he takes advantage of the rolling of the vessel, which is the great obstacle to the success of other modes of firing, and by an electric apparatus the guns fire off themselves the moment the right elevation is attained. The distance of the object is first determined and the guns are pointed at the proper angle, after making allowance for the angle of the rolling of the vessel. The moment the vessel rolls back so as to bring the guns right, the firing takes place.

Lieutenant Davydoff claims for his apparatus the following advantages:

1.
The moment of firing corresponds perfectly with the moment of the vertical or horizontal aim.
2.
The putting the guns in position no longer depends on external considerations, such as rolling, pitching, &c.
3.
The fire is at the order of the commander of the vessel, who can order at will general or partial discharges.
4.
The working the ship during the fire becomes easier.
5.
The conjunction of the vertical and horizontal aim is the essential condition of correct firing, and this is only possible by means of this apparatus.
6.
The number of men required to work the guns is less.

The automatic system of Lieutenant Davydoff consists of the follow-apparatus:

1.
An apparatus for breaking the electric current at the moment of the necessary angle of elevation of the gun.
2.
An automatic arrangement for igniting the charge at the necessary moment for exact firing.
3.
An apparatus serving as a mathematically exact regulator of the electric current.
4.
An arrangement giving the captain the full power to make every shot at will, either singly, in regular order, or by broadside.
5.
An apparatus for keeping in a horizontal plane the trunnions of the guns at every moment, desired in time of battle, during every roll, notwithstanding any irregularity in the position of the deck.
6.
An apparatus for producing an exact fire, not only during the pitching, but the combined pitching and rolling of the vessel.
7.
An apparatus giving the possibility of showing momentarily and uninterruptedly to the helmsman all the demands of the artillery at every moment of the battle, and in such a way as to keep the trunnions of the guns in a horizontal plane on the object aimed at, as well as to maneuver the vessel.

It is to be remarked that the use of this apparatus by no means prevents aiming and firing in the ordinary way, if there should be occasion, on account of injury to the apparatus, or for other reasons.

I have, &c.,

EUGENE SCHUYLER,
Chargé d’Affaires ad int.
[Inclosure No. 1.]

Extract from the report of the committee on the apparatus invented by Mr. Davy doff for the automatic firing of guns on hoard ships of war.

The proposition of Mr. Davydoff relative to the introduction, on the vessels of the fleet, of the automatic apparatus invented by him for firing artillery, was examined by the committee in three respects:

1.
Does the proposal meet the demands of present circumstances, and does it really avoid the defects of existing modes of firing?
2.
Does the proposed apparatus attain its aim, and can it satisfy all the demands of naval artillery fire? And
3.
Does the construction of the apparatus correspond to the conditions under which it will be placed on board ship, and does it afford a guarantee that its action will be the same under all possible circumstances?

The data for this examination were afforded by an explanatory memoir by Mr. Davydoff, by a careful and detailed investigation and trial of the working of the apparatus by the committee, and by the personal explanations of Mr. Davydoff.

The whole apparatus constructed by Mr. Davydoff is distinguished, in the opinion of the committee, by an extraordinary elaboration, a rational construction, a satisfactory execution, and a strict adaptation to the purpose and conditions of its working and use.

Each apparatus displays, in its construction, much talent and inventive power, and, as its basis, has always an original idea which has till now not been met with in the technical construction of apparatus of similar purpose.* * * *

Each apparatus has a strictly defined purpose, and, beginning with No. 5, which gives the possibility of placing and verifying the gun, notwithstanding the motion of the vessel, and ending with No. 1, which makes the vertical position of the gun, at the moment of fire, very exact, and quite independent either of the height or force of the rolling of the vessel, they weaken the various defects in the existing methods of tiring, and that, too, in a degree that has until now been thought impossible.

In general it completely answers the very various conditions of firing at a mark not seen by the commander, and, notwithstanding that it is a new and still untried invention, notwithstanding that in it the galvanic current has, for the first time, such a broad application, thanks to which the firing attains the highest degree of simplicity and regularity, notwithstanding all this, the system of Mr. Davydoff includes all the indispensable data, so that it is possible to say affirmatively that, if a further trial confirms the exactness of the results of apparatus Nos. 1 to 5, by their application to naval-artillery firing, all those results will be really attained which were stated at the beginning of this report, and this system really has a very important actual meaning for the navy.* * * *

Combining all the above considerations relative to the project of Mr. Davydoff into a general result, the committee has come to the following conclusion:

1.
This system, in the construction and method of use of its constituent apparatus, fully satisfies its purpose, as well as all the conditions of naval-artillery practice.
2.
Notwithstanding the very broad application in this system of the action of the galvanic current, and, as a result of this application, an extreme automatic power in [Page 484] its use for artillery firing, this system possesses all the qualities for considering its introduction on ships of war fully possible, and without any serious obstacles as to its application.
3.
On keeping the conditions set forth in the opinion with regard to the exactness of the indications of the-apparatus, and the conditions of its use on board ship, it can really give the best results, which cannot be obtained by the methods now in use; and
4.
With all its merits this system, being a wholly new invention and nowhere applied, has had no testing by actual use, without which a true conclusion with regard, to it is impossible.

Therefore the committee, having in view that this system, if it is shown to be practicable, will have a great meaning and an important future, supposes it not only profitable, but even necessary, for a final conclusion with regard to the proposed system, to submit it to a preliminary, very strict, and serious trial on one of the ironclad ships of the fleet, in the form that the inventor proposes to give it for actual application on vessels.

This trial ought to be as complete and many-sided as possible, so as to draw an unerring conclusion as to the exactness of the indications of the apparatus, and its qualities for use in artillery firing, and as prolonged as possible, so as to be assured that it would maintain its merit, not only under the normal conditions of practical artillery practice, but also in the special circumstances of a naval battle.

  • Vice-Admiral ZELENOI.
  • Lieutenant-General DIMITRIEFF.
  • Rear-Admirals POPOFF,
  • RIMSKI-KORSAKOFF,
  • STETZENKO,
  • SCHWARZ,
  • STAHL.
  • Major-Generals PESTITCH,
  • MUSSELIUS.
  • Chief Engineer of the Fleet SELININOFF.
  • Mechanician ALEXANDROFFSKY.
  • Sub-Captain TCHERNOFF.