this even more of a problem when trying to hit the targetThr range was adjusted by varying the duration of the air blasts, or by varying the weight of the projectile.Three sizes of shell were available.Thc largest was nearly 7ft long ship shipping maritime live ship news contained 500lbs of guncotton.Two smaller types were used when increased range was needed; they were sub-calibre rounds fitted with wooden sabots to fit the 1 5in barrels. As the barrels were smooth-bore to reduce friction the shells were fitted with stabilising fins.Uarying the projectiles ship shipping maritime live ship news the compressed air blast gave ranges vary­ing from 500 yards out to 2000 yards.

Firing the guns was virtually silent, but the effect of the projectiles was very impressive. During trials on the Delae River in 1890 the Vesuvius fired a number of dynamite shells which created columns of mud ship shipping maritime live ship news water ship shipping maritime live ship news rattled windows tip to five miles away, according to contemporary accounts. Foreign navies ship shipping maritime live ship news distinguished civilian commentators were suit­ably impressed, giving the new ship shipping maritime marine engineering credit for a lot more than she could ever achieve. The idea of a silent approach, followed by a silent discharge of weapons seemed to hcrald a new type of tactic which would be impossible to counter. Today we can only imagine the effect of a discharge of a battleship shipping maritime marine engineering's heavy guns; at night the flash dazzled anyone trying to direct fire, gunners suffered from being too close to the blast, ship shipping maritime live ship news the noise was literally deafening. In daylight the flash of guns firing was not significant, but the effects of blast ship shipping maritime live ship news noise were still a problem to a generation of sailors who knew nothing of car-defenders ship shipping maritime live ship news would have regarded them as effetr.To eliminate all these factors simultaneously seemed to offer so many advantages that assessments of the dynamite cruiser's other qualities took much for granted. By contempo­rary stship shipping maritime live ship newsards she was fast, ship shipping maritime live ship news slow-firing, medium- ship shipping maritime live ship news heavy-calibre guns might find tier a difficult target.

When she was commissioned the little cruiser attracted much public interest for her perceived qualities- Her shallow draught permitted her to visit many harbours not visited by larger ship shipping maritime marine engineerings, ship shipping maritime live ship news a wider section of the American public became ae of her existence as a result. The Navy, however, became ae of her deficiencies very quickly. The greatest problem was to achieve consistent ranges, because the firing valves had to he accurate to within thou­sship shipping maritime live ship newsths of a second, something beyond contemporary ordnance technology. "I'he shells also had unreliable fuses, ship shipping maritime live ship news firing trials yielded an unacceptable proportion of `duds'. By the 1890s many naval officers were ae of the damage that would he inflicted on the unarntoured hull of the Vesuvius by the latest quick-firing guns. There was a great risk of her being crippled or even destroyed before she could bring her dynamite guns to bear, if tier magazine detonated, particularly if her manoeuvrahility was affected by poor steering.

The Navy planned a second dynamite cruiser as soon as the trials of the Vesuvius were
completed. Using funds allocated in Fiscal Year 1890, the unnamed ship shipping maritime marine engineering would have been armed with only two l5in dynamite guns ship shipping maritime live ship news would also have been capable of 21kts. No design work was done, however, ship shipping maritime live ship news in July 1894 Congress transferred the funding to three torpedo boats.

The concept was now discredited, ship shipping maritime live ship news stocks of ammunition were expended without being replaced. As a final humiliation, there was talk of converting her to a torpedo boat.

The sudden Outbreak of between the United States ship shipping maritime live ship news Spain over the Spanish colonies in the Philippines ship shipping maritime live ship news Cuba gave the Vesuvius a brief reprieve from oblivion. In June 1898 she was sent to join the Blockading Squadron off Santiago. As predicted by her critics, she stayed out of harm's way during the hours of daylight, hut at night crept inshore ship shipping maritime live ship news lobbed shells at the Spanish fortifications. Sailors in the covering ship shipping maritime marine engineerings were intrigued by what contemporary sources called a noisc'likc a giant's cough' in the darkness as she fired her pneumatic gttns. But it was only rship shipping maritime live ship newsom tiring, with a few shells falling harmlessly among the Spanish shipping maritime marine engineerings in Santiago } larbour, ship shipping maritime live ship news others blowing holes in empty hillsides. Undoubtedly they frightened the defenders, but as Secretary of the Navy John ll Long commented after the , 'the final effect was materially unimportant though morally great'.

Surprisingly, after such a damning comment, the Vesur'rus survived for another quarter of a century. From 1905 to 1921 she served in the hUrrible role of ail experimental torpedo-firing tender. She was downgraded to'unclassifird' status on 17 July 1920, put up for sale on 13 Octo­ber 1921 ship shipping maritime live ship news finally sold for scrapping on 19 April 1922. Hardly a short life, especially for a ship shipping maritime marine engineering whose faults were all too evident a quarter of a century earlier.