Spanish American War

This was to be the zenith of Langley s success. Spurred by the exigency of the Spanish-American War, Langley was given a 50,000 grant from the War... 

Arsenal extended to the year 1902, and the history of the depot was one of gradual construction with the ultimate idea of an establishment for the storage of powder. However, a few years before the Spanish American War, the depot began assembling powder charges for cannon. This propellant charge loading, Picatinny s first production activity, has never ceased... 

Catholic Citizen, Sept. 10,1898, p. 4. This sentiment was shared by Stephen Wise s American Israelite see Jeanne Abrams, Remembering the Maine The Jewish Attitude toward the Spanish-American War as Reflected in The American Israelite, American Jewish History, LXXXVL4 (June 1987), p. 454. See also David Noel Doyle, Irish Americans, Native Rights, and National Empires (New York Arno, 1976). 

Incorrect The Civil War and the Spanish-American War took place in the nineteenth century. It was a turning point for the country. 

Morehead started promoting the use of acetylene for lighting, and calcium carbide plants were established in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Niagara Falls, New York. Morehead developed a high carbon fer-rochrome in 1897, which was used for armor plating in the Spanish-American War. In 1917, Union Carbide merged with the National Carbon Company, Prest-O-Lite (another calcium carbide producer), Linde... 

Heat Test minimum 30 mins Vapor Pressure at 60° O.OmmHg Volatility at 60° 0.0% and Water Produced on Explosion 140g/kg of NC Uses. Pyrocellulose has been used since the Spanish-American War(1898) in cannon and small arms proplnts. Historical development of "PyrpP proplnts is described under Cannon Propellants(qv). The original US single-base proplnts consisted of Pyrocellulose colloided with ether-ale, but beginning ca 1909, there was added 0.5% DPhA to act as a stabilizer and this amt was later incteased to 1%. This period also saw the introduction of the water-dry process which permitted manuf of proplnts in a fraction of the time reqd for the "air-dry process (Ref 44)... 

Cocoa powder was more sensitive to friction than ordinary black powder. Samples were reported to have inflamed from shaking in a canvas bag. Cocoa powder was used in the Spanish-American war, 1898. When its use was discontinued, existing stocks were destroyed, and single grains of the powder are now generally to be seen only in museums/. ... 

Van Gelder and Schlatter (Ref 5) state that a US version of Thorite contained AN mixed with nitro aromatic compds. Thorite was at first highly commended (Ref 1) but a later report criticized it adversely due to the failure to obtain a uniform degree of detonation or expin, which appears to be inherent in this class of explosives (Ref 2), More likely the defect lay in the strength of the fuze, AN expls requiring an exceptionally heavy detonator. In spite of the adverse opinion of the Bureau of Ordnance, the Congress appropriated funds for the purchase of Thorite (Ref 3), and shells filled with this material were used in the Philippine Islands during the Spanish-American War Refs 1) Anon, Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance, US Army (1899), 22 2) Ibid... 

The definition given by Ordn Dept after Spanish-American War was "A mechanical device, with or without explosive elements, used to explode a shell, bomb or other type of projectile . The British name for an unloaded fuze is pistol... 

Gelatina explosiva de guerra. Span name for the military expl invented in 1878 in Austria (See in Vol 5 under DYNAMITE, Class X, p D1610-L). It was used during Spanish-American War (1898) for load ing projectiles fired from pneumatic cannons. Its compn ... 

The Yale (ex-Paris) auxiliary cruiser durinj the Spanish American War, sailing from Hampton Roads to Santia> o on 23. June 1898. 

Spartan and Trojan, P O s Egypt, the Orcana of the I acific Steam Navi >ation Company and tlie Maine, first of five ships of this name to serve as Britisli hospital ships, all of which were chartered for the duration of the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Two years earlier, the first American hospital ships, the Missouri, Bay State, Belief and Solace, all converted liners, were fitted out for the duration of the Spanish American War (1897). 

Destructive deaths have long been the curse of the human race. More than 50 million people have been killed over the past century. From 1915 to 1923 Ottoman Turks slaughtered up to 1.5 million Armenians. In mid-century, the Nazis liquidated six million Jews, three million Soviet POW s, two million Poles and 40,000 undesirables. Four percent of the world s population was killed during World War II. US News and World Report (Jan/ Feb, 2006) summarized the number of casualties in American wars War of 1812 - 6,765 deaths Mexican War - 17,435 deaths Civil War - Union 646,392 deaths. Confederate 335,524 deaths Spanish-American War - 4,108 deaths World War I - 320,518 deaths World War II - 1,077,245 deaths Korean War - 139,858 deaths and Vietnam War -211,512 deaths. The total number of deaths was 2,759,357. 

The first big order — eight million pounds of cannon powder for France — was nearly equal to the company s annual capacity. Pierre du Pont, however, saw war orders as more a risk than an opportunity. Everyone expected a short war, similar to the Franco-Prussian conflict of 1870. The cessation of hostilities would inevitably lead to abrupt cancellation of munitions contracts, as had happened to DuPont in the Spanish-American War. Pierre decided that to reduce DuPont s financial risk, the capital to build new plants would have to be paid for by the Allies, and that the plants would have to be amortized immediately. Thus, when the war ended, DuPont would have no worthless investment on its books. 

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