the 12-inch gun within 5,000 yards is greater than that of 47,000
muskets, it would also be truthful to say that outside of 5,000
yards, millions of muskets would not be equal to one 12-inch gun.

Not only is the 12-inch gun a weapon incomparably great, compared
with the musket, but when placed in a naval ship, it possesses a
portability which, while not an attribute of the gun itself, is
an attribute of the combination of gun and ship, and a distinct
attribute of naval power. A 12-inch gun placed in a fort may be
just as good as a like gun placed in a ship, but it has no power
to exert its power usefully unless some enemy comes where the gun
can hit it. And when one searches the annals of history for the
records of whatever fighting forts have done, he finds that they
have been able to do very little. But a 12-inch gun placed in a
man-of-war can be taken where it is needed, and recent history
shows that naval 12-inch guns, modern though they are, have already
done effective work in war.

Not only are 12-inch guns powerful and portable, but modern mechanical
science has succeeded in so placing them in our ships that they can
be handled with a precision, quickness, and delicacy that have
no superior in any other branch of engineering. While granting
the difficulty of an exact comparison, I feel no hesitation in
affirming that the greatest triumph of the engineering art in handling
heavy masses is to be found in the turret of a battleship. Here
again, and even inside of 5,000 yards, we find the superiority
of the great gun over the musket, as evidenced by its accuracy in
use. No soldier can fire his musket, even on a steady platform,
himself and target stationary, and the range known perfectly, as
accurately as a gun-pointer can fire a 12-inch gun; and if gun