From the Richmond Times, 3/27/1898, p. 15, c. 3

READY TO MAKE THEM
TREDEGAR COMPANY TO BEGIN WORK ON PROJECTILES.
HOW THE SHELLS ARE MADE.
Two Inches Thick and Left Hollow for the Caps to Be Screwed In – Have No Penetrating Qualities, But Explode With Terrible Effect.

This week the Richmond Tredegar Works will, no doubt, commence to cast the huge projectiles to be used in the great guns which defend the seacoast of these United States. The government last week awarded a contract to the Tredegar –Works, from the moulds of which have already been furnished similar shells for the use of the War Department. This former order was finished some weeks ago. The shells are dangerous and formidable looking, indeed. Some of them weigh 1,500 pounds, and when charged at the arsenals of the government, are terrible engines of destruction. The projectiles are from three to four feet long, and taper at one end, almost to a point. The bore, or hollow, is about eight inches diameter, measuring from the outer sides of twelve inches. They are loaded from one end, into which fits a cap. The latter is screwed in the projectile, working around the threads in the inner portion of the shell. The projectile after being cast, is, of course, in a rough shape. The finishing touches are put on the shell when it is trimmed in the lathe. Its outer edges must be perfectly smooth in order that it may exactly fit in the gun from which it is fired.

The Tredegar Works can turn out about fifteen or eighteen of these shells a week. They are shipped, according to the instructions received by the War Department, to the various arsenals of the government, where they are charged and then sent to the forts and fortresses, or the vessels on which they are to be used.

The projectile has no penetrating properties, and when it strikes an object, explodes with terrific force, thus doing more damage than if it plunged its way through the steel plates of a vessel’s side.

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