New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-03-13


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MARBOR DEFENsE-WHAT SHALL
1T BEs
The defenseless state of the barbor of New
York is not a new subject for discussion amoDi
thinking, patriotic citizens. 1t has been talked
over and written about for several years past;
and, long before the advent Of iron-clads, wbeI
stone walls were only to be confronted by
wooden ships, our harbOr was deemed to be
comparatively defenseless. It is true that We
had several forts, finished and partly finished
half armed and not manned, but it was and is
the opinion Of experienced engineers that,
under the most favorable circumstances, they
could make but feeble resistance against the
then powerful naval batteries of England OF
France. If such was the case under the past
state of Oilesse and defense. what would be
the relative positions nowi We dislike to con.
template the possibility.
We are gratifed, however, to SEQ that the
attention of our merchants and Of other prac-
teal men is at length thoroughly aroused as
to ~ necessity for doing something to secure
the safety Of our harbor against all possible at
tacks from seaward, and thus protect the mil
lions of property which else would be at the
mercy of any enemy having half dozen i'm
pregnable iron-clads
A HarbOr Defense Committee is now sitting
in this city for the purpose of considering the
subject in oil its bearings, and to devise or
ndopt some means for securing the desired
end 1t is understood that a large number OF
ingenious devices have been and viii be offered,
but we would have the Committee bear this
point in mind, and let 1t be the first and last
consideration before deciding, that all plans OF
Harbor Defense predieated upon our present
untrusiuorthy guns, rhih are utterly useless
against iron sides, should be abandoned, as not
in any way meeting the emergency. We or
rive at this conclusion not merely from our
own reading, but from the official reports oil
our Ordnance Bureaus, whose printed expe-
rience proves that scarcely one of tho large
guns land no other can be used against iron
clads) con be used with safety, and then only
with 30 small charge that the initial velocity
given to the shot, even at short range, would
hardly enable it TO dent the side of well.ar.
niored ship. All propositions, therefore, which
do not contemplate aud present an entire
change in tho making Of great guns, are, to
our mind, entirely worthless.
II is true that We can thickly coat our stone
walls with layer upon layer of iron, so that
the enemy's shot could not damage the exte.
rior; but if the guns in the forts cannot dc.
stroy or beat back the attacking ships, what
matter whether forts are eIteriorly impregna-
bic or not This is the vital point in this
most important inquiry; and upon it's acbiev-
ment depends the success or failure Of the 10.
bors Of tho Commission,
The proportions Of Mr.. Norman Wizard to
the IIarbor Defense Committee, which we pub.
sh on another page, seem to meet this diff.
Guilty at the very outset The matter Of fact.
common sense manner of conveying his ideas,
strips the subject Of half ito apparent difficult
ties. The substance is this: Guns burst and
always have burst. Founders continue to make
guns of the same general form aud from the
single material Of cast iron. and ordnance
officers continue 10 burst the samej and still
the work goes on in blindness, the Government
paying vast sums Of money for this playing at
cannOn.founding. Mr. Wizard says he has dis.
covered the cause of the bursting of great
guns, and proposes remedy. His theory is
+" that guns are burst b. the unequal expansion
of the inner and the outer metal Of the gun,
by the sudden communication TO the former of
heat caused by the combustion OF the gunpow.
der; and to obviats tho cause aud the result,
il to secure means Of compensation by using
for the inner and outer portions OF each gun
metals of different degrees of e1pansibility."
The theory is as simple AZ it IA important, and
Committee.