Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-16
HARHoR AND COAST DEFENSE,


 The defense of our harbors and coast is at
 last attracting some of the attention which
 should have been bestowed upon so important matter long ago. It is seen that, as things are now, a foreign foe would have little diff culty in doing immense damage to the great cities on the seacoast, and that it is but pru-
 dent to be prepared to defend those cities be-
 fore the necessity for doing so arises.
 The people of New York are naturally much
 interested in this matter, and the result of a
 recent examination of what are, by courtesy,
 called the 'tdefenses" of New York harbor is
 calculated to give them 8 clear idea of their
 exposed condition. The examination was
 made by committee of the Legislature, ac-
 companied by General Tower, General Abbott
 and Lieutenant Griffin, of the Torpedo school,
 and Major Sanger, commander of Fort Colum
 bus on Governors Island. At Fort Hamil-
 ton there are ffty-three heavy guns and four
 field pieces. Most of the guns are of the old
 pattern, but a few have been converted from
 smooth bores to eight-inch bore riied guns.
 The armament of Fort Wadsworth consists of
 196 heavy cannon and six field pieces. They
 are, with the exception of some eight-inch
 rifled cannon, all old style and, like those at Fort Hamilton, inadequate to cope with the
 heavily plated European men-of-war. The plating on the sides of European ironclads IS from Al to 24 inches thick, and there is, 1t IS said, no gun in New York harbor, or any other part of the United States, which can pene- trate more than T inches of plating. The stone Notifications at the waters edge at Fort Wsdsworth are not fit to withstand heavy fire It was shown that the French man-of
 war Magenta, the largest war vessel afioat, only draws 294 feet of water, and reference to the coast survey chart showed that she could enter New York harbor with ease. s'There," said Major Sanger, "a vessel may lie and deraolish this fort (Fort Wadsworth) at pleasure with her immense guns If we had twelve or sixteen-inch bore rifed cannon no vessel could pass. While an ironclad was engaged in removing torpedoes from it's path it could be destroyed if the forts had guns heavy enough. The garrison of this fort ought to be able to project missile right down to Sandy Hook. It would be an easy matter for @ foreign fleet to send several small vessels into the bay to be destroyed by tor pedoes. The path thus cleared, the great ironclads of the fleet would then enter, and the only thing which could save New York would be heavy cannon" The other sea coast cities are equally or more defenceless, and the wisdom of providing heavy cannon, together with other effective means of de fense, is too apparent to need stating.
 Heavy cannon and torpedoes have been most talked and written about in connection with harbor and coast defense, but Rear Ad miral Ammen thinks the marine ram should be principally relied on for that purpose. 1 While some will think that he attaches too | much importance to the ram as means of | defense, it must be admitted that he presents | excellent reasons for it's use. As he says, an l important distinction that should not be over | looked exists between harbor and coast de- ! fense Our coastwise commerce would not l last long with an enemy cruising upon our | shores, and torpedoes and heavy cannon alone | can neither prevent this nor his covering with | a fleet the approaches to our principal ports l on the breaking out of hostilities and making | a prize of every vessel bound in our out To | protect ourselves from such aggresstons as these, we must have at hand the means to | drive an enemy from the vicinity of our l shores:s We have no armor-plated ships | that could successfully contend with those of | foreign countries. Must we," asks Rear Admiral Ammep, ''then match the expensive armor- plated, gun-bearing vessels with simi- | lar constructions It seems to me there is | much shorter, less expensive and more effec- | tive method. Considerations of both econo- | my and efficiency point to the marine ram as | the maln defense. This does not do away | with the necessity of providing ourselves with | ordnance of the most improved type, as well | as with proper Notifications, and for the use l of torpedoes, both fixed and movable, for | all these things are proper and necessary ad juncts in any well devised scheme of defense. But it is to the ram that would look as the cheapest, readiest and surest weapon upon which to depend" A ram so built as to be | practically invulnerable by shot, swift and | easily handled, would plainly be an effective weapon for coast defense.