Morning journal and courier., 1883-04-10
Snirrnxl snS Go,lritr.
Tuesday, April 10. 1883.
Coast Defenses.

gestiOns.
 Capt. Charles H. Townsend hands us copy of the Chief of Engineers last report to the Secretary of War, in which his sug- gestions in the report of the year previous regarding sea-coast defenses are emphasized. The report will be found below in full and is worthy careful reading.
 No appropriations for new works or for the modification of our existing sea-coast de- lenses have been made for many years. These latter consist of two classes -casemate defenses and earthen defenses. Our case mate defenses, than which there were none stronger in the world in their time, were built in the days of smooth-bore guns, and when wooden walls were the only protection of guns afioat but the masonry scarps of these defenses, long since out of date, would not adequately resist the fire of the powerful rifled guns with which the powers of Europe have armed their ships of war, and the case mates or gun-rooms are too small in all their dimensions for the use of modern sea-coast artillery. The fronts of modern casemated
 works are either constructed entirely of iron,
 or have massive shields of iron for the pro- B6CbAOA O4 gum o44A SAA4AOA5" WV AH'O ASS N
 single work of either kind.
 The parapets and traverses of earthen bat
 teries, when constructed of thicknesses now
 deemed sufficient by military engineers, re. quire great development of space, many
 times greater than formerly, and the sites at the headlands and within many of our har bors suitable for the defense of our cities, navy yards and arsenals of supply by means of such batteries are comparatively few. Most of these sites are now occupied by earthworks, some of which were constructed l many years ago. Their parapets are thin, their traverses are not high enough or thick enough to meet the requirements of a good ! defense, and some are without any trav- erses whatever and are antiquated and inefficient. While the re- paaining number of our earthern batteries are comparatively modern and have thick para pets, high and thick bonneted traverses, well protected magazine and shell rooms, and platforms adapted for modern cannon, they were but partially finished when Congress
 ceased to make appropriations for fortifica-
 tions, and they are fast being destroyed by
 the elements by reason of their incompletion.
 In respect of submarine mines or torpe-
 does we are better prepared, although much
 remains to be done to make this part of our system complete. as will be seen further on.
 Although torpedoes cannot be relied upon to
 exclude the war ships of an enemy, fer the
 reason that if he is not exposed to the fire of Notifications on shore he can by
 means of his boats grapple for and remove
 the torpedoes at his leisure, they are an in dispensable adjunct to Notifications in mod ern harbor. defence. As many torpedoes as the appropriations for the purpose have al- lowed have been purchased and stored in the Notifications of some of our principal har-
 bors, ready to be planted in their channels and fairwaYs and considerable numbers of electrical instruments for firing them from the shore have also been acquired While this has been done, and the plans of the torpedo lines and groups have been prepar- ed for some of the most important of our harbors, they could not successfully be util- ized in the event of war for the want of the subterranean masonry gaIleri ies leading from the Notifications to low water which are necessary for carrying the wires connecting the torpedo lines with the electri- cal instruments on shore. These instruments must be placed in chambers within the forti- ficetions, hidden from the enemy's view and protected from his shot and shell. Nor have the chambers themselves been constructed, except in 8 very few instances, for the reason that appropriations have not been made for them, although this department has for some years past, in it's annual reports, presented the impolicy of delaying these important con- structions until the breaking out of foreign war.
 LII 4OEI9E 6IdDOIdIO T0pOEGS IEOM G41S CS- partment, especially the reports for the years 1880 and 1881, it has been endeavored to in yoke the attention to our unpreparedness for war, and to show that modern Notifications
 require many years for their construction, and that we are almost utterly lacking in
 such Notifications that neither our geo. graphical position, nor our forbearance, nor the equity of our policy, can avail to pre- vent our being engaged, sooner or later, in foreign war that when war comes in these days, 1t often comes suddenly that to Ee prepared for war is often to prevent it that some of the richest of our cities and the most important of our navy yards and arse nals of supply for our armies are within easy reach of the naval depots of some of the most powerful of maritime nations, and that in a few days after the declara- ton of war it is possible for the enemy s fleets to run into our harbors and in a few hours destroy immense amounts of the prop erty, which, under present conditions, would be exposed to his shot and shell, and which
 has been estimated at $2, 100000; that, how ever powerful in numbers and valor our ar
 mics may be, without the aid of fortiiea- tions and their accessories, they cannot pre- vent the destruction of our seaboard cities
 by the ships of maritime foe, and that, while reliance can be had in no other mode of defense, defense by Notifications and torpedoes is the most efficient, the most en- during and the least expensive. Our present system of seacoast defense is the same as that which has been steadily pursued by the department from the first, excepting the changes which have been brought about by the intro duction of torpedoes into modern warfare (and these have added much more to the de- fense than to the attack, but now fortifca- tions must be made very much stronger than formerly. The conditions which must be filled by this system may be stated as fol lows: Efficient Notifications must command from the shores exterior to our harbors all the waters from which the enemy can reach our cities and navy yards with his shot and shell; the harbor mouths and all the narrow passes within them must also be occupied, and if nature has not afforded all the posi- tions deemed requisite others must, if prac- ticable, be formed artifcially, so that the enemy may nowhere find shel- ter from our fire while lying within our harbor, should he succeed in passing the water line of works. The harbor mouths and channels must be obstructed by lines of electrical torpedoes for holding the enemy's vessels under fire of the Notifications. These must be previously constructed and stored in the latter and laid, in the advent of use, in systems, the plans of which have been care fully elaborated in time of peace by studies of the local charts and tidal currents, each harbor having it's own system recorded in this department. The wires for conducting the current from the electric apparatus on those must, at the same time, be laid securely in subterranean galleries carried out to low water, and the electric machines themselves must be placed in cham bers within the Notifications, hidden from the enemy, and secured beyond all peradventure from his direct and curved fire. These galleries and chambers must be covered with heavy masonry arches, and great masses of earth, and the former, to be efficient must be indurated, and the latter competed by time. The torpedo lines must be served by officers selected from the engineers and artillery, assisted by detach- ments from torpedo corps of Intelligent and skilled engineer soldiers, and both of fcers and men must be thoroughly instruct ed on the theory and practice of electricity and torpedo Instructions, for they must know how to render the torpedoes instantly harmless for our own vessels, or active against an enemy's. Heavy mortars must be placed in large num- bers to command all those positions where an enemy is likely to anchor within their range, either for the purpose of tampering with or destroying our torpedo lines, or shelling our cities and public depots of mili- tary and naval supplies. The efficiency of mortar batteries against shipping is ac- knowledged by all military engineers; it is fully appreciated by the naVies me on ond fhau