New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-05-15
nEFENCELEsS sEA-CoASTS'
.r THE MERCY OF oREIeN NAvIEs.



,,r,,rrxASr GRIFFIN TELLs HOW NEw-fohN va
'ih0 ,,,,, pr DESTROYED IN A SHORT TIMk. :,
.o,,tenont Eugene Griffin, of the oni'eu
49, read paper yesterday on Our seaco" :.
"soas before the Military Service insn'".'o"
noxevnor,s Island Many ladies were presenV ia our
saoono war with Great Britain the Lieutenant ~ our
covernment took up the defence OF our SOL a. atoms
na,bor, our interior navigation ana W" OF ma
The works constructed for this purpose 80 Of the time
sourv and guns equal to any at'acADs given only
so"i'' -. "a A., chou, the works wern = -. anah,e
49,. ,ona and land fronts wero 49," ., Afteen
enc occnnants 10 stand a siege " - Granite forts had
ar,,o LATEST and strongest Vi ~ >, socuritv was
"a" LAY. ,.at walls and greater uesio. ,hrouch the
eighttecs va, imam by any other nation 'nrouea VIZ
reacne' - asemates Lieutenant Grimm caiio y,
' US 90 rho model OF ten-nch shel'' Soe, ond
,nds the most powerful IN use prov 80 ou,o four
,,ated IN contrast huge conicai snei', ar,od n
90, high which stood besile the oVne, "u , rodorn
,rs ,,mense projectlle was mooel VI ' "a
The iinnoHSo rooton pun. weighs 1000 pounds ana
80. O,n with projectle force OF ooooo
tn cr,,nean War with the batteries use" ny '"o TN
-snoht doubts of the utility OF masonry easem"'e M
.,,rd .vstem OF our coast defences was uOo" "
war OF 196i-65. aro,oncd in
enc mower of proectes, and the strength u -, lima
W. 1or called attention to the recent BRUSH sii
1tng eighteen inches Of solid steel arnor W NO -,
s,na,ee of corresponding weightanu power " - -
ns which penetrate % inches OF iron AT %'ooO
a,otnt improvements had been made III po"oor' 'no
inpo 49,, srooller and denser the cocoa powder
-, an esnecally destructive force Each rouno rom
,o,on onn cost $780, with cast iron procedures whio
;th steel the cost was nearly 81 600 forgeu e''
the hest proiectile. Recent experiments hao
dvnamte or nitro-gelatine could be hred ny a" 49,
der charge The so-caled dynamite guns IN "n'0n '
'n,t was fred by compressed air, were limited
,aa "a the gun was OF eio"'
,,n and must be fred at hieh
s's The number of ironclads has greatly increasen
England had four in 1861, hfty'six now fr""'' '
then anu sfer the war efforts were made by our Govern
soon % its seacoast forts to the state OF al
men' 70 n embTasre shields which tried proved
failure, internally and externsy. nnld name
ss feet of the masonry while seventy
feet Of sand necessary to stop large
ISIS ISIS our onr armament was then mostly smooth
Sores Batteries were begun, put appao Pcept had
teen spent to improve defences ana INC % re
for their preservation had only !eit tne We now
had $50 snch rifles made over fromo Toner d
pores Siy ems and one i2nch mortar for our protec
ton modern iron-clad could lie az q 5 s our
anu had so far made effort to protect our
seacoasI Grim considered our torpedo deences,
s,,hench equal 10 any in the world OF little value Wit
ont land defences as single ship could DC ssccee
nar the way for any number at any Time Our olu se
cpsst defences long out date our old casemates Win
gun batteries without guns ana mortar vas NOT a
harbor on our coast that could not be captured Dy am
rnnc,aS fleet and there not sea-coast power III
the world which did not possess such a ne S;
Nodern naval armament was expensive ~. vus
the modern system OF war imposed the expense on 'e
vannnisbed nower Should this country De lnVoNeu ~
war even with Spain or Holland their arnOrea sniPS
wond AT once set out for coast Inc terror Which
would follow here would only be paraleed Dy tnat LVi-
Iorino the appearance OF the Merrimac; nt!.elsnt
6onrs woud bring feet here from Bermuda anu tnrty
fonr from Halifax. hostile fleet in the pay "oulu
have So 100000 worth OF property IN rahge, anu
fhe havoc which would follow could he Juugeu ,ro1
mat produced by a few pounds Of dynamite In Engian9
Tnfs city would be doomed; witness the polhoaIu
rent OF Paris and Alexandria Protectoh tue sPeaHcl
nrged meant protection against war itself ioielgh
nowers In case Of diplomatic complications WIN u.s.
would feel no restraint in present deieneeless con
dtiOn We should have navy for aggressive wa,aIe
n prompt action were taken now II would DC thres
wears before we could get Krupp Armstrong guns ana
Then time would be needed for mounting them Ehte-
porized Notifications were deluslOh- E'erSVn'
nointed to the need OF Immediate action ,.-
Senator Dolph of Oregon, chairman OF tne Senatc
Committee Coast Defences. praised the paper
and declared that United States had no ortncaons
worthy of the name. II they desired 10 manufacture
ANYTHING larger than q siXneh gun, II would take tntee
wears for them to get the machinery lie promsee "
exert ali his influence toward securing an appropriation
for coast deieDces. -. On "somethine
About FRYE Forks" and on behalf OF inc mIuoH "nu
daughter of the late General Deyin presenter 70 Tie m
stution the Generals headquarters naSs .arSe Oil
haunting OF General Grant horseback was eIt IN ING
care of the organization by Colonel Frederick D. 1ra