The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1894-10-24
MODERN COAST DEFENSE.
AN IMPREGNABLE SYSTEM OF
SEABoARD FoRTIFICATIoNs
What Would Happen If a Hostile
Fleet Should Attack New York
WDanger Areas,, in the Harbor.


Y V twelve-inch steel rifles,
twelve-inch steel mortars,
automatic gun-lifts that play with
great fifty-two ton cannon as if they
were toys, and all the other recent i'm
provements in coast defense, the day
is near when New York City will be
protected from danger of invasion by
sea by an impregnable system of forti-
hcations When that day comes the
artilleryman's fun will be over, for
promiscuous target practice is hardly
possible with big guns whose life is
less than fifty rounds while each shot
costs $1,000. And should an enemy's
feeet attack New York, he will have
still less fun, for then he will be stuck
away under bomb-proof, where he
won't know whether he scored hit or
q miss, because he won't see what he's
shooting at.
Although not new, this will proba-
bly, seem to the public the most inter
esting phase OF the development of
modern ordnance. There is no exag-
geration in it, either. When the pro-
posed system of Notifications is fin
ished, should there ever be an attack
from the sea only few dozen officers
and men would be where they could
see the attacking feet at all. Almost
all officers and men would be below
bomb-proofs, in concrete, steel-lined
gun-lifts or deep in vaulted mortar
pits.
Down there, where nothing can be
seen except the huge breech blocks of
the great guns and the complicated
machinery for moving them, the can
non viii be loaded, aimed, raised over
the steel plated parapet and fired, and
not a man will know what he fired at
or whether the shot did any execu-
ton. The method by which this is ac-
complished is much more simple than
would be expected from this state
ment. 1t is this:
The United States Engineer Corps
has carefully plotted out on a map all
the channels and deep-water basins
and holes around New York, aud then
the map has been covered with little
squares, each of which is numbered.
Each square represents the danger
area" to a ship; that is, shot fired
anywhere in that square would hit a
vessel stationed there. Now suppose
all the different forts have their NOR
tar batteries, gun-lifts, ETC., which have
been designed for them, and an invad-
ing fleet is sighted approaching Sandy
Hook. At once every guns company
is told of to its station.
The officer in command of each gun
has table giving the numbers of the
squares, and opposite each number
telling him Just what elevation and
what lateral direction he must give his
cannon in order to get the range. Each
gun is connected by telegraph with an
observation tower, in which are the
officers commanding operations to-
gether with signalmen and other as
sistants. They are all provided with
range-finders and glasses, and the map
with the numbered squares IS spread
out before them.
As soon as the positions Of the ships
can be fixed, one of the officers begins
to plot the course of the vessels on the
chart. Finally, say one of the ships
passes into square No. 81, and it is de-
cided to fire at her when she gets into
square No. 2S.
click, tick" says the telegraph to
all the grim, hidden men behind the
grim, hidden guns.
"Train guns on square No. 2S. ="
Around swing the guns, and the Of
ficers elevate or depress them by aid
of level and azimuth. All is ready.
The observers in the towers have
seen the doomed ship steam into square
%. "Readyl" says the telegraph. Up
goes the great twelve-inch gun on It's
disappearing carriage. Up flies the
ten-inch rife ON its big gun lift. The
dynamite guns and the mortars don't
move. They are already trained on
the square because they fire at great
angle. The ship passes into the
square. "Fire ~ ticks the telegraph.
With n crash that shakes the earth
flames burst from dozen different
points and the next instant quarter
of a hundred projectiles fall on the
ship. The guns drop back behind
their parapets and the deafened,
powder blackened men clean them
quickly and load again. They have
nothing else to do. They canuot tell
what effect their fire has had. They
have seen nothing. They can hear
nothing unless shells from the ships
fall on their gun pits and tear up the
earth above them, trying to get at
them.
This is no mere theory. 1t has
been proved in practice that with the
accuracy now absolutely attained by
the modern breech-loading, al-steel,
rihed cannon and the all-sueel, rided
mortars, shotafter shot can be dropped
into space less than that occupied by
n modern ocean steamship.
The mortars will be placed IN bat
teries of sixteen, consisting OF groups
of four, and the aggregate weight OF
the shells, if the sixteen be fired at
once, would be 10, 900 pounds, besides
being filled with explosive charges.
At test at range of five and q
half miles, ten consecutive shots all
fell within space 1875 l-3 yards long
and 81 yards wide, about the same
space as that occupied by an ocean
steamship. Thus, If an entire mortar
battery, twelve-inch and ten-inch
gun, were all fred together NATURALLY
not likely circumstance ll,sO1
pounds of steel would fall in one
square. No battle-ship ahoat would