The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-04-22
COAST DEFENSE GUNS.
Government Officials Test the First
Battery at Sandy Hook.

Some Engines of War Such as Will Prob
ably be Placed in Portland Harbor
Before Many Years.
The United States governments have
been testing at Sandy Hook some of the
big coast defense guns, such as are to be
placed at other places. including Port
land Harbor. This recently completed
and apparently impregnable mortar bat
terv was begun several years ago, and
its construction has been carried on with
great secrecy. Tt is situated on the ex-
treme point of Sandy Hook, and is
known as Battery A. Its armament
commands not only all the ship channels
leading into the Lower Bay, but also the
bay Itself, it's mammouth mortars hav-
ing maximum range of ABOUT five
miles, Surrounding the battery is a
massive stone counterscrap twenty feet
high for defence against assault by land
/ ing parties. Within the counterscrap is
an earthwork thirty-fve feet high, I'M
penetrable b! the projectiles Of the most
powerful guns ever yet produced, and
surrounding the base of the earthwork
is deep moat or ditch.
Protected by this earthwork are four
deep pits of solid masonry, in each Of
which four morrars are mounted, says
the New York Tribune. These are cou-
nected by an underground mb-proof
gallery. Along the side of this gallery,
| ind Of l,a1 o,k
number of destructive projectiles. Dis.
Getting the gallery is great powder
magazine, protected on all sides by heavy
steel armor plates and earthworks. Ex-
| tending from the magazine to the NOR
| tar pits are steel tracks, on which tram
| way trucks which convey the heavy am
| munition to the mortars are run. Turn
tables are placed at each intersection of
the gallery, the main entrance of which
and those to the counterscrap galleries
| being provided with steel bullet-proof
doors. As assaulting force to gain an en-
trance to the galleries or pits would have
to carry the surrounding counterscrap
| by storm and cross the deep ditch under
whitening fire from many machine
guns which enfilade every inch of the
ditch, which would surely prove to be a
ditch of death" to all who entered it
under such circumstances.
PROJECTILES WEIGHING HALF A
TON.
| The mortars in this masterpiece of
military engineering are of the latest i'm
proved type, and have been undergoi ng
severe and satisfactory tests at the prov
ing grounds OF the reservation during
the last five years. They are mounted
on pivotal carriages, which may he
swung in complete circle, and elevated
or depressed at will for any range which
may be desired. The accuracy with
which their shot or shell may be pro-
jected is assured by their rifling. Their
projectiles weigh LOCO pounds each, and
the maximum charge of the projecting
power is eighty pounds of brown pris-
matte or black sphero-hexagonal powder,
| both kinds being used yesterd ay. Their
breechpins and the. hand-w OK ked appara-
tus by means of which they are loaded,
| aimed and discharged are ingenious in
ventions of remarkable efficiency. Then
off GERS and gunners constitute full
crew for each mortar, but the formidable
wea pons can be handled with considera-
BILE celebrity by crews of only ship men
each. When manned by full crews they
can be discharged, reloaded and aimed
ready for retiring i'll three minutes.
| Their regulation steel conical shells for
use in war cost about so cents pound,
or $500 each. They are known as eek
penetrating shells, and when descending
from an altitude OF over one mile will
penetrate deck-armor eight inches thick
| The cost of their operation is only about
one-third of that of heavy rified 12-inch
guns, and their execution is equally
| effective.
EXTREME ACCURACY OF RANGE.
An accuracy of determining range and
aiming has been attained which enables
their gunners to calculate SO closely
that the entire sixteen shells projected by
them at range of COCO yards will un-
erringly fall within the area of a battle
ships deck, and 10 warship has yet
been, and probably never will be, con-
structed which could withstand the
force of such concentration OF destruc-
| tive projecties of an aggregate weight of
| 16, 600 pounds falling from such height.
| Before the mortars are discharged their
| crews seek shelter in the bonn -proof
galleries, and the firing is accomplished
| by means of long lanyard attached to
| the locks The conclusion caused by
their discharge is SO tremendous that
should a man be unsheltered in the pit
at the moment of firing the action of
his heart would be stopped. In the
course of experimental tests OF the mon
strous engines of warfare, crows that
have been passing high overhead have
fallen dead to the ground ON this ac-
count. When the mortars were dis
charged the other day, some of the spec
tators had their ears stuffed with cotton,
while. other used their finger tips as
shoppers. Had they not done so, although
standing on top of the eartnwork from
fifty to one hundred feet distance from
the sloping edges OF the pits, their ear
drums would have been in imminent
danger of rupture.
WATCHING THE SHOT.
Each pit was served Independently at
| intervals OF about two seconds, thereby
greatly reducing the conclusion, butsprac-
tically dischargipg the entire sixteen
mortars simultaneously. The mortars
were trained at an elevation of 60 de-
grees. The range of the first volley was
down the beach, distance of 5000
yards, as nearly as the topography made
/ , .Af iytC x1e