The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-11

Washington, June 0-By next fall. If all
goes we'll, the new battery of pneumatic
guns located at Fort Winfield Scott, on
the Preside reservation, intended for the
protection of San Francisco, will be turn
ed over to the war department. The
battery is even now practically complete,
but owing to difficulty of securing an
adequate water supply, upon the applica-
ton of contractors. the war department
granted an extension of time for the de-
livery from April to November q next.
To operate the plant, a powerful steam
pumping equipment is necessary to COM
press the air, which throws the prOjec-
tiles laden with half ton of dynamite,
and of course the steam plant requires a
water supply for the boilers When good
progress has been made in putting up
the battery and machinery, the contract
ors found to their dismay that not
drop of fresh water was to be found on
the site. To obtain water they were
obliged to run pipes half a mile to tap
the conduit Leading to the Preside, and
then to install pumps to force the water
up to the bluff. They have contended
that the government should defray the
expense of this work, as the water is in
tended for the supply of the fort, but as
the contract was so worded as TO require
them to furnish every appurtenance nee
eSsary to the operation of the battery.
the success of their application is doubt
full
The Battery.
The battery is composed of three 10
inch guns, one more than the battery in
stalled at Sandy Hook for the defense of
the New York harbor, and it is so placed
as to give it complete sweep of the main
channel leading up to San Francisco. At
present there are but two of these bat
terleS in use and while it was contem-
plated to install another in Boston har-
a q hal n
doned- The difficulty lies not in the lack
OF money but in a serious objection that
has been made by engineer officers that
the dynamite guns would in such places
as Boston harbor endanger the whole of
the costly and elaborate system of sub
marine defenses planned for the protec-
ton of the harbor.
Wherever the depth OF the water is not
too great at the entrance to a large har-
Dor the engineers have placed or intend TO
place in case of war, submarine mines,
and anchored torpedoes lying beneath the
surface of the water. The accepted plan
of operations against such obstacles to
the entrance OF fleet is to send ahead
small torpedo boats, which by firing tor
pedoeS or heavy charges of powder in the
channels succeed in exploding the hid
den mines by the shock and thus clearing
the way for the larger ships. This plan
was used with success by the Japanese
at Port Arthur and Wei Hal Wei, so that
the engineer officers feel that it is neces-
Sary to protect their mines in turn by
placing them under the line of fire OF
their Shore batteries which would be Pc
lied on TO keep off the torpedo boats. But
in the case of the dynamite batteries it
has been urged that the effect of a. miss
in a shot would be to explode all of the
mines in the vicinity of the place where
the projectiles strike This would open
the very channels that the guns are de-
signed to aid in keeping closed against a
hostile fleet Fortunately the objection
does not lie against such harbors that
at San Francisco, where the water is so
deep that submarine mines cannot be
effectively used. but it undoubtedly does
apply to many of our other harbors.