Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-06-28
: q tlie United states reIhrS

SO great was the precision with
which the mortars were handled that,
after tho sixteen mortars had been
simultaneously discharged, and tho
result examined, it was found that oil
OF the shells, after travcrsing over 600O
yards, had dropped within an area of
500 by $50 feet. The shells were so
scattered about within this space that
no war vessel could have escaped tho
shower of projoctiles, any one of
which, il charged with high oxplo.
sive. rs it is intended they sbnll be,
would DO sufficient to carry destruc-
ton i'll its path. Tho battery is tho
first of its kind in tho world.
1T was built under tho joint super
vision Of tho Engineer, Fertilization,
aud Ordnance Departments of tho
United States Army, and is now ready
for use. The battery il it's entirety
is about 500 feet square, inclosed by a
couuterscarp wall over twenty feet
high, upon which arc planted rapid
tire guns, with which to rcpcl mn Mt
tncking party. Within the wall is n
ditch, from the inner side of which
thcro is an earth cmbanlment, or
scarp. about iifty-fivc feet high, that
hlls tho entire space, except where it
has been cxcavated for the mortar
pits, and passageway to reach them
and the galleries underground. Under
neath tho embnnkment nro bomb
proof galleries connecting with the
pits mud IL magazine for storage of am
munition. Thoro is mortar pit ut
each corner of tho gront cmknnk-
mcnt, or acarp, within cach
81 which four mortnrs arc
placed i'll such manner that they can
be trained Mt any desired JINGLE Tho
peculiarly of tho battery, MS it APP
pears to II laymau, is that those who
direct and discharge tho mortnrs neeJ
not have the slightest idea of the 10.
cation OF tho object that it is their do
siro to destroy. Tho mechanism for
working the mortars is 80 finely nd
ustcd that MI that those within the
pits have to do is to obey the orders
Of tho officer, who direct their nc tions
by telephone or telegraph from any
reasonable distance.
1t is tho intention of tho army Of.
iicials to have tho waters in the yicin-
ity of tho entrance to New York Hnr-
Dor mapped out 30 accuratolyt and so
scientifically plotted on thcir maps,
that tho exact location of my vessel
can be determined Mt tho shortest no.
lice after she Is sighted; and inter
onco being sighted the mortnrs can be
trained upon her with destructive
precision. Tho location of the vessel
will be done by nh office outside the
bnttcry. He will then communicate
with those within tho pits by telc-
phone, indicating the elevation ut
which tho mortars are to be adjusted
to cover tho plano or plot within
which the vessel is, and the rest will
simply depend upon the time con-
sumod by the shells in their flight.
Tho interior arrangement of the
battery, except tho little that cnn be
seen by looking down into the pits
from the top of the scarp, aro not
known and will not bc disclosed to tho
public. Whatever they are they arc
covered for protection by masonry
and earth to depth of fully thirty
1.-Two feet, and this makes them impreg-
nnblo from above. The four pits ire
SO constructed that if M enemy were
fortunate enough to silence tho NOR
lars i'll ono of them by stray shot the
others would in no way be affected, rs
tho distance between them il suf-
ticient for protection. The only dam
age that could be dono to tho battery
by shot thrown vertically would he
the destruction to the countersc If >
wall, and the only way thattho batter
les could DO silenced would be by
dropping n shot or shell into ench OF
them from overhead.
Tho mortars were handled in the
following mnnnes: 1t having been do
tcrmined to locate n mythical cnemy's
vessel, which would DO $50 feet long
and seventy-fvo feet beam, 5000 yards
from tho battery, down tho beach, the
mortnrs were trained to hit her. They
were loaded with shells that weighed
800 pounds each, and each mortar was
charged with sixty pounds of brown
prlsmatic power. They were then
elevated to sixty degrees, connected
with the electric battery, and at the
word OF command from Captain Heath,
OF the Ordnance Board. tho sub
batteries were fired SUCCESSFULLY with
Two seconds i'll time between the dis
charges. This slight difference in the
time of dischurging the mortars was
for the purpose of allowing the shells
to be observed ms they passed through
the air. AS each sub battery of four
mortars was Neutrality-suspicious. pro.
iectiles were SeasilysSseeh rs they
mounted skyward in their onward
light, and 80 evenly did they move
through the air that until they began
to descend they looked like four spots
on die.
After the mortars had been fired at
the six-thousand-yard range they were
swGbbed out and fired at q three.
thousand.yard range, with eight
hundred-pound shells and twenty
nino pounds of black sphere hexagonal
powder each.
Their case of adjustment and tho
precision with which they did their
work elicited the admiration of the
loo army officers present. New York