New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-04-12
GREAT GUNS AT SANDY HOOK
SATISFACTORY EXHIBITION OF THE NEW
MORTAR BATTERY.

uARRoR DEFENCE FORTIFICAT1ONS CAPABLE OF
SAYING mo ADMlTTANCE" TO AN INVADER
AND BACKING IT Up EXTENDED RANGE
AND COMPLETE ACCURACY OF AIM
10000 POUNDS OF METAL AT
ONE DISCHARGE-ALI SEA
CHANNELS TO THE HAIR
FOR COVERED.
highly successful and extremely impressive
exhibition of the wonderful accuracy and effect
iveness Of the sixteen new twelve-inch rified
nortars and the ten and tweve-inch rifed heavy
ordnance mounted modern disappearing gun
carriages. en- the Government reservation at
Sandy Hook. made yesterday in the pres
ence Of over one hundred Army officers stationed
in the forts around this city and at West Point
and a few from more distant stations The dis
play was planned by the joint Board of Ord
nance and FortihcatOns of which Lieutenant
General John NJ. Schofield. commanding the
United States Army. is president. In order to
give many officers as possible a convenient
opportunity to for themselves the marvellous
perfection to which harbor fortlficatons and
heavy ordnance have been brought The officers
from the garrisons of Wiett's Point. Fort
Schuyler Governors Island and Forts Wadsworth
and Hamilton We're conveyed to and from the
reservation on the Government tugboats General
Meigs, Ordnance and Engineer Among them
were Major-Ceneral Nelson A Miles command
ing the Department of the East, and his staff
Brigadier-General H. L. Abbott. president Of the
Board of Fortitications and engneer-in-chief Of
the United States Army; Major Frank II. Phipps,
president of the Board Of ordnance; Captain
Frank Heath. commanding the reservation;
Colonel G. l.. Gillespie. in charge of the fOrti-
ications of the harbOr and the Hudson River;
Colonel James " Moore. Assistant Quarter
master-General; Colonels Z. Mckay Russell.
Woodruff. Volkmar, Hughes Ernst. Mills, Stew
ems. Todd and Stearns Majors Haskins and
Turnbull: Captains Crozier. Anderson, Van Ness.
Russell, Fiske. Black and Andruss. and Leu
tenants Bailey, Snow. Todd Wiser and Best.
The recently completed and apparently impreg-
nable mortar battery begun several years
ago. and its construction has been carried on
with great secrecy. 1t is situated 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 mammoth NOR
tars having maximum range Of about five
miles Surrounding the battery is massive
stone counterscarp twenty feet high for defence
against assault by landing parties. Within the
counterscarp is earthwork thrty-Ave feet
high impenetrabe by the projectiles of the most
powerful guns ever yet produced. and surround
ing the base Of the eorthwork is a deep moat
ditch.
Protected by this earthwork are four deep pits
Of solid masonry. in each Of which four mortars
are mounted. These are connected by an under
ground bomb-proof gallery. Alorg the side Of
this gallery. in time of war, would be stored
the gallery is a great powder magazine, pro-
tected on all sides by heavy steel armor plates
and earthwOrks. Extending from the magazine
10 the mortar pits are steel tracks, on which
tramway trucks which convey the heavy ammu-
milton to the mortars run. Turntables are
placed at each intersection of the gallery. the
main entrance Of which and those to the counter
scarp galleries being provided with steel bullet
proof doors. As asslut!ng fore to gain an on
trance TO the galleries or pits would have TO
carry the surrounding cOunterscarp BY storm and
cross the deep ditch under d witherlng fire from
many machine guns which enhade every inch Of
the ditch, which would surely prove 10 be a
ditch Of death 10 all who entered il under such
Circumstances.
PROJECTILES WEIGHING HALF A TON.
The mortars in this masterpiece Of military
engineering are Of the latest improved type.
and have been undergoing severe and salts
factory tests at the proving grounds Of the
reservation during the last five years. They
swung in a complete circle. and elevated or de-
pressed at will for any range which may be de-
sired. The accuracy with which their shot or
shell may be projected is assured by their
rifing Their prOjectiles weigh 1000 pounds
each. and the maximum charge Of the project
ing power is eighty pounds Of brown prismatic
or black sphcro-hexagonal powder, both kinds
being used yesterday Their breechpins ana the
hand-wOrked apparatus by means OF which they
are loaded, aimed and discharged are ingenious
inventions Of remarkable efficiency Ten Off
GERS and gunners constitute full crew for each
mortar. but the Formidable weapons can be
handled with considerable celebrity by crews OF
only six men each. when manned by fun crews
they can be discharged reloaded and aimed
ready for retiring in three minutes Their regu-
latiOn steel cOnical shells for use In war cost
about 80 cents a pound, or $500 each They are
known as deck penetrating shells. and when
descending from 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 rihed Pinch 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
70 calculate so closely that the entire sixteen
shells projected by them at range OF 5000 yards
will unerringly fall within the area Of a battle
ships deck and no warship has yet been and
probably never will be, constructed which could
withstand the force OF such concentration Of
destructive prOjectiles Of an aggregate weight or
is 900 pounds falling from Such heISht. i''i'ic
the noriars are discharged their crews seek
shelter In the bOmbproof galleries ana the nrlhS
,s accomplIehed by means Of a long lanyard at
tached 10 the locks The cOncussion caused by
their discharge is 50 tremendous that should
man be unsheltered in the pit at the moment OF
firing the action Of his heart would Dc stopped IN
the course Of experimental tests OF the monstrous
engines OF warfare, crows that have been passing
high overhead have fallen dead 10 the ground
on this account When the mortars were as
charged yesterday, some OF the spectators hai
their ears stuffed with cotton, while others uSed
their fnEer-tips as shoppers. HAD they hot , uonr
50 althnugb standing on top Of the carthwork
from fifty to one hundred feet distance rom ,ns ls
sloping edges OF the pits. their ear-druhS "'ui'
have been In imminent danger OF rupture
WATCHING THE SHOT
Each pit was served independently yesoei
of. h,iff VI