Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-22
ID FORTIFY NEW YORK
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 FOUR LINES OF DEFENSE The Lower and Upper Bays and the Sound to Be Strongly Guarded From
 the Shore.
 
New York Herald.

lenses to protect the seaport cities. The weak defenses of New, York city, says the general, are a serious menace to the country. In the event of war with a na- val power this cfty,on account of it's enor- nous wealth, would be the first point of attack by a hostile feet Y5
 With the exception of the heavy nor tar batteries at Sandy Hook and David island, the city is absolutely without any defenses worthy of the name Plans have been laid, however, pending an ap- propriation from congress. which will render the harbor of New York practi- cally impregnabie.
 The most strongly fortified point now is Sandy Hook, which has a battery of sixteen 12-inch rifed mortars, besides two 12-inch guns, one 10-inch and one 8-inch gun. There are other powerful guns not yet mounted besides some big rifles used for practice. Each battery is protected by rapid-fire machine guns to repulse any land force seeking to cap ture the batteries. .- The whole sixteen mortars were fired not long ago and cov cred large area with bursting shells, any one of which would completely dis able a warship.
 By their Simultaneous charge nearly five tons of flying iron would envelop hostile fleet, and its annihilation by such deadly hail of bursting shells would be inevitable. These guns have fighting range of three miles, though they will send pr0jeetile more than three times that distance. The range of accu- racy, or fighting range, as the ordna Ae department calls it, is, however, not more than three miles.
 The batteries are arranged in groups of four at the bottom of a deep pit dug out of the sand and faced with concrete. They are fired and aimed by means of range finder, and at no time are visible from the sea. In fact the battery whicA it situated at the extreme end of the spit cannot be seen even on land until the observer is close to the mortar pit and can look over. X
 Besides the battery at Sandy Hook there will be sixteen mortars exactly similar upon David's island, in the sound.t Ten of these are already in place and the supplements are ready for the re- maining six. The David's island and the Sandy Hook batteries constitute at pres ent the only defenSes. of New York har- bor. New York can be approached by a hostile fleet either by the entrance at the Narrows or by way of Long Island sound. The new plans for defense pro- tect both ways of approach. but naturai- ly most attention has been paid to the easier entrance-through the Narrows. <
 Opposite Sandy Hook another powerful mortar battery has been designed. It will be situated ,on Plum island, in. Sheepshead bay. Only mortars will be cause the projectiles will have to be hurled across the marrow strip of land east of Manhattan Beach. It is only, nine miles from Plum island to Sandy Hook so that the cross fire between the two batteries will make it remarkably uncomfortable for warships trying to pass between them- ,,s
 The shallow water, except in the chan nels. renders 1t impossible to keep far enough. from Sandy Hook to avoid the terrible-guns on the spit The mortars on Plum island will effectually prevent any shallow draught vessels from pass ing near there or anchoring in the vicin- ity. There is, therefore, no safe anchor age for any vessels anywhere within range of the harbor.
 Should the enemy's fleet succeed in passing the great mortar batteries it would then meet what might possibly prove to be the most effectual defense which New York will possess. This is group of four revolving turrets, equipped with very heavy caliber guns to be built on Romer shoal. The armor of the tur- rets could be made impregnable to guns of any size, for there need be no limit to thickness as there is on warships The turrets. placed on the shoal, and thus commanding all the channels navigable to big ships, would present most for midable defense.
 From this shoal enormous 13-inch guns will be trained to any point of the com pass with deadly accprasy. They will be connected by armored wings, so that the defending garrison can pass from one turret to another. These wings or gal leries will be protected by rapid fire guns. The method which will probably be used in constructing the turrets is that of sinking hollow steel piles in the sand and then filling them with concrete. Such foundation will support almost any weight and render the steel fortress safe from any weather. The steel will be faced with concrete to guard against cor roson from the sea water.
 The third line of defense will be power full batteries at Fort Wadsworth and Fort Hamilton. Large areas of land around the forts have been purchased by the government for the purpose of constructing Notifications. which consist nowadays of deep holes in the ground in- stead of stone battlements. There are plenty of guns in the forts now, but the projectiles from them will bound off the hull of modern ironolad like beans off a plate glass window. Many of the old- fashioned guns have been removed from, Fort Hamilton and their places will be taken by high power modern guns and mortars. Both forts will have a large number of and 6-inch rapid-fire guns, which in the narrow space between the two would work great havoc. Although it might be possible for warships to- steam past a mortar battery without being disableda this could not happen in the Narrows. The two forts must be silenced before an enemy could proceed. for at Fort Lafay1 cite, and reaching across to the other side, would stretch a string of electrici submarine mines, while Whitehead tors pedoes would go whizzing out from Fort Wadsworth side. These torpedoes are all ways kept in stock, and at twenty-four hours notice the. Narrows could be blocked by those terrors of modern war.l shps-submarine mines. A
 It is a big undertaking to clear away a nest of torpedoes-an absolutely i'm possible one under cross fire from two forts. The exact spot where these tor pedoes would be placed is known only to the government engineers. who carefully guard the secret. It would be very close to Fort Wadsworth.. however, and a room from which they could be fired electric ally. either singly or altogether, would be fitted up in the fort. They can also be arranged to explode upon contact with a vessel .,.s. a.=s -f
 When all these plans, are completed tho fy-a poa to Naxy Yorls 10 rh0r of a