The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-13

fifty guns at Sandy Hook for four miles ut least
ociorc she could fire q shot that would even
reach tho Notifications, let alone hit a gun.
The mortar batteries are In pits inland from
tho Notifications in which tho big guns are.
They cannot be seen from the surrounding coun-
try even, let alone from the sea. Tho pits nre
deep and fnr a shot to get into ono and roach
tho.bottom whore the guns are placed It would
have to DO fred almost straight up into the air.
Fired at a very slight angle, It would enter the
side of the pit and would not reach the bottom.
To hit ono of these mortar batteries. except by
chance. is utterly out Of the question.
Just these two means of defence would seem
to be sufficient to protect the entrance to the
harbor Of New York, but they are only n small
part OF the whole system Of defence. The tor
pedo system is fully as important. Every one
OF the four channels is laid with torpedocs.
The torpedo lines extend clear across the chan
nels. Nothing could pass them. They can be
exploded one ct a time or twenty or forty at a
time. Each torpedo is capable Of being oper-
ated separately II desirable. Each Of the four
channels that afford entrances to tho harbor is
small. One or two canal boats sunk across any
ono of them would block 1t absolutely. They
are so narrow that three boats cannot pass
abreast. Their ways are SO tortuous that shift
Ing the. buoys and the range lights in tho har-
Dor would result inevitably in a vessels going
ashore. There is not n pilot who'could bring a
big boat into the harbor safely IL the buoys were
out of place or tho range lights changed even a
few feet.
Now. assume that all these imprcgnable
Notifications and channels full of torpedoes
and with buoys and range lights displaced.
should be passed in safety by hostile vessels
bound to lombard Now York. The moment
those boats got inside the Hook and long before
thry uot IN Rou, n p Shoa1a thoy would ha tIa
targets for batteries scarcely less formidable
than those ut Sandy Hook. Fort Wadsworth
and Fort Hamilton would open on them. Take
Fort Wadsworth first. Fort Wadsworth is q
natural defence. It Is on land 100 feet higher
than the surrounding country. TIL earthworks
alone could not be penetrated by any projectile
fred from any gun that is made. Fort wads-
worth has q full equipment OF modern 1O.inch
guns. The range Of these guns Is the Same as
the range of the guns at Sandy Hook. The ter
races enable batteries to be placed one on top Of
the other. Su%pplementing the guns Of Fort
wadsworth there are the big guns of Fort
Hamilton directly across the Narrows. The
guns at Fort Hamilton have just been put in
place. They include five lo-inch rifles Of the
latest type mounted on disappearing carriages.
The range of these guns Is beyond Coney Island
and away out to the point of R~ockaway Beach.
The battery at Fort Wadsworth consists of six
s-inch guns and eight 1O-inch guns.
Suppose. now. that instead OF trying to- get
into the harbor the hostile fleet goes off Coney
Island to the point already described as the
nearest to New York that Is approachable. 1t
has been shown that the fleet would be In close
range Of the forty or fifty guns of Sandy Hook.
1t would also be in range Of the guns Of Fort
Wadsworth and Fort Hamilton. The boat or
boats that tried to shell the city from that place
would no nau1ad alyay nj nv from etYty IN
seventy of the greatest guns there are in the
world. But IL the gunners in these three forts
were tho worst gunncrs that ever lived instead
Of the best, IL they couldn't hit the-side. Of a
barn half q mile away, there Is still another de-
fence-Plum Island.
Plum Island Is less than a mile and a half
from this particular point. There is nothing
on Plum Island for q hostile fleet to shoot at.
There are no Notifications, but there is no end
to the torpedoes there. Torpedoes from Plum
Island would do whatever there was to do after
the big guns got through, or before. or while
the big guns were at work.
In addition to all these things that have been
told about. there Is not an anchorage in the
Lower Bay that Is not undertake with torpedoes,
and any boat that attempted to come to an
Choir, once 1t got In, would be blown sky high
by them. Torpedoes, while they are loaded
with dynamite, are harmless until they are &C.
tually fired from the shore. This Is an interest
ing point in connection with the disaster TO the
Maine. II q boat bumped against twenty of
them at the same time they would not explode.
1t requires an electric current to mako them
active and dangerous, and the current Is man
aged entirely from the shore. The operator sits
with q glass watching an approaching boat.
When she Is over a torpedo he presses n but
ton, and the torpedo does the rest. In time of
peace, II the torpedoes are laid ready for business,
the keys that explode them are guarded with
!! more care than the vaults of u bank. There Is
no such thing as their being touched off acct
Gcntally or without tho full knowledge of the
officials in charge.
All the sea approaches to the city being dis
! posed of, there remains the possibility OF bonn
parchment from the Sound. That possibility Is
II great deal moro remote even than the other.
The approach to the city from Long Island
Sound is narrow. and the defenscs are such that
the entrance to the East River Is absolutely
locked. Assuming that a foreign feet should
| get past the various Notifications further up
the Sound and approach the city, the first do
fence II would strike would be DRvids Isl
and. Davids Island, men who know say, Ia
we'll named, for, though small, II would be able
to smash any Goliath that came along. 1t has
the same wicked modern guns as Sandy Hook
| and Fort Wadsworth and Fort Hamilton. II
| Long Island Sound was deep enough all the
way across for the biggest man-of-war to pass
In any part, she would not escape. The guns OF
Dayids Island reach clear across and beyond.
Like the other guns, they are mounted on disap"
pearing carriages and they offer no target at all.
There are not 30 MANY of them at Davids
Island as there are at Sandy Hook. That IL
because they arc not needed. Suppose. how
ever. that Dayids Island was passed and the
fleet sailed on.
Wlllets Point and Fort Schuyler, which lie
at the lower end of the Sound opposite each
other, and as close as Fort Wadsworth and Fort
Hamilton, are impossible barriers. They have
modern guns In plenty, with four miles greater
range than any floating gun. Willets Point,
too, Is known as the home OF the torpedo. There
is nothing In the way OF a torpedo or submarine
mine ever thought OF that cannot DO found al
Willets Point. Tho big modern guns, mighty
as they are, might almost be said to be second
AIRY compared to the torpedo system. There IL
nothing too small and nothing too big to be