The record-union., 1898-04-18

gro trader and very illiterate man,
was asked what he considered the most
important principle of war he said, to
git thar fust with the most men,
| Napoleon couldn't have beaten that for
a definition And the whole business of
coast defense is to so instruct, train
and combine the various factors that
they may be moved by a single intelli-
gence and directed, if necessary, upon
single point.
Illustration is better than generali-
zation, and a few instances of how the
attacks of a fleet will be met will give
an idea of the problem to be solved.
We will suppose that a hostile fleet
has carefully reconnoitered the ap-
proaches to San Francisco, very possib-
ly has more or less accurate maps or
the defenses furnished by some clever
draughtsman masquerading as labor
er and formerly employed upon these
very defenses. On the whole they don't
like the looks of things when it comes
to facing that narrow passage, and
prefer to try bombardment, hoping to
develop the position of our main bat
teries and possibly to damage the city.
For this purpose they will either an
chOr or if the water is too deep, steam
| slowly in a large circle, as Porter did
at Fort Fisher, or come up to buoys
planted in advance, deliver their fire
and drop back to prevent our getting
| their position. The range is too great
! to make armor piercing probable or
| profitable. 1t is hard to hit ship, a
mere chance if any vital part is in
| jured Here is where the rifled 'mor-
tars come in. Now in the old days ia
miliar to the veterans. a mortar was a
short, stubby affair. which might hit a
| ten-acre lot at q range of LOO yards
| if they were in luck, and there wasn't
much wind but the chances of hitting
| a ship at a range of three miles was
about e1ual to the chance of drawing
the capital prize in the Havana lottery.
| The first Improvement was to lengthen
| the mortar until it was really a howit-
ger cooked up on end and to rifle it.
| Then came General Abbctts idea of
| the shotgun principle. If you could
drop sixteen shells, or thirty-two or
| sixty-four at one discharge, aimed
| practically at the same point, the
chances of one of them hitting would
| be more than good; and remember that
the deck of the heaviest armored ship
| is weak Three inches is about the
limit That means that one she'll may
almost destroy the ship. These mortars
are grouped in batteries of sixteen.
Now the range finder has sent a mes
sage to the commander of the mortars
| giving aZimuth, SO many degrees ard
minutes, distance so many yards. All
muth being the direction of The object
! sighted upon, measured on gradual
| ed circle
| These data are communicated and the
necessary corrections for the drift and
wind made AMI each mortar has its di-
rection given by the graduated circle,
and its elevation to correspond with the
distance announced from the range
finder. The men serving on the mortars
see nothing. They are down in a deep
pit. The enemy has little or no Snowl-
edge of their exact position. They are
practically as safe as at home and much
safer than crossing Market street
There is nothing to furry them. The
gunner brings the pointer on the circle
to the given mark, and the index on
the elevating arc to the required hight
probably as accurately as he ever did
it on drill. and he and the detachment
| have drilled till this is all second ma
ture and they could do it in their sleep
When all the sixteen. mortars are point
ed an electric- button is pressed and
| 900 pounds each start on their en-
| rand of death and destruction, and un-
! like the projectile from the ordinary