The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-12
HAVANA BOMBkRDMEMT.
british EXPERT DISCUSSES
WAYS OF REDUCING THE CAPITAL.

tuciS-iange Finders In Action.
system of Defense.
From the Pail Mall Gazette
The greatest interest is being taken
among those engaged in coast defense
work in this country in the present hostil-
tiles between Spain and America because
Of the lessons which may be learned from
any attack on the shore fortresses by eth
er side. The bombardment Of Alexandria
was a surprise TO most in that respect,
and nothing IN the Japanese Chinese war
has served to change the deduction from
that engagement The damage done by
the ships al Alexandria was comparative
~ slight, and had the forts been only
manned by British gunners a night would
have served to restore them to almost
their original condition. The. ships, on the
other hand, though they had not suffer-
cd severely from the Egyptian projectiles,
would not have been able to continue
the bombardment another day because of
the risk they ran of .emptying their mag
aziues.
1t seems on the face of it that Matanzas
will furnish subjects to our own garrison
artillery for much fruitful study. If it
is true-which is doubtful-that behind the
earthworks there were some S-inch guns,
there will have to be a general remodel
ing of British coast fortresses. The Amer
lean ships must have used chiefly quick
firing guns of small calibre. as it would be
impossible for a couple of ships to get off
|
the action lasted. The shore has also to
be heard from, for the Spaniards never
were good gunners,. and they may have
been moro frightened than hurt.
Speaking generally, America is better
fitted to carry out bombardment than
Spain Her ships are near their naval
base, where they can readily renew their
stores of projectiles and ammunition,
while the Spanish ships can hardly venture
on an attack on any strongly defended
American coast fortress because of the
difficulty they will be under of refilling
their magazines.
Spain has no great reserve stores of pro-
jectiles at any Of her stations abroad, and
she is bound 70 foo' ~ neglect of so OBJ
Nious a precaution as the establishment of
those stores more and more as the war
goes on. But in no case is it an easy task
| nowadays to silence coast fortress If the
guns are fairly modern, and this is the
case even in Havana, where the arma-
ment is of very good type. Our own
system-Which has been decided upon on
ly after the most careful thought by the
special committee of artillery and engin-
eer officers appointed for that purpose
has been devised after the fullest consid-
Grafton of the results of past attacks on
forts before the present heavy metal was
placed either ashore or on shipboard.
Contrary 10 the general supposition of
amateurs, a coast fortress has everything
in it's favor. Even some of our own anti
| quated forts do not present so prominent
| a mark five or six miles out at sea as
might be supposed, and it is from such a
distance that the initial stages of a bonn
| bardment would be undertaken. The
drill-book definition of coast fortress is
| an area of land and water where works of
defense have been erected, and it may in
elude, as it frequently does, several forts
within it as well as several mine fields,
which are all so placed as to be covered
| by the fire of the guns in order to prevent
them being removed or destroyed by coun-
ter mines.
The defenses of Havana form coast
| fortress of this sort commanding a water
channel which is very easily defended.
| The, American vessels to attack it will
| have to steam inshore and engage in long
range fire, when they will not be able to
do very great harm, or they will have to
take up position closer still, come to
anchor, and pour in rain of shell. The
unsteady platform of a ships deck is not
| conducive to good shooting, though they
may be helped by some thing wonderful III
the way of a range-finder which the
United States ships are believed to pos.
| sess.
The Spaniards are not known to have
any system of rang-finding Instruments
in use and will have to pick up their
| distances by means of ranging shots.
! There is belief that no nation is so we'll
| equipped in this respect as ourselves. A
special department in ,Woolwich Arsenal
is devoted TO the manufacture of these
instruments, and for a wonder it is not at
the inspection of the wandering foreigner,
| while the principle of the Watkin posi-
tion-tinder is kept a secret even from the
bulk of those who would have to put 1t to
practical use. The ordinary range-fnder
| consists of telescope with drum mark
| ed in hundreds OF yards fitted below It.
and sliding bar which enables the instru.
ment TO be adjusted TO the hight above-tide
az which it Is mounted. Without going
into further details of a technical charac-
| tSAs II may NC Aclu tndl WNe0 the telGSCODR
Is focused on the target the drum shows
the yards in the, range, and an arc on
the base of the instrument. which cor
responds with the arc on. the guns gives
the training in degrees and subdivisions
OF degrees This enables the gun to oe
trained, and reduces The error to a verv
few yards.
With the. position-finder on the other
hand' the gun fired by electricity from
the Dosition-fnder station. and the gnn
layer does not sight the gun at all. The
gun is laid with the training ana eIe-
vation-that is, the range ordered on the
electrical dial, worked from the position
finder CELL which may be a long distance
away-and when the ship reaches The
point selected by the officer In charge of
the instrument he touches a button ana
the gun Is actually fired by him. Othe--
wise, under the English system. the range
is picked up by series of trial shots ar
ranged on what is called a bracket-that
as they are fired within certain SQUIRE
til the target is hit. The system is onIy,
effective against ships at anchor. and ,-lil
be the one which the Spanish guuners
In I'D