The San Francisco call., 1898-11-14

time. The preparation of smokeless powder ammunition for these guns com- rnenced at once, but Is was necessary to issue immediately the ammunition on hand for the batteries that were sent to the front, and as this was all charcoal
 fact that only this black, or charcoal l powder ammunition was generally used
 in actual service against the enemy
 The furnishing of siege and field guns
 and ammunition for the war encoun-
 tered the same difficulties as in other | branches of the ordnance equipment, yet the bureau furnished such guns for l the Manila and Porto Rican expedt-
 tions. The artillery was not used at l Santiago to any extent Of siege guns, i twenty-two were taken for seacoaSt de- lenses at the beginning of the war. General F'lagler quotes the following l from the report of Lieutenant Colonel i H. D. Borup, chief ordnance officer at l Santiago, as to the defenses of Santi- | ago harbor:
 1 Before the outbreak of hostilities the port defenses of Santiago consisted of four antiquated forts, or batteries, of which one St. Catalina-was abandoned, ! and a second. Punta Blanca, from it's po- sition. was useless. Of the other two, Morro Castle constituted the outer line and Estrella the inner one. The arma- ment of the former consisted of five an- cient mortars; and two siege guns, and the latter of two obsolete castiron how ftzerS, all of feeble power.
 After war was declared four batteries were hastily improvsed, all of weak pro- file.
 Including all forts and batteries, the
 Obsolete = Bronze, muzzle loading smooth bore guns, inch. two; 457 inch, two.
 Mortars-13 inch, three; 95 inch, two.
 Muzzle loading converted rif1es-Bronze guns, six; inch, five; castiron howitzers, eight; inch. seven.
 Mo1a 5 inch, four; bronze breach loading how itzers,. inch. two; revolving cannon, l inch, four; rapid fire, inch, one; rapid, fire, inch, one. Total, thirty-three.
 Or twenty-one obsolete and twelve mod ern pieces; and of the latter four only are of comparatively high power.
 The exterior line consisted of seventeen obsolete and two modern pieces, the for mer being furnished by the Spanish War Department and the latter by the Navy Department. The bold front put up by the former seems to have been effective. The real strength, however, lay in the guns taken from the Reina Mercedes, so that the duel between the fleet and the land forces was practically fought by. the navy of both powers. After one of these rendered hors dp combat. the outer de- fense was really confined to single piece.
 Following the above, General Flagler says:
 The war has furnished no opportunity for determining by experience the effect of our modern seacoast armament against modern battle ships. The reports of the experience gained, however. tend to con- firm the opinion that the fire from ships cannot silence the fire or seriously cripple the armament of our modern batteries; but the ships could not withstand the Ire of our modern batteries, and that, there fore, the ships cannot attack the batteries successfully. Whether these ships can run by the batteries without too great risk has not been shown. This will de- pend upon the skill and rapidity with which the guns are served, provided the ships are not stopped by the mines.
 Considerable attention is devoted to the progress of work at the various arsenals and the guns which are being made. On September 30, 1898, there were 447 seacoast guns mounted. It is estimated that on June 30, 1899, there will be 900, and on the same date of 1900 11S9.