The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-04-09
DEFENSES OF HAVANA
THEY ARE DECLARED TO BE ALMOST
WORTHLESS.
Blockade Of the Harbor, IL IL Said. Would
he EAsy-No Aid Could Come Prom the
Dssoi.ts and Depopui.ted Country-rhs
Two Chief Fortresses.

Desolste and Depopulsted Country-The
Two Chief Fortresses.
The Spanish authorities In Havana are
doing all In their power 20 provide against
future contingencies. As matter OF fact,
however. the defenses OF Havana are al
most worthless except the batteries OF
modern guns mounted on the heights at
the mouth OF the harbor. MORO castle,
famous in Cuban history, is picturesque
heap Of stone. Nearly all OF the guns OF
Moro castle are old sInoothbores. and
this fertilization could not Withstand an
hours bombardment from the Iowa or the
Indiana lying five or six miles out at sea.
No port In the world could be blockaded
more easily than Havana. The bay is a
wonderfully fine landlocked harbor and so
sheltered from the sea that the swell Of a
storm never disturbs It, The entrance
past MORO Is narrow, little strait, in
side Of which the bay opens out like the
bulge of a bottle below the neck. But the
widest part Of the bay Is not more than a
half mile across. All ships going in and
out must pass throIyh this entrance, a
few hundred yards in width. One block
aiding ship could seal up the fate Of Ha-
vana harbor and remain at sea SO far as 10
be practically out Of range from the forti
dcation fire. Commerce would be ALSO
lutely blocked by one ship of an enemy's
fleet, and Havana would be starved out in
a few days. There is no extra food supply
on hand. The city is fed almost entirely
from Florida and New York.
Back Of Havana is a desolated and de-
populated island, which has been swept
bare of food and supplies by Spaniard and
Cuban. And in war the forces of Maxine
nta1H affa IL
supplies going into Havana from the rest
of the island Nearly all tho cattle on the
island have been killed, and the most OF
the meat supply Is brought from the Unit
ed States. Famine would stalk in Havana
If her commerce with the outside world
were cut of a week. Thousands of poor
and the reconcentrados are close TO starva-
ton now and are being kept alive only by
the relief sent from the United States.
No capital Of a country could be more des-
perately unready for a blockade than Is
Havana today.
MORO castle is not the only imposing
but useless fertilization in the barbor
which the people there think impregnable.
The Cabanas fortress recalls the bloody
memories of the Weyler rule, when in the
early morning captured insurgents were
led out TO be shot 70 death against the gray,
grim walls OF stone. The Cabanas is a
long, low, rambling line of masonry,
stretching along the high rocky wall which
forms the harbor entrance toward the east,
extending from just behind Moro toward
the bay. The Cabanas overlOoks the city
across the harbor and TO the sea to the
west, standing several hundred feet above
the water. A war vessel once past MORO
and the seward earthworks could not be
harmed from Cabanas. BY steering close
to the eastern wall of rock, which juts
straight aloft, Cabanas would be straight
overhead, and the guns could not be de-
pressed TO drop shells into the invader. In
modern warfare the Cabanas is absolutely
useless and could be knocked to pieces by
a few well aimed shells.
The only defenses likely TO give trouble
In an attach are the earthworks, which
conceal batteries of heavy modern rifles
In caliber from 8 to ii inches. There are
three Of these near the harbor mouth. The
most dangerous battery, and one which
would worry an attacking fleet, consists
of two IL inch rifles mounted on the COM
manding hill just to the east of MORO
castle. These guns are formidable, but
there are no trained officers TO handle
them. Trajectory and range firing have
been sadly neglected, and to locate the dis
lance and position of a ship at sea as q
target is a problem to which small atten-
ton has been given. In fact, loading and
firing at the wide, wide world has been
the chief instruction given thus far.
To the west of the harbor there is a line
of old stone forts, only one Of which
mounts modern guns, the Batteria de la
Reina. The Fortelesa Santa Clara and the
Fortelesa dc la Punta are merely pictur-
esque additions to the sky line. Two miles
west Of the harbor there is "a stout old fort,
once very formidable, gray, square block
of masonry, which was built by Spain in
1909, or only II years after the discovery
of America by Columbus.
The few big modern guns mounted in
front of Havana have an effective range of
seven or eight miles and are well protected
by sand and concrete embankments, but
a ship which passed them and approached
the bay entrance would be safely out of
their range. A system Of submarine mines
and torpedoes in Havana harbor would
block the narrow entrance, but to reduce
the city an attacking fleet need not come
near the bay and can stay five miles out in
the open sea for blockade and lombard
ment.
On the other hand, IL Spanish attack
should be made on Key West the problem
would be far more difficult. Key West, as
q coal and naval station, would be invalu-
able to the United States for operations In
the gulf and Cuban waters. But 10 Is
strongly protected by nature. Enciroled
by keys and coral reefs, the nearest en-
trance for battleships Is ten miles from the
city, and the two narrow channels would
be impossible when sown with mines and
torpedoes. A feet could not throw shells
into the city from the open sea, and Spain
could not spare enough warsbips to main
tain an effective blockade or even to keep
a powerful feet In these waters The ex-
perimental and theoretical knowledge Of
the efficiency and power Of modern war
ships In action makes impossible any trust
worthy prediction OF what would happen
in the open sea when the crash came.--St
I.ouia Globe Democrat.