The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-17

! will be surmouEted by turrets contain
| ing pairs Of 12-inch breecn-loading riff
| les. There will also be four S-inch rif-
| les, forward and aft, so that, with forty
| quick-fres in all. the armament will be
| most formidable. .-.-
| Perhaps the most notable point about
| this novel fighting craft is its iIlvulnera-
bility. 1t is practically shot-proof, it's
! construction being such that a shell
! striking any part Of it must meet slant
| and SO glance Off In order to accom-
! pl1sh this end, the armored chamber is
made polygonal in action, while the tow
ers are cylindrical. The deck is a whale
back, its upper part barely rising apove
| the sea, ald all the machinery and am
munltlon are. water level, SO as to be safe
| from injury. Staircasess and amlnEni-
tion-hoists run up inside Of the towers,
and the waves may wash freely across
the body of the ship without entering
| the gun ports or interfering with the op-
Grafton Of the fighting apparatus above.
Not less notable than the foregoing is
| a method newly invented by a Cincinnati
man, Andrew Ven Bibher, for rendering
harbors impregnable against attack by
! sea. It Is guaranteed to accomplish the
4 purpose with the use Of a comparatively
small force OF men and without the aid
| of warships, thus being equivalent to an
| increase of the navy, inasmuch as it re-
HeVeS fleets to a great extent from the
duty Of defending lie coast. OF this
| latter point the Importance was illus
trated in the recent war with Spain, dur
ing which the operations Of our mari
| time forces were seriously hampered by
the ever-present necessity Of looking out
| for the protection of the cities along the
| Atlantic seaboard.
AS the inventor says: "The greatly in
creased range of naval guns demands
that defensive works be more remote
from the place defended than formerly
else the defended city may be ruined
while the attack is being repulsed A
city, Of course, affords a few large tar
get. and its protection is proportionatcly
difficult, especially in these days of high
power cannon. Besides, the fleet urgent
ly needed for it's defense may not arrive
| IN time
The Van Bibber system consists in ex-
tending from the harbor mouth seaward
two lines of embellishments built of con-
crete and so arranged as TO form an artt-
| Eclal entrance TO the port. On these en-
1 bankments are placed bomb proof forts,
/ consisting substantially Of revolving tur-
rets containing high power guns The
tops Of the embankment are slightly be-
low low water mark, but submarine
chambers are provided for magazines and
other uses The forts themselves, as a
matter of course, ought to be protected
by armor thick enough to be practically
I impenetrable by shell.
From this brief description it will be
understood that a hostile war ship ap-
preaching a city thus defended could get
| into the harbor only by passing through
the artificial channel referred to, and in
doing so 1t would be exposed to murder
Gus attack at short range by the forts
on the fanling entertainments. Mean
while, another fort, situated at the land
ward end of the entrance, would rake
the latter from end to end with q storm
of projectiles. Under such circumstances
| it would be impossible for the enemy's
vessels to maneuver freely, and being
confined in narrow gut, they would face
almost certain destruction by mines,
while held at distance from the city by
! guns much heavier than their own and
| capable of smashing to pieces their ar
| NOR plates. The channel may be 200
yards or half a mile in width, but the
| longer 1t is the more efficient 1t wills be
| for defensive purposes. -
| Charles e. Quimbly, of New York, has
| just taken out a patent for a method of
preventing INC louiihS u olipS uoAlohtS
| which would have been very useful when
| our war vessels were on blockade off the
| Cuban coast, acquiring a coating of bar
nacles and seaweeds. It consists in en-
velopng the hull In sort of case of can
vas, which is drawn tight by means OF
ropes passing through eyeholes Of
course, as the inventor says, such case
can be made to correspond accurately in
size and shape to the ship 1t IS meant to
fit. The canvas, Furthermore, is tmpreg-
mated with chemicals hostile to animal
and vegetable life. When the vessel is
ready to start on voyage the protection
is slipped off, hauled on board and packed
| away In the hold.