The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-13
WAR GAMES LESSONS
Results Of the Recent Attack
on Portland.
BENEFITS TO ARMY and NAVY.
Light on Important Points From the
Mock Contest.

Light on Important Foints from IN
Mock Contest.
Admiral Barker's Task and the Extent Il
which lie Observation-Disclosures AbOu
Standardization That tn
BattIeships Escaped the Eyes OF Thos
on shore-The Attacks on Portland
Defencrs-Iively Work by the Blue
Jackets-The BOard or Arbitration
Has Yet to Decide which Force Won
Whatever the general public may thini
of the military value of the recent wal
games at Portland. Me. and its vicinity
and the general public is probably incllhet
to regard the whole thing as lot OF 1901
ishness officers of the army and the navy
who, it must be admitted, are the best
Judges of the matter testify to the many
advantages gained from this mock contest
at arms between the two services.
1t is a pretty hard thing to convince the
average layman that practical beneht can
be derived from sham battles between
fleets and forts, in which blank charges
are used in the guns and results must DE
determined by rules necessarily arbitrary
Still the average layman was not familiar
enough with the objects aimed at and their
fulfilment to appreciate the signf1canS
of what was done.
The spectacular naturally minimlzed
the practical in the newspaper accounts OF
the various moves in the game, and events
followed one another with such rapidity
that it was pretty hard for the newspaper
reader 10 study each in turn and get at
it's purpose. But there was meaning,
and practical one, to every feature OF TINS
play warfare. which the average layman can
grasp without great exertion.
II is not making too sweeping statement
to say that the war games were OF greater
benefit to the army than to the navy. Their
general object was to determine the weak
points in the defences of Portland, an i'm
portant port situated in a region full Of
natural advantages for hostile fleet re-
quirng a safe and accessible base Of sup
plies and operations.
The navy was utilized to show the army
how it might strengthen its defences of the
Maine port and the harbors in It's vicinity,
and incidentally to acquire knowledge
that might be valuable in naval operations
against the stronghold of an enemy. Anc'
out of it all came one valuable lesson
that must be pleasing to every patriotic
American. and that was that Portland has
advantages Of situation that not only per-
Is,fo
make it inaccessible to any hostile fleet
whose commander is not willing to en-
counter great risks Of navigation with
deep-draught ships,
Rear Admiral A. s. Barker, Commander
in Chief of the naval forces engaged in
the war games, did not give his officers
and men so strenuous time as his pred
ecessor. Rear Admiral f. j. Higgin
did in the joint army and navy war games
of 1902. Admiral Higginson had a much
broader field of operations, embracing the
fortified ports of New Bedford, Newport and
New London and the forts defending the
eastern entrance TO Long Island Sound,
and lie kept his ships going night and day,
attack following attack in rapid succession.
Admiral Barkers operations were re-
stricted, under the programme arranged
in Washington, to one important port.
Unlike Admiral Higginson he made no
night attacks with his main division, COM
posed Of first class battleships. His daylight
attacks in which this division participated
were well planned, however, and each
h,, for its purpose the determination of
matters Of real military value.
Lat it should not be understo God from
thi, that the fleet was lying dormant for
the greater part OF the war games, On
the contrary, it had mighty busy time,
AMI officers and men were glad when the
mannuvres were over.
THE PROGRAMME.
The official programme for the war games
prepared by officers of the army and navy
gave a great many directions or sugges-
tons as TO the questions which 1t was de-
sirable to settle through the contest be-
tween the Portland forts and the feet
Such things as the efficacy of snarchlights
IN different kinds of atmosphere, the ac-
c,lracy OF range finders for guns af1oat and
ashore, the relative efficiency of signallin &
systems and the use of wireless telegraphy
between naval vessels and forts were to
be investigated for the guidance Of those
who will have to fight the battles of their
country in the next great war
These were only a few Of the suggestions to
be ed upon by the army and navy officers
concerned On every ship there was an
army officer. who was termed an observer,
and at every fort there was a naval officer
who served in the same capacity for the
benefit of the navy.
Each ship, too, had a naval officer aboard
who, rs umpire, was invested with aun hort y
to make decisions when disputes arose as
to whether the army and navy had won
certain points in the games. Army officers
served as umpires in he forts
These umpires could say whether a ship
had been put out of act ion or whether n
shore battery had been silenced. They had
the right to kill every member of a naval
landing party with guns stationed miles
away at the very moment when the blue
jackets and marines, flushed with victory,
were chasing the soldiers through the
pumpkin fields or thickets
They could sink a ship and raise her
again without the knowledge Of anybody
aboard. They could blow up fort with
out disturbing the quiet of Portland
These remarks about the lImpires are not
made in a spirit Of levity, but merely to sho "
how great was their authority. And they
weren't to blame. They had to follow the