The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
SEARCHLIGHTS AS SENTINELS
Important Use Of Electricity in
Modern Defensive Warfare.
How Electric Lights Are Operated In
Forts and Aboard ShiR--Are Diff
ficuIt 10 Hit.

/ Little has been written OF what is per
/ haps one Of the greatest fighting units in
modern warfare. tie searchIight.
Hereafter, every great power will not
[ only have its fighting ships well protected
with the searchlght, but each army
corps viii have It's own detachment and
I apparatus for this very necessary auxiI-
/ larry.
I For it has come TO be one Of the most
Important uses Of electricity. says Army
and Navy Life. enabling aruIlerymen 10
remove many Of the uncertainties from
| the much dreaded night attack.
Shallow waters that are suspected to
have been planted with submarine mines
/ are always subject to such attack by the
enemy in small boats. Volunteer land
{ ing crews are often sent with orders 10
destroy all electrical shore connections.
and thus render the mines useless.
/ Fcggy weather is the most favorable
/ time for this work. The boats are usual
! y masked in gUnny sacks to avoid all
noise.
/ In normal weather scouting Of this
character IS by the use Of the light.
sure to be detected. Then woe unto the
small boat crews. For the great white
beam gives only a few seconds of silent
Er5ce in which to raise the flag Of sur
render, then glares on the slaughter by
the rapid fires.
/ Important channels or such passage
ways of water Us are too deep to be sue
cessfully mined usually rely for their
protection on several of the lights As
discovered vessels form a very good tar
[ get the gUnneTs in the forts gleefully
| lick their chops, while the enemy. owing
I TO the disappearing gun carriage now
used, has practically nothing on which
/ 10 concentrate his fire.
/ The operator does not stand near the
light, but takes UP his position in the fire
commanders station, an elevated tower
at some distance from il. II IS above sea
level and commands the harbor
/ Here is located the controller. which. by
reason Of its electrical connection with the
TWO motors IN the base, gives full control
of the light. BY merely shifting the han
die the flashing beam travels at will
4 dense fog, however, is absolutely i'm
penetrable, and smoke or slight mist
causes the beam to be followed with DIFF
ficuiJy. Then, sometimes. distinct inn
ages are shown which are caused by i'm
puTities such as dust in the air and which
TO the novice would appear as dark OBJ
jects on water.
However, when weather conditions are
unfavorable, the enemy is not apt to
move about much. Cloudy weather and
rain are rather beneficial than otherwise.
as dust and smoke which act as a screen
to the light are washed out of the air
But the very natural question is: Why
doesn't the enemy throw a few shells and
destroy the searchlght? It's certainly
bright enough and. one would think,
would afford an easy mark
Il has been found however, after re-
peated trials that TO determine the exact
location of the lamp is almost an impossi-
bility. Then. again, the forts have the ad-
vantage of fixed gun and compare
lively large target, whereas the ship has
an unsteady gun base and very small
target in fact not more than eight feet.
An expert markslnan even al half "a mile
distance has hardly one chance out Of
fifty TO hit the protector
VERY well, then, wait until daylI- ht
and blaze away at the shelter house in
which the lamp is kept" is said
a very good scheme. very good. indeed
only the shelter house; under actual war
conditions, is mostly a blind and contains
nothing. For the latest type Of search
light is mounted on a motor car and. like
the service ghost, is never around in the
daytime.