El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-15

washington, D. c., Oct 15.-The
most important single object of the
! recent bout of target practice by the
I great Atlantic fleet of Is batteships
| and three armored cruisers, on the
! marine drill ground" in the neighbor-
hood of Cape Henry, has been TO de-
| ternine the usefulness of the new
basket" masts-these being a striking
feature of all of our most recently
| built fighting vessels.
To look at, they are certainty queer,
and one learns with interest that they
. are the original idea of our own navai
| constructors, nothing in the least re-
| sembIing them being found on any Tor
| eign battleship or cruiser. They take
the place of the old style military
masts" which were conspicuous on me
American vessels that fought against
| the Spaniards in the war of 1898 IN
like tn elatter, however, they have no
"fighting tops" defended by guns
Masts Knocked Over.
The principal trouble with the mill
tary masts was that they were easily
knocked over Though built Of steel
plates, they could by no means resist
the impact of big shells, and single
ar1nor piercing projectile from L
inch gun was liable at any time In d
fight to break one of them short OIL
Under Sucn CIRCUMSTANCES lilo AA+'--
was likely TO do more or less damage
in falling. perhaps killing a number OF
the crew. or fouling the smokestacks-
In word. trouble could scarcelys be-
fall it without involving further mis-
chief. most desirable to avoid In a
conflict at sea
The new basket masts, on the other
hand. are mere structures OF WIre-or'
more accurately speaking, OF slender
steel rods-which are put together
somewhat after the manner of q bird
cage Al the top is a light steel plat
form, big enough to accommodate three
or four men and certain Instruments
Including. range finding telescopes.
telephones and other apparatus Tor
ready communication with the turrecs
below. and with all of the guns on
board.
Purpose of Basket Masts-
1t will be understood, then, that the
basket nasts, of which each OF our
newest ships carries two are lhtellueI
merely for the purpose Of fire control
That is to say, they afford perches Tor
men who. with the aid of the fnstru-
,nents aforementioned, determine the
range of a target and, in accordance
WITH their observations, direct, by teIe-
nbone or other means, the firing or the
guns. Two masts are needed IN orueI
to get the angle required. as matter
of mathematics, to determine the dis
lance of the target
One might imagine that structures or
so flimsy an appearance would be
easily knocked to pieces by gunflre'
but such is very far from being the
case. On the contrary. many sneHs
might actually strike them, carrying
away a large percentage OF the sup
porting rods or wires, and yet they
would continue to remain erect 30
well do they seem adapted Tor the
purposes described that it is altogether
TO be expected that foreign navies Will
adopt them before very long
Another objection 10 the so-caIieo
military masts, which have been re-
Dlaced by this new continuance. IS that
their armored tops. defended by guns
of small caliber, were too Vulnerable
TO be of much practical use The guns
in these tops were designed to be en-
Moved in sweeping the decks OF an
enemy's ship with a hail OF small pro
iectiles, wiping out the perSonneI. But
somehow this notion did not seem 10
work out satisfactorily in actual war |
fare At. quarters sufficiently close |
TO render gunfire from the tops effl- |
Gent. they were themselves too much |
exposed to attack; and at the famous |
battle of the Yalu river, during the |
war between China and Japan, single |
shell. piercing the armOr that protect |
ed one of the tops on a Chinese battle
ship, exploded and killed every man |
in it.
Platforms Used in Battle.
1t might be said that the platform
surrounding the new basket masts
were equally open to attack. and this |
cannot be denied; but they are meant |
for an entirely different purpose and
are not intended to be occupied when |
ships are fighting at close quarters.
They are for use in the early stages
of battle at sea, to get distant ranges
Thus, during the recent bout of pri-
vate practice off Cape Henry, they
were employed for getting the range
Of targets at distances of 10000 or
10000 yards (six or seven miles)-so
far away that even the tops of the
of a hostile ship would
hardly be visible, owing TO the curva-
ture of the earth.
In a sea fight, guns of the secondary
of a battleship or armored
,ruiser would not begin to get into
action until within range of about
5000 yards. These are the weapons
which would be directed against the
basket masts and their platforms
uch, for example as the automatic six
IOulAuCAS, WhiSH CdA THROW explosive |
)rojectileS at the rate of 20 a minute.
Against such a storm of shells the
platform could not possibly stand. But
II the meantime they would have been
deserted, the range finding crews
climbing down and betaking themselves
o armored towers on deck-whence TO
Iirect the fire of the guns.
New Towers Planned.
We have not yet installed these ar
nored towers on our new fighting
hips, but are on the point of doing
o. They are obviously necessary. TO
Implement the basket masts for range
hiding and fire control purposes. Re
ent maritime warfare has made obvi-
us the Importance, beyond all other