Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-07

inch, hlSh-pOWered guns are TOO SnOiL-
lived for economical use. A gun with
a larger projectile and little less
speed will do practically the same dam'
age when it hits, and the injuring by
melting the rifling out of the bore is
very much less. So fourteen-inch guns
are now being built. These will carry
projectiles weighing 1860 pounds, and
will be fully as effective as the high
powered twelve-inch guns Some of
these are wire-wound, and others steel
jacketed.
The biggest gun ever built is the
siXteen-inch monster that is now at
New York fort. 1t carries projectile
weighing a full ton and can hand it
out to an enemy twenty-one miles
away. At seventeen miles it can toss
it's two-thousand pound ball as accu-
rately as a baseball player throws the
horsehide to a team mate seventeen
yards away This gun has been fired
only few times.
Before the Spanish-American war it
was thought that the firing of ten
shots by a coast defense gun was a
good days work. Since then their
speed has been increased to many times
that much in a single hour. After
the Spansh-American war, when the
new type of coast defense was in its
infancy, there was great secrecy. Even
a well vouched for American could
not see the batteries at Fortress Mon
roe. Secretary Root had his attention
called to this precautionary rule.
"Will your mines and guns Work?' he
queried. yes, was the ready re-
sponse. "Then why have any secrecy
about them; why not let the world
know how strong they are?' he asked.
And since then the world has known,
and our coast defenses are respected in
all the imaginary wars which the
armies and navies of the world fight
in their professional journals
The equipment of the coast defense
forts is one of the most remarkable
evidences of military progress in Amer
lea. The immense searchlights which
reveal the enemy the minute he ap-
pears even on the darkest of nights,
the wireless telegraph stations that can
catch his messages, the system of fire
control whereby the position of the
enemy is determined, and the eff
cient system of mining that has been
developed, all indicate the woe that
will betide the hostile battle fleet that
essays to pass the line of defense.
1t is said that Uncle Sam has
worked out the best system of harbor
mining that exists in the world. Fur
thermore, every harbor from Maine to
Washington can be completely mined
at a cost less than that required to
build a single battleship. The moral
effect of these mines in time of war
cannot be overestimated, since no ma
tion would care to risk a fleet in a
thoroughly mined harbor. A mine cost
ing a few hundred dollars may de-
stroy a battleship costing millions.
Military and naval experts say that
it was the knowledge that her harbors
were amply protected that allowed
Japan to fear nothing from the Vladi-
Vostok squadron, and enabled the
Japanese fleet to assume the offensive.
one of the most remarkable steps
to be taken in perfecting the coast de-
fenses of the United States will be the
building of an artificial island between
Capes Charles and Henry at the mouth
of Chesapeake bay. On this island
win be planted a great fort to pre-
vent any fleet from sailing in while
our own might be elsewhere. More
peculiar than this, however, is the new
Gibraltar with which Honolulu is now
defended. The crater of huge extinct
volcano has been pressed into service
as a natural fort, and galleries are
being cut into it so as to place all war
material out of harm's way. When it
is completed it will be well-nigh i'm
pregnable.
The question of manning the coast
defenses has been serious one. Con-
gress will not allow even half of war
footing for them. So the military au-
thorities have provided for the situa-
ton by inducing the seacoast states
to convert some of their militia into
coast defenders. These militia or
ganizations meet for two weeks in the
year with the regulars and watch
them during the first half of the time.
During the other half the militia man