Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-04
Some Things You Want, to Know
American Coaster Defense

With the completion of Notifications now
in course of construction the American
people will be able to sit back with a
feeling Of security from danger from for
eign invasion. At the time of the Spanish
American war the nation found itself all
but unprotected in this manner. Should
the foe have been one of the really strong
powers instead of poor, weakened. enerv-
ated Spain there is no telling how serious
the results to the cities of the seaboard
might have been. New York, Boston,
Washington, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charles
ton. New ORLEANS, Galveston and San
Francisco were all open to attack. Only
obsolete guns and inadequate forts pro-
tected them, aside from the protection they
were afforded by the navy.
But after the peace of Paris the military
authorities of America began to reflect
now different it might nave been if We
had met a stronger nation in the arbitra-
ment OF the sword They felt thak We
would ultimately have won no matter what
the power against us, but that 1t might
have been with every seaboard city Of The
Atlantic coast in ashes as a part of the
price Of victory. 1t was a lesson to them,
and the American war was no
sooner closed and the stocktaking of its
results ended. until the military minds at
Washington began to bestir themselves to
the creation of a modern system of coast
defenses.
Out of their planning has grown one OF
the worlds most compete systems for de-
Tending the coasts OF a nation from at
tack. From Portland, Me, to the Puget
Sound every important harbor is beng
put in such shape that the fleet does not
exist that might hope to force an entrance.
With the complete system OF hign-powered
guns, mortals, searchiights, firs-contrJl
and everything else that tends to give "a
! fort advantage over a battlesnip, 1t seems
that the last word is being said in the
way OF preparation Tor possible trouble.
Even the necessary munitions Of war are
beng gathered together to be held in re-
serve for the time when they are needed.
When the voyagers Of the world sail into
our harbors they see frowning torts of
stone standing like sentinels on guard. To
the uninitiated they look dreadtuily dan
gerous and formidable, yet they are on.y
the relics Of a bygone age in warfare.
They are in reality more dangerous than
open ground, as the splintering OF the
stone would do more damage to the in
mates OF the fort than the missiles of the
enemy. Where the danger 10 the enemy
lies is not in the stone forts, but In great
guns buried from sight behind terraces
Of sand covered Wiun nought but an I'M
offending green grass,
Behind these little hillocks lies the safety
of every coast city in the nation. These
hidden mortars and guns may be relIec
on TO sink any fleet the world may seno
against her. The mOrtars are gigantic
short-muzzled guns that may shoot at any
angle short of straight up, and when II IL
known that they have a record OF seventy
hits out Of a possible 100 shots it will b,
seen that they haze a business way u
doing things.
The big guns with the long muzzles, tn
ones which be ievelled at the enemy, ar
mounted ON disappearing gun carriages
The gun is loaded, aimed according TO tn
directions given by the fire control sta
ton, and then raised into position. WheI
il is fired, the recoil throws It buck anC
down into the pit. There 1t is loaded
driven up into place again and fired. Thu.
the operation is repeated until the enem!
is at the bottom of the sea or Il flag o
truce flies at the masthead. Most OF thes
guns now in use are of twelve-inch bore