The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-09-22
THE INITIAL TARGET
PRACTISE AT FORT RUGER
tRy a staf observer.l

The fact that eight great twelve-inch
mortars, established in two pits, one on
each side of what appears to be a pilot
house, could be fred merely by direc-
tions which appear suddenly in big fig.
ures in q port hole below the pilot
house, and that the projectiles fly two
miles into the air, passing over the ex
tinct crater of Diamond Head, to fall
nearly three miles away within a few
feet of their target, raft eight by
eight feet, with not man at the guns
| able to see what he is firing at, seems
marvel of mechanical science and
mathematics. The men down in the
pits handle and have the feel of the
guns, while those far up above the sea
in the fire control station, nearly eight
hundred feet above it's level, work with
pencil and paper, and, without the feel
of the guns telephone aiming directions
so exactly that few projectiles are
wasted.
Four preliminary shots were fred
yesterday to test several things. One
was to test blend of the powder from
the magazines. The sea is marked with
semicircles on the artillerist IS map,
each circle represents a zone. In the
magazines powder is stored, a certain
strength to reach each zone. That pow
der has been stored for months and to
test its efficiency a blend of all zone
powders was made for the trial shots.
The first shot sent the projectile 40
yards over and twenty-five to the left
of the target, The succeeding three
shots were narrowed down and the
shells came close to the target, which
, had been anchored
Following the four trial shots several
of the visitors received permission TO
enter the crater and go up to the OBJ
servatory. There was the hasty run
through the long tunnel by which means
all entry to the crater is now made.
The crater opens ont inside like a
great bowl aud is n vast interior, large
enough to hold two or three Kaimukis.
II is hot travelling along the dusty road
in this extinct crater, and it was be-
cause of the prevalent heat that the
interior was not selected as n garrison
site for troops. No wind seems to sweep
that dusty plain, devoid of water. On
the side opposite to the entrance tun-
mel. one comes to a trail cut out along
the ridges which lead to the uppermost
lip. To keep one from falling an iron
railing has been established along the
entire route which zigzags hack and
forth, passing a concrete electric power
house, which supplies the current for
the fire control cables and which will
be powerful enough to also supply the
Z cables which will eventually connect up
J this fire control station with the bat
} teries mt Waikiki, Honolulu and Pear
, Harbor.
Then larger concrete house is
passed, built over n gulch, looking like
a Swiss house perched on the side Of
, nothing. Then comes the famous
cement staircase, so straight up that one
feels as though he would fall backward
! if he did not hang on to the guard rail
! At the top of this great flight one reads
, in the cement, 7S3555 feet, and one doe.
, not marvel at the great number of feet
, he has climbed, but he discovers that
the figures are divided by a mark and
after all he has climbed up only IS;
feet and a fraction over six inches
Entering a cement-lined tunnel al
: nearly 500 feet above sea level one
+ reaches the foot of spiral staircase
one flight up opens into branch tun
/ which is fitted with telescopes ant
:, gauges, manufactured especially TO
/, fire control stations, fitted with device
A. to mark and record zones, azimuth an,
Y several other mysterious muths an,
l. maths. There q dozen officers and me-
# We're on duty, some with telephone aI
'e paratus over their heads. all watcnin
I. through the slits between the cemen
m ceilings and cement window coping'
ne out over the sea where the tug Naval
n, looked like a launch. Then the spira
ID staircase took one TO another story an
r. az the end of the gallery room sim
J. larly fitted with telescopes, etc, wa
he entered, aud this, too. was filled wit
NJ, officers and men. Returning 70 IN
no spiral shaft, a ladder projected upwar
~. through n sort Of skylight and o
emerging from this, one stood ON N
he peak overlooking all the sea. with Mo
"a. kni dimly outlined across the channs
ail Honolulu and She shore 10 Walhni
ge stretched oct boz magnificent hifdsr'