The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-09-22

Inc .tHNdABlihE u hhS "a"
. sers of the tug Navajo with the Y
. two raft targets yesterday caus- y
Q ed a delay of about two hours, .
. necessitating a postponement of 9
Q the first record firing of the .
o coast defense mortars until af- .
. ternoon. 1t was demonstrated .
Q when the firing did start that .
q the mortars at Diamond Head .
Q could speedily sink hostile Q
o warship approaching the shores Q
Q of Oahu within the limit of their Q
. zones of fire.
OO* X * i X X + Y y X 4 X see
Ten hits in ten shots is the off.hand
record which Major Timberlake, Coast
Artillery Corps, United States Army,
claimed for companies One Hundred
and Five and One Hundred and Fifty
nine with the l2.inch mortars of Bat
terry Harlow, Fort Ruger, yesterday
afternoon Immediately after the ten
proiectiles had been fred in fraction
less than ten minutes at small target
towed at rate of seven miles an hour
by the United States naval tug Navajo,
in zone four, which is about three miles
off Diamond Head The official report
is not yet made.
Six sure hits were claimed by the
artillerists who watched the play of
the great thousand-pound projectiles
around the rapidly moving raft, while
all the officers and men felt very much
elated for this was the first actual test
of the guns aimed at an object in the
battle zone Stimulating a hostile ship
They fatty stated that, with so many
shots falling from the skies so close, q
hostile vessel would have left the
scene of action and shown n pair OF
heels that could not be followed by
mortars, or would have gone down.
For the first time in the history OF
the American occupation of the Hawai-
ian Islands, actual target practice was
held Yesterday forenoon and afternoon
by the coast defense mortars. Foul
shots were fred as trial shots to de
termine the reliability of the powder
and to test the wind, temperature anC
other features which enter into thu
range finding, and an average wa
struck from these, upon which the firing
of the subsequent ten record shots wa
based
Owing to the tug fouling the towraf
and the anchored target, ami the tint
necessary to straighten out this trouble
the firing of the ten record shots die
not commence until nearly two o'clock
concluding at three minutes to the hour
There was an exultant whoop among
the artillerymen when the tentative re
suits were made known, for the artil
lerists in the two mortar pits knew
nothing until then of the result of eael
shot. hidden as they were In the pitt
on the northern slope of the crater OF
Diamond Head, whose rim rises severa
hundred feet above the battery station
But half a mile away, in the cement
galleries in the peak of Diamond Head
officers and men watching the splasi
of each shot, figured almost instantly
the distances each fell from the raf
and whether it could be constituted {
Chit"
A "hit" in artillery parlance is ;
shot which falls within n radius o.
fifty yards, with the raft forming tn,
center of the circle. Several of thos
projeetiles fired yesterday would hav
struck battleship had she been steam
ing along in that fourth zone. The pro
jeetiles are like bolts from the sky, foI
after leaving the mouths of the NOR
tars, they rise about two miles and the
drop. While the sides of the ship
have been made as strong as severa
thicknesses of the finest worked stee
produced can make them, the decks ar
not so well protected, and a projectil
falling from great height woul'
plunge through the deck and, explod
inc tear out thp yitals of shin
Distinguished Spectators.
The first war shots of the mortars-
the first fOur-which were not fred III
til about ten O'Clock, were witnesse
by a distinguished gathering, ineludin
Gen. NJ. NJ. Maeomb, U.S.A., command
ing the District of Hawaii; his aid
Lieutenant Andrews; Major Campbell
chief of staff: Major Neville of the mi
rine corps, Major Davis. commissaI
department; several officers from vaI
Gus commands on this island; Chi,
Justice A. G. NJ. Robertson, Justice /
Bolt, Justice Perry, Judge j. L. Viii
ney of the circuit court Cougressmi
Kahn OF California. Secretary of Il
Territory Mott Smith s. N. Damo
Rev. w d. Westeryolt, Charles F. Wol
OF Philadelphia. A. II. Dondero, ].
Gait, l.. 7. Peck, DR.. e. y. Cooper,
A. Gilman, Superintendent of Pub
Works Campbell and Major Woot,
Corps OF Engineers. Many ladies We
also present, including Mrs. Wood, NJ
Westeryeli and Miss Bright,
A. two o'clock this afternoon I
trial and record shooting will be-
aumed nth ihe rauge ~ $500 yards.