The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1913-08-11
Only Five Hits in Ten Shots
Made in Sandy Hook Night
Target Practice.
USED OLD AMMUNlTiON
Army Proves Effectiveness Of
llarbOr Dcfrmccs. Working
Under Handicap.

Th. mortar firing at Sandy Hook on
Saturday night. when the Seventy sixth
Company Coast Artillery Corps under
Capt William G. Colvin tried to see what
IL could do in the way of sinking IA battle
ship by shells through the deck. wasn't
perfect score after all When tn. tug
Harvey Brown. which had towed the tar
pir.. Licut.Col. D.lalnere Skrrr.tt. and
after the shot mappcrs ashore had lin
ished their work along in the early hours
Yesterday morning. IL was seen that only
tn" first five OF III. ten shots were per
feet hits
The target that the Harvey brown
tOw.d was "a pNramdal raft twclv. feet
twelve feet high. but the target aimed at
was the water anywhere within nifty feet
Of the raft. an area approximating IL bat
tleship's deck.
The first five shells plunged into the
water within this radius The sixth shot
was lost" BY the watchers ashor. for 1t
while. Its direction was perfect but II
fell "A little short. The seventh. eighth.
ninth and tenth shots were all perfect In
direction but faulty in rangc. that is
they either fell short or went beyond the
target area. Most of them went too
far bne went forty three yards beyond
the ilf,N yard circle The first two shots
were the best-alnost ideal firing in fact
They hit the water close " the wood-n
target
But the Coast Artillery is nu, down in
tn" dumps about the imperfect scor,t
Lacks Ample supply M Pow der.
Pooh 80 said visiting officer. IF
my mortar in'n mad" iive hits out of "A
possbi. ten Id thinl, they w.r. doing
rieh'v w-li, especially If w.l. short.
BANDED and shy Of MON, to buy new
powder ANA had ucv"t tried night s"r,ic.
mortar practI'" before
Tho>" Wei" some Of tn. things the
coast hrtill' men had to contend with.
For. compared with III, navy the arm,
is poor-dltt poor. 1t lacks enough men
to do th-s" things often and fast and
perfectly. II lacks money To- Lt!N new
powder every year or two ur uft-u.i.
II lacks money to pfAttisr shooting NOR
this "r hroausrl"s as often a. oiii Ship>
Of III" lIi-.
Ana 50. h",aus- there isn't money to
hnN new powder with LAVISH band. the
SANDY Hook guns at. iii-d with powder
th't - sometimes ten Years old and thr
WORK "' which - highly uncertain
'hlS four guns N \ p't OF \l-Nand.r
M''""k battery at SANDY Hook were
hl"a "H Saturday night The four guns !u
PIT never baikcd rnc. Tn. eight
guns IN the two pits "f tn. Hooks other
battery wer" silent. It would naturally
nav" been Il better practice Il All sixteen
guns could haV. been working. irt for
thls there Was neither IN, men nor th.
money The cast non half ton shells
hred cost about $50 apiece War shells
would nave cost thr." times rs much
Tn. mor'ars fired were II inch ones bu,
OF th- oldest type. dating back To 1890
ThtA were among TIA. earliest mounted In
THIS country. Sandy Hook has none OF
the new IL inch mortals which ir. "A
long pointed shell and are much mor.
efhc!-nt IN every way. But som. Of these
newest mortars arr in place at Panama
and the Pacific coast will &c, a supply of
them. ii Is said