Norwich bulletin., 1914-10-20

&@ n's.; sna. considering ethe- devastating possibilities of a fleet of airships whose aviators are equipped to Rrop bombs upon unsuspecting military xQrees,s battleships or fortified towns. as against the heavy toll of death and de- struction which has already and. will be reaped from the mine fields of war-rid- den Europe within the next few months, these same experts believe that all the odds are in favor of the explosive snare hidden beneath the waters of the sea nxsthe crust of asprosp ective battlefield.
 This stand, too, has been taken in the face of the fear which is perhaps pres ent in every community in the war zone t6day that bomb-dropping aircraft .3nify, at any moment, sail over London town, or Paris. St. Petersburg or Ant werp, leaving below a wake of property blown to atoms and a corpse-strewn plain. T %
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 sfir George Ashton, the British smili- tary expert, is one of the men who, not wifhstanding long and exhaustive study of modern aircraft and it's rela- tion to war, believes that the army seroplane or dirigible hold no dire men, Eee as wholesale destroyers of nfe-at least not in their present state of de- velopment.
 In his recent book. "sea, Land and Air Strafegy.'f Sir George says:
 -'In considering the bombardment of towns with bombs dropped from aircrait. weshave examples at our disposal or the similar case of bomPardment py oru- nary guns. Experience tells us tnat vast amount of she'll, must be fired to dsSany material damage.
 es<fhe- accuracy attained by aircraft in desired. and the question of replenish- ment offers greater difficulties than 1t does in the case of siege batteries.
 Taking all the points Into considera- tiep, if 1t is so difficult to reduce the efozvded population of a town to, sub lection by bombardment, 1t seems safe to assume that the few hundred aircrafr would be unable to bring serious pres gure to bear upon a hostile nation num- beufhg many millions and spread over But with submarine and subterranean mines a different aspect is presented, and strangely enough the mine first first of Antwerp in 1885, when an Italian engineer filled several small iron yes sels with gunpowder, arranged Tor triggers. ~ and fioated them down stream to demolish a bridge erected by the enemy. From that time on the mine has been recognized adjunct Of war
 
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 Tn the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, AAs declared by experts that the naval sHperfority of the French over the Ger mans was to great extent neutraliZed when the Germans made extensive use af electrical, mechanical and dummy mines in their system of harbor defense. The Spanish-American war, and later b,%f Ia oPE Enrf rt which inc Httacking fleet suffered so terribly from this method of defense, each had its chapter to add to the history Of mines. and early in the present European strug- gle traces of the widespread use or sup- marine explosive devices were found.
 Shipping and military men now are of thel opinion that the British cruiser Ann phion, which went down in the North sea, struck two mines that had been set kdrift in violation of the rules or civlhzed warfare. It is further assumed that these mines were of the deadly chemical contact variety uncomfortable from the moment they are planted.
 The Hague rules governing the warfare A-nations permits country to mine as t pleases the waters of it's rivers and karbors and it's own coast to the interna- honal limit of three miles ofrshore. where Ehes high seas begin. But when mine Is planted on the high seas. it must be one which will loose it's potency within an-hour after it is placed in the water, which means, in effect, that nothing but torpedo may be used at distance ETeater than three miles rom the cOaSCs and even the torpedo is subject to the pne-hour rule.
 Every nation has it's own particular lnd secret method for mining it's har- bors, rivers and sea channels. The usual plan of mine field consists of laying the explosive, snares across. "a harbor or waterway in several directions, leaving Lparrow, tortuous passage through which friendly vessels may be piloted- The charts of these mine hekfs, showing uae location of the hidden danger to Iffpping are guarded carefully. and their Details usually known only to two or H1ree officers.
 1Farmanent and secret mine fields are f general use as harbor defenses throughout the world. To accomplish lheir pernanency and yet avoid the dan- gers to shipping which their presence sntaiis. such mine fields are usually pianted with buyant, contact mines, or. hi other words,f mines which are of spherical shape. float near the surface kict with a ship.
 IFhese mines in time of peace are noo-ed close ro the river or harbor bed, snds attached to the lmoorfngs are small emergency arise, these small charges are aetonated from shore, the close moor ags are re.easeo, and they rise to a point '. near enougf: to the surface to come in .cEtact with any vessel passing above ;feu1.
 Terrestrial mines are, II. the rnain not greatly different in principle from those 5f the submarine variety. except that they are planted at a depth of three or four feet underground. Instead of sub bors.