Evening journal., 1914-12-17
THE I.
coast Defense.
Siege Artillery Units Now
a Part OF Field, Armament
at the Forts
WAR COLLEGE
FORCES CHANGE
Special to THE EVENING JOURNAL.

Special to THE EVENING JOURNAL.
DELAWARE CITY, Del, Dec. 49,
Siege artillery units have been made
part of the permanent organization OF
the field artillery. IN February, 1913,
the chief OF coast artillery was directed
by the chief of staG to organize bat
TALON of siege artillery which should
take up the matter Of siege artillery IN
struction as its chief military objective
This is especially interesting, as the
18th and ll2th companies, stationed at
Fort DUPONT, were the two companies
to comprise this battalion of siege ar
tillery, under command Of Major Joseph
p. Tracey. The two companies in 1913
engaged in the siege artillery practice.
The 45th Company has since been or
dered to Panama, while the ll2th Com
pany engaged in the practice this fall
with seven inch howitzers. As far as is
known, these are the only two compan-
les on the Atlantic Coast that have en-
gagged in siege artillery practice.
General Weaver was not in favor OF
such action, as the coast artillery arm Is
not sufficient to furnish manning details
for the Notifications of the Atlantic and
Gulf coasts. lie believed that the for
nation of siege artillery units would in
terferc with the regular work of the
coast artillery, and that the land forces
should provide clearly and definitely fof
an adequate siege artillery force. lie
recommended that at least one regi-
mental unit of siege artillery should be
provided for and kept fully equipped at
all times, as is done in foreign military
organizations.
General Weaver suggested. however
that the establishment of this service
might well be done through the organ
lied militia, as it is comparatively easy
to supply the armories with a full conf
plcment of service siege artillery equip
mcnt Tho gunnery features of the
training. the mechanical maneuvers con.
nected Herewith, and the fire control
features could all be carried ON with tn,
service equipment in the armory, and the
field duties could be executed in the i'm
mediate vicinity of the homes of tho
militia organizations or in connection
with summer maneuvers.
General Weaver also suggested thai
if assigned to the coast artillery 4
hcould only be taken up as secondary
and incidental training. The experience
of the Spanish war and Of the Civil wal
made it clear he said, that the inhahi
tants of seacoast cities are so hysteI'
cally excited by the presence of hostl,
warships off the coast line that it would
be impracticable TO detach any of thi
coast artillery from their coast defcns,
duties for service in the interior witt
the mobile army as long as even sin
gle hostile warship should be operatin,
along the coast.
lie suggested that the field army IL
entitled to an efficient siege artillery
service in a primary way, and that tn
coast artillery Should have this as
secondly and Incidental proposition.
Major Tracey, in command of the bat
TALON at Fort DUPONT. recommende,
"that The commanding officer of tn
coast defenses of the Delaware be an
thorized to modify the requirements o
the coast artillery instruction order, in
solar as the companies assigned 40 tn
service of the siege howitzers are con
cerned in such a manner as he mal
deem cxpedient. in ord, that they MAJ
be able to accomplish the special yvorl
assigned TO them i'm satisfactory way.
The matter was taken up by the Wa
College, and it was decided to perma
nently organize the siege artillery unit
as a part of the field artillery, and as
result the siege artillery instruction be
came an incidental and subordinate fea
ture of coast artillery work. This sieg
artillery i'm the field artillery branch vii
be of caliber greater than the 6,inc
howitzers and win probably include gun
and mortars from 76-inch to l2-inc
caliber. The ll2th Company, which com
pleted siege artillery practice som
time ago, used 7-inch "Berthas" in thei
practice. This is the first time tina
these guns were ever used along the Al
lantic coast. AS a result of action b.
the War College this practice was
subordinate feature of the ll2th Com
pany's instruction, the company nc
using over a months time in this pra,
ticc and obtaining some splendid result