The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-10-09

ton in which the foe is advancing. AS yet none
of the weapons has been pointed, nor, If mortars
are to be used, even been loaded.
The %plotters marks upon his paper a fifth point
ahead and in line with the four other dots. This
is his predicted point" where the enemy vessel
should be a minute later. In this interval OF
time it is necessary for the men in the plotting
room to do a number of things necessary to make
it possible for the weapons to score a hit. Inc
mere range is not enough to know. Let us as
sumo that the foe is to be attacked by means OF
mortars and that the projecties are TO soar
thousands of feet into the air upon their long
flight that may take the better part OF two
minutes before plunging upon the vulnerable
decks of the hostile dreadnaught.
It is needful to know how long the shells will
be in the air at that range; how far the target
will move during the fight of the missiles; how
much the path of the projectiles will be inhu-
enced by drift due to their own rotation and the
effect of the prevailing wind; the exact powder
charge that will be needed to propel the shells
this being determined by the range and the state
of the atmosphere; and finally, how much ahead
the mortars must be aimed in order to allow for
these factors. These complications are due to
the method of indirect fire employed, and in this
particular the mortars are not so accurate as the
big rifles and, therefore. are more difficult to
handle in order to insure good results, The final
point set in the plotting room is No. 6 and two
minutes further along than No. 5, the predicted
point" the latter being verified by the angles
given by the observers at the spotter stations
when the vessel is duly reported at the proper
moment.
All of this has taken longer to describe than
actual performance calls for, because the error
factors which have been just mentioned are tabu
lated and are quickly worked out graphically by
means Of cunningly devised apparatus. 1t must
be evident that in an interval of four minutes
a big ship 1900 or 16, 700 yards off would not gel
,,aog,rahtv nlOear an1 Onpp tho nrnDnr ranpp Is
found and the mortars loaded the shifting range
is quickly verified and the guns set accordingly
The men in the towers and those in the plot
ting room are at work all the while. At definite
intervals the instructions are sent by telephone
from the plotting room to each battery or mortar
pit, and lest these vocal directions be misunder
stood the figures and orders are visibly repro
duced. For this work the telautograph is EN-
ployed, and thus words and numbers in writing
check the telephone calls.
AS has been said, there are four mortars in
each pit, and as a general thing there are four
of these pits at each defense station. In other
words, a salvo Of 16 high explosive shells can
be launched by indirect fire at a foe. If but
two of these hit the enemy she would either be
destroyed or gravely damaged, because none of
her decks would be able to Withstand such an
assault. In practice the performances of such a
battery have been splendid. AS a matter OF rec
ord, one mortar company has fired as many as
$3.50 80 - AN'NSNSS 4" pN~ShASt AN IL NhaN III
terval made six hits, while another company has
scored eight times out off ten shots during a
span of 8 minutes 2S seconds. These mortar
projectiles weigh from 500 to 1000 pounds, and
are charged with from 80 to 60 pounds of high
explosive.
For the disappearing guns the modus operandi
differs in some particulars. The time of fight
of the shot is far shorter than in the case of the
mortar shell, the powder charge is not varied to
suit different ranges, and the state of the atmos-
phere is not a deciding factor. Therefore, cor
rections are more easily made, for the rife, when
it does fire, is pointed right at it's target. The
to know the range, and this is telephoned and
reproduced by the telautograph at the firing sta
tions.
The battery commander also follows the enemy
ship with a telescope range finder that employs
a short vertical instead of a horizontal base. This
serves as a check and at each gun there is a tele,
scopic sight which is functioned independent of
the weapon-the operator looking over the para.
pet and following continually the moving quarry.
By swinging his telescope horizontally he causes
the lateral angle to be indicated at the gun sta.
ton below, and there the trainer swings the
weapon in unison and the elevator raises the
muzzle agreeably to instructions from the range.
finders.
When the rifles have been loaded and the mo.
ment for action arrives these great war dogs
rise upon their steel launches and thrust their
muzzles above the heavy parapets of concrete.
Instantly there is a thunderous boom-tbe sneed.
ing proJectiles are on their murderous mission
Before the thin veil OF smoke has been swent
aside the guns have sunk behind cover. and hut
for the momentary flashing of their muzzles there
is nothing to show the spoilers on the hostile
craft where the attacking guns lie.