Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1915-10-08

ton in which the foe is advancing. AS yet none
of the weapons has been pointed, nor. II mortarS
are to be used, even been loaded.
The plotters marks upon his paper nTtn point
ahead and in line with the four other dots. Inls
is his predicted point" where the enemy vessel
should be a minute later In this lnterVal Vi
time it is necessary for the men IN the plottns
room to do a number Of things necessary TO MAKE
it possible for the weapons to score a MT. me
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 projectiles are to soar
thousands of feet into the air upon their long
flight that may take the. better part OF Two
minutes before plungng upon the vulneraDle
decks of the hostile dreadnaught
1t is needful to know how long the shells Will
be in the air at that range; how far the target
will move during the flight of the missiles; how
much the path of the projectiles will be lnnu-
enced by drift due to their own rotation ana the
effect Of the prevailing wind; the exact powder
charge that will be needed to propel the snells-
this being determined by the range and the state
of the atmosphere; and finally, how much anead
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 dlfhcult TO
handle in order to insure good results. The hnaI
point set in the plotting room is No. and two
minutes further along than No. 5, the predicted
noint" 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
big ship $4,000 or 10000 yards off would not get
measurably Closer and the proper range 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 general thing there are four
of these pits at each defense station In other
words salvo of 16 high explosive shells
be launched by indirect fire at 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
assault. In practice the performances of such
battery have been splendid. AS matter OF rec
ord one mortar company has fired as many as
ten shots in minutes 40 seconds, and in that in
terval made six hits, while another company has
scored eight times out of ten shots during a
span of 9 minutes % seconds. These mortar
projectiles weigh from 800 to 1000 pounds. and
are charged with from 80 to 60 pounds of high
explosive.
For the disappearing guns the modus operandi
differs in particulars The time of flight
of the shot is far shorter than in the of the
mortar SHE'LL the powder charge is not varied to
suit different ranges, and the state of the atmos-
phere is not deciding factor. Therefore cor
rections more easily made. for the rifle, when
it does fire, is pointed right at it's target The
principal concern of the battery commander is
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 telescope range finder that employs
a short vertical instead of horizontal base This
serves as a check and at each gun there is teIe-
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 Ior acuon arrives these great war dogs
rise upon their steel launches and thrust their
muzzles above the heavy parapets of concrete.
Instantly there is thunderous boom-the speed
ing pro1ectiles are their murderous mission
Before the thin veil of smoke has been swent
aside the guns have sunk behind cover. and but
for the momentary flashing of their muzzles there
is nothing to show the spoilers on the hostile
craft where the attacking guns ie
HER EQUIPMENT.
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