The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-09-09
COAST GUNS NEED BRAClNG Up.
Charleston's Longest Range, For En-
ample, Six Miles Too Short.


A report in the New York Times
of Captain Kilburne's address TO the
business men at Plattsburg on coast
defence plans is as follows:
Captain Charles E. kilburne, OF
the general staff of the army, in an
address to the members of the busl-
ness mems regiment, Informed them
that experts of the army were now
at work developing new carriage
system for the guns mounted in coast
Notifications, both in the United
States proper and in the foreign pos
sessions, which was expected to in
crease the range of those guns by
several miles. Under the present
disappearing carriage arrangement,
the maximum elevation of the pieces,
he said, was Is degrees. The IL
inch guns, for instance, as at present
mounted, when elevated to 10 de-
grees had a maximum range of about
$4,000 yards. If mounted SO as t.
permit an elevation to maximum
of As degrees, these guns should hurl
a projectile from $4,000 to $4,000
yards, while in the case Of the great
14-inch guns, the range would be in
creased with a similar maximum ele-
vation to more than $1,000 yards.
An elevation of As degrees, for the
guns of 16-inch calibre would mean a
possible range of about $4,000 yards.
At these extreme ranges, however,
the effectiveness of the guns would
be doubtful, and the present inten-
ton, Captain Kilburne said, was TO
alter the carriages so as to permit
an elevation Of &c degrees, which, in
the case of the 1e-inch gun, would
mean accurate fire at a range of
more than $4,000 yards.
This was one of the problems that
the officers of the ordnance and coast
artillery arms were studying, Cap
tain Kilburne asserted, and the pros
poets of success were more than good.
Furthermore, three of the ablest Of
ficers of the army, two of them of
the general staff, and the third one
of the famous engineers of the army,
were working out the problem Of a
proper and efficient system of land
support for the coast Notifications.
~ Captain Kilburne spoke for near
y an hour. At the beginning of his
talk Captain Kilburne pointed out
the need of solving the land support
problem for the coast Notifications.
There is just one place in our
scheme of coast Defense said Cap
tain Kilburne, that would not need
the entire mobile army of the United
States to support it in the event of
crisis. That place is the Long Is
land approach to New York city,
where the Notifications, which are
three in number-Forts Niche, Ter
ry and Wright-are on islands and
for that reason the strong support
needed in the case of the other forti-
ications would not apply
Without adequate coast artillery
protection on the sea approach to
New York through the Ambrose
channel, an enemy's fleet, which
would not necessarily have to be
nearly as strong as our own, could
lie, Captain Kilburne said, off the
mouth of the Ambrose channel and
make it a very difficult and danger
Gus undertaking for our own ships
to get out of the harbor. The ships
would have to leave the harbor in
single column and it would not be
a difficult matter for the enemy to
the fire of all his ships |
on each American vessel as it emerg-
ed. An adequate coast artillery arm
ament on Sandy Hook and at other
strategic points in that district
would be able to keep the enemy at
a safe distance.
The Notifications in the Philip
pines and in Hawaii, Captain Kill
burne said, could not be reinforced
in time of war and it was very doubt
full if the Panama Notifications could
be reinforced under present condi-
tions. In some of the Notifications
in the United States proper as many
as Is companies of the coast artil-
lery were needed, the speaker said,
to man them properly and yet the
strength was not more than ten COM
panies, and in Notifications where
ten companies were needed the num-
Der on duty was correspondingly
smaller.
Our Mortars Up 20 Date.
Captain Kilburne next touched up
on the mortars of the coast artillery,
and here the news he gave was good