The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-25
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THn coast artillery war game is
played in q spacious room where
in is set up a large green board
twenty-five by forty feeD on which mod
els Of Dreadnoughts, battleships, cruis-
ers. destroyers. etc. made carefully to
scale by q master gunner, maneuver
about In column and line. in double echo
familiar formations. Bounding this sea
area, which represents a water range
of eight or ten miles. are the land feat
ures OF some fortified harbor shown in
great typographical detail. with batter
les. range-fnding stations, searchlights.
mine fields. barracks. roads. streams,
woods-in fact. all points of military i'm
portance.
four officers direct the attack of ships
against the shore. At the other end. on
raised seats, a larger group. sixteen in
all. of battery commanders. fire COM
manders. and the supreme fort COM
mander. study the board with special
field glasses, decide on situations as they
arise. and conduct the operations of de-
Tense. A separating curtain. drawn at
one-minute intervals. allows the attack
ing party to move their ships over the
board. as the ships might move over the
water, without the defenders seeing each
new position until the curtain is with
drawn. One Of these war-game cam
paigns may last for weeks.
Meeting the Emergencies of War.
These coast-artillery war games are
played with the greatest seriousness by
all concerned. and in absolute silence,
save for necessary commands. which are
given and transmitted with pretense OF
telephoning from point to point, exactly
as they would be given in a real battle.
4 wonderful stimulation of actually is
obtained. especially in night attacks,
when the room is darkened. and tiny
searchliShts (small rejecting mrrors)
fash their beams to the proper ranges,
are placed in or out of action are
traversed or elevated as the need is by
a searchlight operator. in accordance
with commands received from the fire or
battery commanders.
As the engagement proceeds the excite
mcnt grows, Differences of opinion arise
as to hits and damages, as to the correct
ness of movements and maneuvering. Is
this ship out Of action? Is that battery
silenced? Umpres are necessary-one
for each side. and chief umpire. For
weeks afterward officers argue over de-
tails and decisions. There is no principle
or method of coast-defense operations
that cannot be demonstrated in this war
game.
As to the method of estimating hits
either by ships or shore defenses. it may
be explained that this is accomplished !
by applying the law Of probabilities as
established by target practice records. |
To explain how this is done. would take
US too far into military technicalities.
The point is that substantial advantages
are gained by this war-game practice. |
Lessons are learned in the handling of
guns and men. An onicer who has never
been in action gets a vivid illusion of
action. and receives training in vital
decisions on which the issues Of battle
may depend.
Our Coast Defenses Cannot BE
Taken by Direct Attack.
Let US now consider in detail. as the
war-game experts do. what would hap
pen If dozen hostile battleships appear
cd some morning eight or ten miles on
Sandy Hook, and proceeded to concen-
trate their fires upon Fort Hancock. Sup
nose this happened without interference
from our own feet, which was occupied
elsewhere. Would New York City be in
danger? Could our harbor forts prevent
the ensmy's ships from penetrating the