The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-25

upper bay and using as targets the Wool
worth Building, the City Hall. or the
Metropolitan Opera House? / have laid
| this tactical problem before several Of
our leading coast artillery authorities
own words. partly in my own.
We will assume that the encmy's aim
is to pass through the Narrows and to
hold up New York City. To do this he
must silence Fort Wadsworth. he must
silence Fort Hamilton. Is this possible?
How can he silence these terrible fort
resses with tlIeir fourteen-inch guns.
their twelve-inch guns. their mortar bat
terics. and all the rest Of their formid-
able equipment? Let us see what the
enemy may %. He has a choice among
several methods Of attack
One thing that the enemy will not do.
except by way of reconnaissance. is to
attack these forts in clear daylight. The
overwhelming supremacy OF first-class
and fully manned coast defenses over
fleet attacking under such conditions
GALL of our American coast defenses. by
the way. are less than half manned) Is
established beyond question. There is
no difference Of opinion here among mil
itary authorities. In a direct daylight
attack the fleet would certainly be de-
feated. probably destroyed.
But what il the enemy makes his at
tack in fog or darkness? There IL an
other advantage enjoyed by the fleet.
that it can strike when it pleases choos-
ing conditions as unfavorable as posi-
Bile for the coast defense. Suppose the
fleet chooses darkness, stealing in. silent
and menacing. in the dead OF night. with
all lights extinSuished save for a small
and hidden sternlight in each ship to
guide the ships behind. Then what?
The answer is that searchlights on the
shore, sweeping the harbor and its ap-
proaches with ceaseless watchfulness,
make the coast-defense guns as formid-
able in darkness as in daylight-that is,
in clear darkness. Indeed. the shore
guns have one advantage in darkness.
because then the fire commanders and
battery commanders can more easily in
dictate which particular ship they have
phoning to ranEe-finders and gun-point-
ers a precise verbal description Of the
vessel. easily misunderstood, the fire
commander in a night engagement simp-
ly says: Target in Number One"
which means that the vessel to be de-
stroyed is out there clearly illuminated
by Number One searchlight, which
every man knows. And straightway the
range-finders and gun pointers concern
trate upon this vessel.
Putting Out the SearchliEhts.
The encmy's battleships. then. can ac-
complish nothing in the darkness, so long
as searchlights from the shore play over
them. They must. put out these trouble
some searchlights at any cost This Is
a more difficult task than would appear.
One might imagine that a searchlight.
fully exposed upon high ground and
throwing forth a great beam caSrying !
the brilliance of millions Of candles, |
guns; but the contrary is true. The larg-
est coast-defense searchlight is only five |
feet in diameter. and to hit a five-foot |
disk six miles away with one Of the |
navy guns is like hitting a penny half a |
block away with a pistol. 1t is a matter |
of extreme difficulty to get the range Of
a searchlight. owing to its elusive daz-
zle; and at Port Arthur the japanese
shot at Russian searchlights for weeks, !
and never put them out.
1t is certain. however, that our New
York enemy would try to put out the
searchlights of Fort Hancock. He might
put them out, or fail. Night after night
he will send in a flock of destroyers,
dozens of them. close in to shore. to bonn
bard the lights. His destroyers will
brave the mine-fields and. being OF shall
low draft. will probably pass safely over
them. Besides. the forts will hesitate to
waste their mines on such small craft,
holding them rather for tho battleships
outside. So 1t is possible that by buz-l