Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-03-16
.OTTUMWA SOLDIER
TELLS OF DEFENSE
D. 3. O'BRIEN OF THE COAST AR.
TILLERY SHOWS COUNTRY'S
PREPAREDNESS
Says United States is Able to Defeat
Attempt by Enemies to Land
Force on Any
Shore.

Daniel B. O'Brien of Ottumwa, for
six years in the service of his coun-
try in the United States army and at
present stationed at FIT Flagler, Wash,
where he is a nOn-cOmmissiOned off,
Ger in the coast artillery, gives some
interesting information on the prepar-
edness Of the United States to repel
any attack by an invading force on
the country's shores. Mr.. O'Brien has
the following to say of the nations
defensive power:
"Is the United States prepared for
war? Yes and no.
"In guns and ammunition? Yes.
''In men to operate the guns? No.
"The United States today along the
sea coasts is we'll fortified and can re-
sist any naval attack. am speaking
from practical knowledge. have
been in the coast artillery for almost
six years and four years of the time
been stationed on the eastern and
western coasts and my knowledge OF
the coast defenses Is complete. /
think it is wrong for newspapers to
print news to the effect that the Unit
ed States is not capable Of resisting a
naval attack. Where such news comes
from is from people that do not know
one thing about the coast defenses and
are talking from their own standpoint
or view.
81 have often heard that the taxpay-
ers are paying millions of dollars for
coast defenses and receiving no value
for their money Let me say right
here that for every dollar the United
States gives for coast defenses 1t re-
ceives 100 cents worth of value.
Coasts Are Protected.
"Today every sea coast harbor is
protected by not only one fort but In
many places For instance, on the
western coast, San Diego, Los An
geles, San Francisco, Portland and Sc
attic, all are protected by a number
of forts. sufficient to resist any naval
attack
"In time of war port cities are the
only places of attack. If once port
city can be captured then the attack
ing navy can have supply base and
can continue to land troops, supply
the base with provisions and fortify
it. In all port cities the provisions
the attacking party can capture Is
an ample supply to last the attacking
party until more supplies are obtained,
such as fuel for their ships and cloth
ing for the troops.
'sIf the attack was made on the
coast where there was no city to sup
plv the provisions until others could
be secured, the attacking party would
run out of provisions and be entirely
helpless. So you see there is no dan
ger from an attack on the seacoast
other than a sea port. Our navy,
which is the third largest and one OF
the strongest, could destroy their
fleet, if by no other means, when their
coal supply was exhausted.
Have Expert Gunners.
1.-THE United States navy can hold its
own in an engagement with any fleet.
We have a record and it is no false
one, for having the best marksmen.
One of our gun pointers, William Ruff,
from the battleship Texas, made eight
straight hits with IA inch gun at
moving target at twelve miles range.
We have a record at the forts of eight
hits out of every ten shots for all guns
and ranges.
1T is impossible for fleet to enter
fortified port. The guns at the forts
are greater in range than on the ships
and the batteries at the forts have the
location of the ships long before the
latter are within range while the ships
cannot locate the batteries for they are
mounted on disappearing carriages
and the only time they are visible is
the moment they are fired. To accur-
ately explain the working mechanism
of the disappearing carriage would
take up too much time and space. SO
you see the forts would have the first
shots at the ships and good first shot
is like the first blow in fistic fight
half of the battle. A Pinch gun on
land is more equivalent to l4-lnch
gun on water because a gun on water
has a rebound or no resistance to re-
coil while on land there is no rebound
because the foundation is solid. The
same case applies to the siege guns
and mortar. The mortar has greater
range than the siege gun as 1t has
solid foundation while the siege gun
has a movable foundation. A siege
gun ranges from eight to ten miles
while mortar is from IL to IA miles.
A 12-inch gun of either type has the
range referred to.
I'm the nights we have the large 60
inch searchlights that can illuminate
ship at $4,000 yards and each fort has
number of such lights. 1t is impos'
sible to hit a 60-inch target at any
great range so you see the search
lights are in no great danger of being
destroyed by gun fire.
"The only possible way for a fleet to
run by a fort is in the night when there