Evening star., 1916-06-04
Coast Fortifcations Support the Warships

from the force with which the proJec-
tile is driven from the gun. II the
piece be elevated at higher angle
than As degrees the shot will fall
short. and the force of the impact does
not come from the direct blow. but
from the fall of the projectile from the
height. sometimes five miles or more,
to,which it has been thrown.
The mortar, a different type of gun,
is used for giving an indirect fire. and
within its range. $1,000 yards for the
new ones. IL is certain and destructive.
1t is shorter. being only about ten
calibers. its bore is greater in propor-
tion, it discharges a thin-walled shell.
carrying a large bursting charge OF d.
powder. and its effect. when II plunges
down upon vessels deck, is what Gen.
Sherman said war was. This is the
type of weapon and projectile which
destroyed the forts at Liege and other
places. AS their fire is not direct, so
their aim is indirect. The man who
points the gun never sees the target
since it need not be raised above the
parapet before discharge.
The anticipated position of the target
is plotted. the elevation is fixed as
for the direct fire gun. hut the direc-
tion is determined by means of an
azimuth. or circle horizontal
plane. with scale marked with de-
grees and hundredths of a degree. and
the gun is pointed accordingly.
So confident are the men in the aim
of the mortars. that in practice upon
target which represents a ships
deck. under tow, the towline is never
made over 500 yards in length.
The fire of these guns is divided, ac-
cording to distance. into zones. the
more distant being reached by using
heavier charges of powder. To drop
the shell within the nearer zones the
powder charges are correspondlngly
diminished.
Distance in direct fire is an obvious
obstacle to good practice. but with a
mortar within a zone the closer the
target the more difficult it becomes to
aim accurately and score hit.
The mortars are usually arranged
eight in battery and four in a pit.
although not always Generally they
are fired in salvos of four. and they
can discharge a salvo every minute.
Even though they throw their pro-
jectiies five or six miles high. and
those from the new ones land $1,000
yards Uen and one-half sea miles) from
where they started the artillerists eX-
pect to hit at least once In eight shots
a target the size of a ships deck.
The mortar employs much smaller
barge of powder than the direct fire
gun. which, due to erosion, will only
last about 125 rounds.
Some interesting figures are given as
to some of the older guns and mortars
and no prophecies for the new ones are
made
fourteen-inch, forty -caliber gun
weighs 10000 pounds, the carriage
100000 pounds the projectile 1860
pounds. the powder charge $50 pounds.
A twelve-inch mortar weighs $4,000
pounds is only ten feet long. its
projectile weighs 1.046 pounds and its
powder charge is sixty pounds. Its
carriage weighs only $1,000 pounds.
No such data can be obtained as to
the new guns and mortars recently
authorized, but 1t is quite safe to say
that they will at least be on par with
any in the world.
The small guns and the mine fields
require skill begotten only by training
and then more training to be be ef-
fective.
Under the recent proposed congress
sioAal action the number of enlisted
men and officers in the coast fortifica-
tions will be increased to 10000 en-
listed men and 1920 officers. which will
provide one full crew for one-half OF
the shore batteries.
Can the mythical militia for coast
artillery be relied upon to man the re-
naming guns effectively?