The daily Alaskan., 1916-03-13
NEW GUNS WILL
 GUARD NEW YORK
Proposed Sixteen Inch Cannon
 VIII Have Twenty HiI8 Range
SAFEGUARD NEARBY COASTS

More Effective Than Any Armament of Modern BattloshiPs, They win
 Prevent Sea Attack by Foreign FOS
 Protection Covers an Area of fy25s Square Miles,
 When the nations ordnance experts materialize the program of harbor de l fense for New York which was out lined to the house military affairs com mittee by Brigadier General Erasmus M. Weaver, .. s. A., chief Of coast ar tinery, the metropolitan district will become virtually impreEnsble to attack either from land or sea The "au | around fire" range Of the sixteen inch rifles which the ordnance authorities contemplate installing soon at Far Rockaway is S5,O00 yards, or approx 1 imately twenty miles
 With this range, which is greater than that Of any barleship armament 1 in the world and greater than that Of | any known artillery Of the mobile type all of the metropolitan district within twenty mile circle, with Far Rock away Beach as Its center, will be com manded by the powerful new weapons This circle includes all of Manhattan Island south of Harlem, the southern section of the Bronx. all Of Brooklyn and Queens. all of Staten Island, New ark Elizabeth, Hohuken, Jersey City, Bayonne and practically an of the Jersey coast
 A battleshIp as powerful in Brua- ment as the British superdreadnaugh Queen Elizabeth could be held of from the harbor at 6 distance which would make her guns impoteut so far as bom- bardment or any part of thr i've bor- oEghs Of New York city is concerned Cruisers of the British royal navy Gt present engaged in patrol duty outside of New York harb5r and the prescrib- cd three mile limit are to be found continually In waters which are h. CIuded ln the range area of the pro jected Far Rock0way Qualifications. Tn wartime no war vessel could come go close were the Rocksway guns ia stalled.
 Wide Sweep of New Guns.
 An Idea of this sweeping range may be appreciated from the fact that the area covered by the guns is-~L255 square miles. Unlike the present for rlfcaton armament of most of the ha7 bor dcfeuses. the Far Eo-Eaway sys- tenn vii be as effective when employ ed to reDel land attack as to protect against bombs-dment rom scaward
 That is. as Brlcadier General Wea- yer emphasized. thc guns will be en- placed in such a fashion that "aIl around fire" can he directed by the gar -ison- The guns can bc trained with equal effect in any d.re. ton. the only difference being that should it become necessary to concentrate their fire upon an invading force threatening New York city in the rear. as from the land side. the character Of the ammunition used would be different
 Armor piercing projeetiles used against naval attack are oS little use against operations ly a land force. Tests have been made ny reversing coast defense guns and firing them in shore. The armur piercing projectiles used merely buried themselves many feet deep in the soil When the new Notifications are made complete and manned two distinct kinds of amuuui- ton will be slowed in the magazine srmOr piercing rro5a.t.lcS and shells Of the high explosive tyIe.
 Peril Under Present Conditions.
 Comparison between the range areas Of the projected Far Rockaway arma- ment and that of Fort Hancock. the present guardian fortress or New York Gt Sandy Hook, is interesting. The turret batteries Of the ultra modern | bsCtleship could le directed with dead ly effect against MaGhsuan's pr0udest | architectural piles and leave the tnan- cIal section smoking ruin within a few hours without ever venturing | within effective range Of the present harbor defense guns. So say the mil tary authorities.
 The range of the Fort Hancock guns is about 24OOo yards, or approximate ly thirteen and a half miles, The range area Of these batteries stops short at Bay Ridge and New York city, with the exception Of the greater part of Staten Island, ls outside the range altogether, Thus against a land attack, even with the necessary 'al around fire" improvement instituted in the Fort Hancock armament. the gun range does not cover the metropolitan district in any sense, and the function of the Sandy Hook foridcation, unless guns of much heavier cauber are em- placed there, can never be other than the original one-defense Of the har- | bor from naval attack only.