Show CoAST DEFENSE WEAK EA TESTS JESTS SHOW F Fortifications Declared Obsolete Ob solete Adequate A. A Air Ir Forces to Guard Line By Newspaper Enterprise WASHINGTON Sept 3 The Tho Tho coast defense system of the tho United State States Is ill due for tor a radical change And this soon The Tho present fortifications are obsolete obsolete lete except for tor very cry limited use iso sc An a air r force torce must replace them This Is the first lesson taught by jy bythe bytho tho the r recent cent naval airplane tests off ott the theAt At Atlantic antia coast when airplanes were used to sink warships in an effort to compare comparo their offensive and defensive delen- delen sive powers powers As As' s' s to the Ability blUt of airplanes to copo cope with battleships or to supplant them there Is some disagreement Says Brigadier adler General William II Mitchell of ot tho the United States air service service service ser- ser vice It appears ver very much at the present time as if St the battleship as a means ans of ot controlling tho the sea will vIlI give Va way to the airplane and Its auxiliary the airplane carrier within twenty or thirty years ears But Captain William A. A Moffett chief of ot the aeronautical division of ot the navy says The Tho at sea like lIka the Infantry on land determIne determine determine deter deter- mine the final result Aviation Is an nn auxiliary liko like the submarine COAST ARTILLERY GOES DOWN Whether hether or not th the a airplanes can drive the battleships from the seas this Is true according to a high ann army officer who cannot be named because of ot Secretary of ot War Weeks' Weeks order against official discussion of the re recent recent re- re cent tests as the they affect the army It It was the tho coast artillery not the tho navy that was put out of ot business b by bythe bythe the bombing tests With a fleet of ot e even en only a few tew hundred airplanes greater security C could be bo given n Americas America's mile coast line lino than by coast fortifications costing hu hundreds of ot millions and coast artillery units with thousands of ut men inca Coast defense guns can fire tire effectively effectively only up to about ten miles Tho The airplanes located and sank the enemy enem tift fifty miles offshore before ho he would have been within sight or range of ot land guns suns And observers agree asree the accuracy of the bombs dropped the percentage of ot hits was higher than I could ha have vo been expected from a shore batter battery at ten miles DEFENSE IMMOBILE Coast fortifications can be maintained maintained main main- tamed only at strategic points The coast artillery while mobile to a Is unable to move quickly or In force torce Within forty-eight forty hours however every fighting airplane In the United States could be bo mobilized at a 0 given point on either coast Before either navy or army could be concentrated at a point of surprise atack tho air force could be on the tho job to repel repol In In- In Whatever tho the results of tho the coming comins disarmament conference at Washington national defense must be maintained National defense means an adequate air force force force-an an air all force torce that could repel an invasion launched by an enemy enemy fleet accompanied by airplane carriers and warplanes of ot all dimensions Since the armistice congress has more moro than for tor forthe forthe the army and navy air all services Still wo we have no air force that compares favorably with those of other powers |