Show NEW BRANCH OF THE NAVAL SERVICE AND ITS MISSION plan by wh ch the amer can harbors will be protected from the at tack from foreign navies submarine artillery has been or as a division 0 our naval service to defend the harbors and sea port cities it Is to be a highly spec service involving the applina alon of three distinct sciences optics electricity and the chemistry of high explosives though nominally a part of the coast artillery which mans the forts 1 along the seaboard the submarine ar Is to all intents and purposes a separate organization As hushed by congress it comprises a lit tie less than five thousand enlisted men split up into forty four compan les five lieutenant colonels thirteen majors fifty six captains and one hun dred and three lieutenants the duty of the corps is primarily to plant and operate explosive mines and to protect them in time of war against attack by the enemy in or der to accomplish the latter task ef tec it is necessary to cover the mine fields from the shore with rapid fire guns and to watch them at night with the help of huge searchlights whence it comes about quite naturally that part of the business of this arm of the service consists in managing the searchlights and manning the small guns in question it should be understood that our coast fortresses wherever located are so placed as to command the channels of entrance to harbors no matter how formidable such defensive works may be however hostile warships might succeed in running by them if care were not taken to plant mines beneath the water over which they would have to pass it Is an easy and effective precaution a cally arranged mine field being an ob stacle so dangerous that not even the strongest fleet unless under a fool hardy commander would dale to closs it at the present time most of our bar bors enjoy no protection anfor tuna tely but congress has at last awakened to the importance of ohp matter and a half dozen years from now the system will have been so far protected that within 48 hours after warning Is received of an outbreak of hostilities every one of our sea ports will be defended by mine fields impassable by the most powerful foe meanwhile lean while the requisite mines elec trie cables and other apparatus are being manufactured as rapidly as pos sible and the personnel of the new submarine artillery which Is to have charge of the entire outfit Is ing the rudiments of a very compre henslee technical education in the art of fighting under water the mines employed for the pur pose are hollow spheres of galvanize iron 32 inches in diameter filled with either guncotton or dynamite they are anchored a few feet below the sur face of the water in a series of lines as far apart as may be deemed judi clous across a channel and aa a rule they are set in each line 75 to 80 feet apart thus arranged and controlled bv electricity from the fort on shore they can hardly fail to destroy any hostile warship that might attempt to pass them if by good luck she got through one line safely she could scarcely thread her way through another congress as already stated has provided the necessary men As tor the apparatus it will cost about 3 to supply it for all the bar bors from portland main to puget sound and of this sum only has been appropriated an additional 2 will be needed for search lights |