Show WHEN THE JAPS bombard NEW YORK an tears that when the battleship squadron of sixteen ships sails for the pacific and after the horn has been navigated the ships of japan will pass through the suez canal cross the atlantic and lay waste to the atlantic seaboard our friend has but a faint idea of the obstacles the japanese would be forced to overcome while the warships of togo were crossing the atlantic admiral bab evans could retaliate by steering across the pacific and for every shot hurled a the defenses of new york he could throw a shell at nagasaki but neither togo nor evana would court a contest of that hind A naval authority explains how unsafe it is tor ships of war to proceed against fortifications where the ocean Is mapped and gunners in the forts simply read the figures on a chart in front of them touch a button and the guns do the rest there Is no sighting when the image of a ship is reflected on a certain spot on the map the shot is fired and the missile unerringly finds its way to tie object for that exact spot in the ocean calls for a certain elevation laoj aagje known to the gunners william wolff smith who is one of the best informed writers on the subject explains the defenses of new and how the batteries are operated there is something mysterious a most uncanny in the idea that a man aho vho does not even see a ship can direct the fire of unseen guns miles away or the discharge of a mine and send a vessel to the bottom under a rain of heavy shells or with a hole torn in her sides the matter is the application of mathematics to war at a signal a twelve inch gun or a battery of such guns spring from behind an innocent looking embankment belch forth a rain of shot and sink aaen before the enemy has time to locate them only to repeat the performance a few minutes later this fire is delivered with marcellous marvellous marv ellous accuracy and dispatch and at the command of a man miles away who does not need to aven see the fleet and in fact who has no julme to look at it it be were able to view it the dominant feature in the fire control system is rapidity of action guns which have been em placed tor years may be brought into an action lasting tor only 15 or 20 minutes A system therefore that will make it possible to alro 30 accurate shots from each of these guns in this time has the effect of doubling the of guns in a system which makes it poa sible to fire only fifteen shots the chain of tactical command and the various units in the system of defense are as follows first the battery a group of guns or mortars of the same caliber and power of which there are the following classes a 8 inch lo or 12 inch gun batteries of two or more guns usually not more than thres guns each b 12 inch mortar batteries of 8 mortars each c rapid fire batteries of from 2 to 6 guns each caliber 6 inches or less A battery is usually commanded by a captain it Is assumed that tho guns of a single battery shall always have the gamo target second the fire command which la a group of batteries so located that their alro covers alio game or contiguous water areas and that they can be readily commanded in action by one man coordinate co ordinate with the alro command is the alno command this consists of submarine defenses mine fields and rapid fire guns which do tend atheni third the battle command consisting ot two or more fire lor mine commands and including all the armament material and accessories that cover a water area within which a naval attack may be over which one man may exercise efficient control in most harbors there is but one battle command in the very large h arbors there is more than ono for instance in new york bar bor forts totten schuyler and slocum constitute one battle command of tour fire commands and ono mine command fifteen batteries forts wadsworth worth and hamilton constitute a second battle command of five fire commands and one mine command twenty three batteries and fort hancock constitutes a third battle command of three fire commands and one mine command fourteen batter les A cattle command is usually commanded by a colonel and is the highest unit in our system over which is exercised fire control fourth the artillery district consisting of a subdivision lot the coast line including the personnel assigned thereto organized for the purpose ot artillery administration and defense the command of an artillery district devolves upon the senior artillery officer thereof who is designated as the district commander the system of fire control and direction has for its purpose first to enable the battery commander at all times to determine tho range and other firing data of the target assigned to him second to enable the fire commander to supervise and control the fire of the batteries of his command it is the fire commander who assigns targets to the batteries who sees that the targets are illuminated at night who prescribes the volume and rate of fire etc third to enable the battle commander to conduct an action and to exercise general supervision over and to co the various subdivisions of his command fourth to enable the district commander to command tho artillery defenses of his district and so direct all of the artillery elements of defense that they may work harmoniously together and mutually supplement and support each other there should be at least one 60 inch searchlight under the control of the battle commander who has an electric controller in his station he searches tor the enemy in his battle area by use of bis searching lights with assistance as he desires iron the illuminating lights of the fire commanders the fire commander has a horizontal base line at each end of which Is a depression position finder he has a plotting lioard and an illuminating light the controller for which is la bis station ho is in telephonic communication muni cation with the battle commander each of his batteries and his illuminating lumina ting light in special cases the fire commander has the necessary range hoards deflection boards etc so that in case of a breakdown in the position finding service of one of the batteries he can furnish the necessary information to that to directly from his own station at night when the enemy has been found and targets assigned to fire commands the fire commanders illuminate their own targets in order that their batteries may fire upon them the battery commander of an 8 10 and 12 inch gun battery has a horizontal base line at each end of which is mounted a depression position find er he has plotting and deflection boards wind indicator etc the supervision of the range finding bervice is under charge of tho range officer the battery commander having a station at bis battery from which be can per supervise its personnel and material the range finding system is such that by taking observations every twenty seconds from the base ends and by the use of range and deflection boards etc the track of the target is determined and corrections made me tor atmospheric conditions variations in velocity etc by this the guns are furnished with firing data corrected evary twenty seconds As the guns are kept constantly trained on the target they can be fired any instant and the limitation to rate of fire Is rapidity of loading for mortar batteries the maximum rate of fire Is one salvo per minute the firing data Is therefore only sent once a minute for raold fira batteries 6 inch caliber and less no separate range finding system la as a rule provided the batteries are furnished ranges by the fire commander they are furnished meteorological data from a central station and information with respect to tide from a aldo eta alon the mine commander has a horizontal abase line at each end of which Is a depression position finder he has a plotting board and searchlight the controller for which Is in hla station lie is in communication with the battlo commander each of his rapid fire batteries his searchlight mining leading room etc the system Is subject to many exceptions in which local conditions render modifications necessary but the above will give a fair idea of abo manner in which the defense of new york Is supervised and conducted |