724 



TORPEDOES. 



hostile fleet would use both these means of de- possible. For this reason it is probable that the 

 stroying the dangers in its path before attempt- mining casemate and the observation stations 

 ing a passage. The defense of the torpedo field for tracking ships would be remote and con- 

 would make necessary a patrol of lightly armored cealed as much as possible from observation, 

 launches, equipped with batteries of Hotch- They could not safely be within the main line of 

 kiss or other quick-firing pieces, and machine shore works that covered and protected the field, 



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EASTERN TORPEDO DEFENSES OF NEW YORK. 



guns to do skirmish and picket duty. All the 

 stations used in making a system of submarine 

 mines in time of war would needs be bomb proof. 

 Once the enemy's ships had located these essen- 

 tial nerve centers of the defense, the fire would 

 be concentrated, so as to make them untenable if 



but would be connected therewith by telegraph, 

 keeping them under control of headquarters. 

 To make more clear the principles on which a 

 defense of submarine mines at the entrance of a 

 harbor would be laid and utilized, an illustration 

 is taken from a late work by one of the most 



