FLOATING BATTERIES

Evening Star, Issue 16515, 29 August 1917, Page 6

FLOATING BATTERIES

AN OLD IDEA REVIVED. WHAT OCCUKRED AT GIBRALTAR. EXAGGERATED HOPES, THE FRONTS. [By Criticds.] Yesterday's cables contained the statement that the Italians are using huge floats of secret design armed with heav# guns for the purpose of bombarding the Austrian positions from the Gulf of Panzano. It is not likely that the secret of the design amounts to much; but the news is interesting, as indicating the revival of a very old idea. These floats will be huge floating batteries very heavily armed and very heavily armored, but of very small speed. Such a type would be of 'no use in battle against an enemy's fleet of high speed on the open sea. The enemy would simply steam away from them or steam round them, «s suited their purpose best; but in attacks upon land fortifications they have a different value. Speed is ol little • in such operations, and weight of _ metal and strength of armor are everything. A land fort has an enormous advantage over a ship in defensive strength, and the natural reply is an attempt to redress the balance by sacrificing speed in favor/of massive armor and heavier guns.' It is said that the Austrian warships in Trieste showed no, eagerness to go out and engage the new fighting machines. Tt is not likely that they would. The floating batteries would be" guarded by the Italian fleet, and although of no use for manoeuvring, they would be most formidable antagonists in a defensive fight. The enemy are sure to attempt to get at them with submarines, but they will be carefully guarded by light craft when shifting station, and as they will anchor when bombarding, it should be easy to surround them with nets and other defences. Moreover, the absence of any necessity for speed will facilitate protecting them under water by providing *hem with bulging sides filled with yielding material, as somo of the British monitors are protected; or by armoring them under water. AX OLD EXPERIMENT. These floating batteries call to mind a somewhat similar experiment carried out nearly a century and a-half ago, during the siege of Gibraltar by the French and .■Spanish in 1779-83. This siege, lasting nearly four years, is justly regarded as one of the most memorable sieges in history. Tlio Governor of Gibraltar was General Sir George Augustus Elliott, afterwards Load Henthfield, and to his energy and courage the success of the defence was largely due. Little success was obtained by the enemy in their attacks on the land side of the fortress, and they attempted to.make up for this by attacks from the sea. General Elliott prepared to meet them by ordering grates to be constructed for heating red-hot shot, and early .in 1782 a new type of gun carriage, allowing an exceptionally large angle of depression" to be obtained, was invented by an officer in the Royal Artillery. With this carriage it is said that 93 per cent, of hits could be obtained at l,4oOvds" range. Other defeusive measures taken by the garrison under the impulsion of the* energetic Governor were the digging out of tho wonderful series of tunnels in the rock, for which Gibraltar is famous.

The Due De CVillon was appointed to tho command of tho bisiegers, with D'Ancon as his chief engineer, and a new method of attack was planned. Ten ships were fortified six or seven feet thick with green timber bolted' with iron, and covered with cork and raw hides. They carried guns of the heaviest metal, and were bomb-proofed on .top, with a slope for tho shells to slide off. On September 13, 1782, the grand attack was delivered. Tho floating batteries took up positions in the morning in broad daylight and opened fire. Tho British solid shot failed completely to penetrate their armor, and bv noon thay had settled down to work, shooting coolly and accurately. But between 1 and 2 p.m. the British artillerymen began to use their red-hot shot freely. The struggle continued all day and well into the night, and one by one the floating batteries caught fire. By noon on the following day the attack had failed completely, through the annihilation of the

attacking fleet, every one of the ships having been either blown up or burned lo the water's edge. With less than 100 guns in action, the garrison expended 8.300 rounds—a tremendous quantity for those day a. During the siege supplies were twice thrown into the place by Admiral Rodney and Lord Howe, after victories over the French and Spanish fleets, and the siejjfe ended on February 6, 1783, when De Crilion informed Governor Elliott that peace liad been signed. A HOPELESS HANDICAP.

No matter how heavily armored ships or floating batteries may be, they will always bo hopelessly handicapped in attacks upon land fortifications, and although thev may give valuable aid under certain circumstances decisive results are not to be ex-' pected from them. This was illustrated at the Dardanelles. The Turkish forte were placed high up on the hills, so that the garrison were able to look down and fire upon the decks of the British and French warships. Our naval guns of flat trajectory, firing upwards, either buried their sheila in the massive walls of the furts or fired over them. To actually land a. shell into them with guns of flat trajectory was all but impossible, and, the walls were so thick that they coidd stand an almost unlimited amount of knocking about without any serious impairment of their defensive strength. Heavy howitzers were mounted on the warships, but indirect fire from a moving platform is very inaccurate and ineffective. The .guns of the land forces are difficult to locate, whereas the ohips stand out clear on the sea. The most elaborate and accurate methods of range-finding are open to orews of the land guns; and then there are the dangers from mines and torpedoes to be encountered by the ships. ' All these remark* apply to the attacks of the Italian floating batteries npon the Austrian flank, The Austrian guns will be posted high up on the hills of the rugged coast and carefully hidden. They will be able to fire down upon tho docks of the floating batteries, with every advantage of range and command. Doubtless tho decks of the floating batteries will be heavily armored; but they cannot be anything more than useful auxiliaries. SANGUINE ANTICIPATIONS.

Although the Italians have gained substantial successes, the anticipations of decisive and overwhelming victory which reports from Italy are spreading are mischievous exaggerations. The report that the Austrians nave ordered the evacuation of Trieste is an old story, familiar since Italy's first entry into the war. It is yet quite unnecessary for the enemy to prepare to evacuate tho place, as there is very little prospect of an Italian occupation of Trieste this year. In spite of many reports of Herinada being surrounded and cut off, the days continue to roll by 'without any signs "of its fall, and there is no evidence that the Italians have made any marked advance on that, sector. The capture of Monte Santo, to the north of Gorizia, is a notable success, but it gives the Italians only a comfortable footing on the western edge of the Ternova Plateau, and one formidable mountain barrier after another rises before them. As a London cable points out, the occupation of the Vippaco valley is necessary before there can be an advance upon Trieste, and the conquest of the Ternova Plateau is essential to the control of the Vippaco Valley. OTHER FRONTS. Sir Douglas Haig reports heavy rain in Flanders ; but we attacked" yesterday afternoon eastward and southward of Langemarck, which lies north-east of Ypres. lhe attack resulted in the capture of German positions on a front of 2,000 yards astrido the St. Julien-PoelcapDelle road.

The French announce violent artillery action on the west bank of the Meuse. The Germans, while* admitting that the French captured Beaumont village and Le Fosses and Chaume Woods, claim to have recovered these by counter-attacks, but the French declare tfiat the enemy have made no attempt to attack their new positions. On the Russian front the Germans have occupied the positions abandoned by the Russians on the west bank of the Aa, near Riga, and they claim to have captured important positions eastward of Czernowitz, with 1,000 prisoners and six guns. But there are no signs of further progress by the enemy in Moldavia.