The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 27, May 13, 1897 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls by Various
page 22 of 36 (61%)
page 22 of 36 (61%)
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General Miles, of the United States army, has made a trip to Sandy Hook, to look at a new method of defence that has just been designed for our coast-line. This consists of a concrete wall twenty feet thick, against which is a huge embankment of sand. This invention is intended to protect our forts from the terrible shot fired by the modern guns. As we told you the other day, these guns fire heavy shot which will pierce through such strong walls that the old methods of defence are of little use. Under these circumstances, in considering the kind of coast defence we would make, it became necessary to find something that would resist these powerful guns. It was thought that an embankment of sand, placed in front of the walls of the fort, would lessen the force of the shot, and render it almost harmless before it could reach the wall, so a small fort was built as an experiment. The result proved to be exactly what the designer had supposed it would be. Three guns of different power were tried on the bank, and fired at short range. It was found that the sand-bank was an ideal defence. |
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