The Ely Miner

Mammoth Guns to Guard Panama Canal

THE greatest gun ever built will become part of the coast defense at the Pacific end of the Panama canal. The giant weapon is now at Sandy Hook, N. J., but according to orders received from the war department it will soon start on the most remarkable journey ever taken by a weapon of its size. It weighs 180 tons, is 50 feet in length, with a 16-inch caliber and power to throw a 2,400-pound projectile a distance of 23 miles. The gun is being moved because war authorities believe New York is in less danger of being attacked than the west end of the Panama canal. There no ship that pokes its nose above the horizon will be safe against the monster gun for with a single well-directed shot it could send to the bottom the largest war craft the world knows today. Although the fortifications for the canal have already been fully planned, the details regarding them are kept secret. All that is known is that the two ends of the ditch will be defended by seven forts in all, three at the Atlantic end and four at the Pacific opening. These works will constitute two systems of forts--the four at the Pacific end operating together, and likewise the three at the Atlantic end. The fortifications will all be underground. A hostile fleet approaching from the ocean will see nothing but a slope of grassy greensward, whether on the islands or on the mainland There will be nothing visible to shoot at, for the great guns will be hidden in concrete lined pits, from which they are uplifted momentarily by their disappearing carriages to deliver their fire. Quite a distance in the rear of each of the two groups of forts will be three large pits, each containing four 12-inch mortars. The locks of the canal necessarily are vital points, and these will be defended by "field fortifications"--that is to say, well constructed earthworks with six-inch howitzers, three-inch field guns, etc. These works are intended, of course, for defense against possible attack by a land force. The war department is going to maintain a considerable body of troops on the isthmus. It may be taken for granted that the forts at the two ends of the canal will be able to defeat any attack from the sea.