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Appendix No. 4.
SINGAPORE.
account I would bring my heavy guns to Passir Panjang and Mount Palmer. In the Passir Panjang battery I would place the two extra guns proposed for Mount Siloso, so that at least four heavy guns could fire directly from this battery over the western entrance. The two left-hand guns should be able also to fire down the New Harbour, while the right-hand gun should be able to fire along the Passir Panjang road, and up the cross road to Tanglin. In the centre of the battery means should be provided for a good all round shell gun, which would assist the land defences of the island.
16. The work should be strong, and the escarps revetted and flanked by caponiers.
17. Mount Palmer battery should have the alterations suggested in paragraph 85, and the heavy guns should fire through 120 degrees instead of 70 degrees; at least two guns should fire well down the New Harbour, and I would suggest an extra gun firing towards Pearl's Hill and Fort Canning. Mount Wallick should be lowered the 30 feet as originally intended. Three 8-inch howitzers should be placed in the battery instead of the three 13-inch mortars.
18. I agree with paragraphs 86 and 87 regarding the torpedo defence, but consider the Buran Darat Channel could be permanently closed by mechanical mines and passive obstructions against the possibility of an entrance being forced, and there would be no need of an electric light at Blakang Mati South. For the defence of the eastern and western entrances of the New Harbour, I consider submarine mines very suitable, and they would add immensely to the defence of the harbour.
Land Defence of Coal Stores.
19. As the number of troops available for the land defence would be small, I would reduce the number of the proposed redoubts between Mount Palmer and Passir Panjang from six to three. I would also keep the line of redoubts on the south side of the Singapore River. Fort Canning should be dismantled, and in time of war all the bridges across the river should be mined. Fort Canning, if in- cluded in the line of defence, would have to be a strong outwork capable of holding its own, and would receive little or no support from the batteries the other side of the river,
20. On the other hand, the circle formed by Mount Palmer, Pearl's Hill, the redoubts on hills marked B and C, and Passir Panjang battery, form a line which could be connected by shelter trenches and would afford each other mutual support. Redoubt C is on a hill 255 feet high, which looks down on the country all round it, and Pearl's Hill should be made very strong. On Pearl's Hill the Infantry Barracks should be placed, being the central position.
21. The artillery should be placed in suitable barracks in Mount Palmer and Passir Panjang batteries, and the engineers at Pulo Brani near the submarine mining establishment; the sale of the Fort Canning and the Tanglin sites would go a considerable way towards the expenses connected with the new works, while the presence of the troops near the new gaol and the Chinese quarter of the town would add greatly to the safety of the public.
E. F. RHODES, Lieutenant, R.E.
Singapore, November 24, 1880.
(Signed)
General question of defence.
Reason for construct- ing present works of defence.
Russian Siberian squadron.
Russians bent upon
(Confidential.)
Inclosure 15 in No. 47.
Report upon Further Defences of Singapore.
(Submitted to the Inspector General of Fortifications on January 19, 1880.)
IN order to report upon what should be done in the matter of providing further defences for Singapore we must, as a preliminary measure, consider against what it is that we have to provide. Let us, therefore, in the first place, see why any defences were provided at all, and then in what shape the further extension should be made.
2. In the early months of 1878 the progress of events in Europe was such that there seemed to be every probability that the strained diplomatic relations between Russia and this country would culmi- nate in an outbreak of hostilities. Then it was that attention was drawn to the fact that the operations of the Russian Siberian squadron was a factor to be provided against; that the ships were crowded with men; that they had taken in six months' provisions; and that firms in Japan, where they were then lying, were turning out for them a quantity of torpedoes.
3. Vice-Admiral Hillyar, commanding our fleet in the China Seas, took precautionary measures as expeditionary tactics. regards the distribution of the ships under his command, but the fact could not be disguised that the Russian vessels, though old, were fast; that their crews openly talked of giving us the slip, and of attacking our defenceless ports and merchant-ships; and that cruisers were being purchased in other parts and equipped for the same purpose. It was not known what was to be the destination of this Siberian squadron. Our possessions on the Pacific Coast, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia were all open to attack, and they all began to feel that such was the case. I well remember the con- sternation in Hong Kong when the Admiral was seen departing for the north in his flagship the Audacious," with the " Magpie" in tow, leaving at Hong Kong itself one of our smallest gun-boats
Principle of defence of coaling-stations.
Action of the Imperial Government.
only.
4. The principle long recognized but neglected was now vividly demonstrated, viz., that ships of war are not intended to hug their ports and coaling-stations whilst an enemy's vessels are on the high seas, but that such ports and coaling-stations should have means of self-defence to afford safe bases of supply to our own ships, and to deny such supply to those hostile to us.
5. The Imperial Government lost no time in responding to the call made upon them by Com- manding Officers, Governors, and Colonial Governments. Two corvettes of the Gem class-the "Ruby" and the "Diamond"-and an iron-clad-the "Shannon -were sent with the utmost dis-
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