Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "Coastal Defenses and The Endicott Era" video.

I knew about the disappearing guns but this is the first time I have seen film footage of them in use, which was fascinating and shows it be be a rather clever device. The dynamite guns I had seen before as the YouTube channel Drachinifel had produced a video on their use on a US Navy ship. In this case the guns were in a fixed position and the amount of pressure was varied to increase or decrease the range. There is an old coastal defence position near me which had something similar to the disappearing guns but this was a hidden searchlight. Used during WW1 the searchlight was placed in a pit and shone upwards onto a mirror which would deflect the light out over the river. The idea was that if fired on and damaged the mirror was easier to replace then the searchlight. It was positioned in such a way it could shine just above the river and illuminate any ships passing along it.
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@lewisirwin5363 As always there has to be compromises.
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@TheHistoryGuyChannel I have just thought of a problem these guns could have faced. They British Army were quite adept at using air burst shells against infantry at this time. So what would have happened if the same technology was used by the British Navy. It would not have taken many such shells to knock out the gun crews.
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@ChiefAUS They were originally at Fort Paull on the River Humber. The fort had been there for sometime and I believe the lights were used from before WW1. I actually knew about them before the archaeologist did as I had come across a description about them. They were situated just above the high tide level and could sweep just above and parallel to the rivers surface which meant that no ship coming in could hide. As we are on cannons. Some old ships cannons from the age of sail were recycled as bollards around the old town docks.
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