The record-union., 1897-12-01
MARINE MARKSMEN.
CLASS CURRICULUM IN UNCLE
SANS GUNNERY SCHOOL.
How the Monitor Amphitrite Is
Being Employed as a School to
Target"

mission ships devoted TO the SuuHefy
training of their enlisted men, ana
with some services these are supple
mented by shore barracks, where GER
tain necessary instruction can be bet
ter given than on shipboard. In
more or less tentative way, our Navy
Department adopted the idea about
1872, and the famous old Constellation
was for a season equipped as school
of instruction. For some reason the
project was abandoned, though at diff
ferent times the effort was resumed in
a desultory fashion and finally culmi-
mated in two stablishments-one at
the navy yard at Washington, devoted
mainly to ordnance instruction, and the
other at the torpedo station, Newport,
r. l., where the energies are principally
confined to practice with torpedoes,
submarine mines, high explosives and
torpedo boats.
But, after all, work afioat is the es-
sential-the realization as far as pos
sible of the conditions that will act
ually obtain in war-and so one OF the
earliest suggestions made by the pres
ent Chief of the Bureau of Navigation,
Captain A S. Crowninshield, L. 5. N,
was the commissioning of the most
available ship for gunnery work under
way and at an anchor. Unfortunately,
the fleet afforded no ship adequar rely
fitted for the demand, as all the mod
ern vessels of any size were as soon as
ready necessarily put in commission
for general service in order to develop
their virtues and their faults. The
Lancaster, which was primarily fitted
out for some such work, had, under
stress of circumstances, to be releSated
to general cruising duty on the South
Atlantic station, and in the end the
Government had to fall back upon the
double turreted monitor Amphitrite,
then attached to the North Atlantic sta
tion.
MAKING HASTE SLOWLY.
Wanting as this construction does
many important elements needed in the
specialized work sought, still as a tur-
ret ship she furnishes a fairer expedi-
ent than the Lancaster, as the old
steam frigate lacks this primary nec-
essity of modern training. After be-
ing subjected to the extensive repairs
which followed her cruise in the squad
ron the Amphitrite was recommission-
ed as a gunnery training ship. The
men selected for the school from the
different cruising ships were assigned
TO her, and as speedily as possible she
was sent to sea to test the suitability
of the repairs and changes made.
1t will be readily understood that in
the beginning of work so important and
far reaching in character the necessity
of making haste slowly was paramount.
so the Navy Department in detailing
the personnel intrusted with the duty
sought especially energetic and capable
off hN al
interest of the work and who would
bring to their arduous duties a spirit of
emulation and progress that would re-
act upon and inform the pupils intrust-
ed to their care. The next step was 10
organize a system based upon what for
eign practice had deemed best and
upon what the especial traditions and
conditions of our naval policy needed
most to have emphasized. Each line
officer attached to the Amphitrite was
called upon 10 submit his ideas, and
when all these were patiently sifted,
winnowed, discussed and finally licked
into practical shape a general scheme
was formulated and forwarded for the
consideration of the Washington au-
thorities. AS yet no definite response
has been received, the seriousness of
and the necessity of certainty in the
policy deterring the central direction
from establishing plan until the most
careful consideration has been given it.
THE PRESENT CLASS.
In the meantime progress upon gen
eral lines is being made. The present
class numbers about fifty, drawn ae-
cording to no fixed rule and entirely
upon the recommendations Of COM
manding officers from the various ships
of the home squadron. The curricu-
automatically and theoretically-is
based upon a central idea, which is
happily expressed in the apotheGm,
Hit the target The course IS
roughly divided into five parts-turret
drill. broadside drill, rapid fire drill, am
munition handling and supply ana
musketry and company instruction.
Each of these subjects is relegated to
one of the five line officers detailed Tor
the gun and powder divisions or the
ship. and in turn he will have under
his direct care every candidate selected
for the course. The novltlating gun
cantains-another admirable idea Of
the Chief of Navigation-will be diVid-
ed into ten or twelve sections, and for
a period OF between two and three
weeks each section will devote itself
the personal supervision of the officer
assigned TO that duty. This normally
would extend the course over a period
of about three months, but it is ex-
pected later that the duration or the in
struction Will be six months. and that
one-half OF the pupils viii pass into
general service every three months.
Immediately upon entrance each en-
listed man is subjected TO a rigorous
examination, and special tests are made
of his evesight, for upon this the value
of the future "man behind the gun"
largely depends Indeed, from the very
commencement the greatest care Will
be exercised in testing and developing
these physical characteristics, and,
luckily. the special direction of the hy-
gienic conditions is intrusted to med
ical officer, whose experience and repu-
tation in this speciality are interna-
tional. The training of the eye in the
direction of estimating distances, nights
and the material characteristics of OBJ
jects is the beginning of gunnery pro-
ficiency. and no matter what may be
the other qualifications, failure in this
viii be prohibitive to selection for ad-
mission to the school.
THE PROFESSIONAL COURSE.
The professional course begins with
the nomenclature of guns and mounts
and an intimate knowledge of the con-
struction of piece and carriages This
will he followed. naturally. by drills
with the guns themselves-that is, with
all caliber-s from the I0-inch in the tur-