The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1898-07-08

Skill, Not Armor, Decides Battles.
The remarkable shooting of the
American gunners at the battle Of
Manila has opened the eyes of the
naval men of Europe. 1t has con-
vinced the nations that, after all, it
is the man behind the gun, and not
the thickness of armor or the esti-
mated horsepower of the engines
that comprises the chief defense of a
ship in a naval fight.
1t is no new thing for England to
get in state verging on panic at the
condition of her navy. Periodically
a furious onslaught is made on the
naval experts and Admiralty officials
by some Member of Parliament or
cranky taxpayer, and the whole coun-
try trembles at the idea of its naval
strength having been oyerestimated
or wilfully misrepresented.
Just now the scare owes its origin
to the remarkable accuracy and dead
illness of the American gunners. Brit
ons are comparing the records made
at Manila with the scoring during the
practice fire Of the British crews, and
are asking with good deal Of fever
1sh apprehension where there own
gunners come in. This has started a
mass of correspondence and special
articles on the subject of naval gum
merry and naval training.
According to our authority, the gun
merry practice in Hlhr Majesty's Navy
is regarded rather more as a necessary
evil than as duty that, for the good
of the service, should be of first-place
Importance. Here is his calm state
ment regarding the gunnery practice
in the Royal Navy:
at is a usual thing for the signal to
be made, Spread for target practice;
rejoin by such and such time the
consequence being the practice is car
ried out in a hurried, panicky way,
without sufficient supervision, or cor
recting of errors made, in order 10
get it over Who has not heard
something like the following: Why
don't you fire that gun? Cant see
the target SIR Never mind that; fire
at the splash Bang and away goes
pounds and pounds of the unfortunate
rate-payer's money into the sea.
THE allowance of ammunition is
very small, only eight rounds quar-
ter being allowed for such guns as a
At or inch quick-fring gun, ten
rounds for the lighter quick-fring, and
four rounds for the 12-inch wire and
upward. The allowance for the heavy
quick-fring represents four rounds
each for Nos and 2 or less than a
minutes firing once every three
months. If, in addition, this allow
ance is exceeded when prize firing
when the number of rounds fred in
the two minutes allowed is unlimited)
the amount fired in excess Of the al.
lowance; or, suppose az smart Al guns
crew fired sixteen rounds, which they
should do in two minutes, they get no
more practice for six months, which
is, as Euclid would say, absurd.
I'm addition to the ammunition
proper, however, the Admiralty allow
an immense amount of tube cannon
ammunition, which is intended for In
dividual instruction Of unframed. or
partially trained, men. and should be
expended as such. It is, however, too
frequently fred at the same time as
the heavy gun practice takes place,
with every available tube going at
once, for the same old story, to get
1t done The range suitable for heavy
gun practice is, of course, quite out
of the range for tube cannon, while
from the number Of guns going at
once no man can see what his shots
are doing and individual supervision
becomes impossible; the result is, a
man comes up to his gun, blazes away
his ten rounds or so with fixed sight,
which is probably wrong, and departs
as wise as he started"
To sum up the matter in the Ian.
guage of the expert referred to, after
reviewing the recent great victory at
Manila, he says:
ut cannot be denied that the ship
that pets in the erst hit stands a so
per cent. better chance of winning the
action than when she started; shin
that could make certain Of 80 per
cent. hits under ordinary conditions
of weather at range Of $500 yards
and inside could cheerfully engage
three modified vessels with scratch
crews"