The record-union., 1898-07-24
WHY We SHOOT WELL.
GUNNERY IN THE NAvY-THE
TRAINING FOR IT.
Interesting Sketch Of How the
Navy is Manned and Cum
uers Are Made.

When nation that has been at peace
with all the world for third of a CEN
| tury, never firing a hostile shot in all
those years, when that nation goes to
war without apparent preparation and
scores a series of naval victories, there
is good reason for wonder.
The American people in the course of
their brief history have furnished many
causes for international amazement 1t
seems as if Uncle Sam, like the immor
tai Topsy, is always doing the unex-
pected, bobbing up just where you least
anticipate, and coolly ignoring all laws
and existing circumstances. To carry
the simile still further, Europe, like
Mis- Ophelia, evidently arrived at the
conclusion long ago that wonder had
at last reached its limit, and now an
other cause for amazement comes up.
An American fleet-small in numerical
strength and modest in its personnel.
steamed coolly-six ships in line, and
not an ounce of armor among them
into a harbor sown with mines and
alive with torpedoes, there to attack
fleet but little inferior, under the guns
of formidable batteries ashore, and
cheerily send them to the bottom of
their own bay.
A man leaves his doorstep and en-
tering the sacred restrictions of his
neighbor's domicile pummels both him
and his robust friend. That is the Ma
Mia case in plain, unvarnished lam
guage. Search the pages of the worlds
history and you will find no parallel.
The Spanish armada was the outcome
of years of deliberation and careful
planning. Lord Nelson, than whom no
more daring sailor ever lived sailed
into Trafalgar Bay only after a long
period of preparation.
Commodore Dewey was plodding the
uneventful path of shore detail on the
1st of December, 1897. Five months
| later-just carefully weigh that space
of time in your mind-five months
later he had his hand on the throat
Of foreign enemy after achieving one
Of the most brilliant victories Of any
age. To make it even a little palmer.
to impress the Importance Of it all still
| more firmly upon you, just remember
| that Commodore Dewey was simply an
officer of no extraordinary record. and
| the navy to which he belonged should
| by all reckoning have grown rusty from
| long disuse.
Can you wonder at Europe gasping
in amazement, doubling until the last
moment, and then exclaiming with up
| lifted hands, What does it all mean?
| Why did they VIM"
! The latter question is one which even
Americans are asking themselves to-
| day, and it is the purpose of this ar
| ticle to offer a tangible reason based
| on a foundation as solid as truth itself
But first, before entering into details
| it Will not be depressing to say that
| the citizens of the United States of
America know less and have taken less
| interest in their navy than any other
nation on this earth.
| The American navy to the average
| American has occupied the same rela-
| tive position as the expensive yacht
| does to the millionaire owner with few
| nautical tastes. 1t is the proper thing
| to have, and while it is a good deal
/ of bother it works no material harm
| From the fading memories of 1868 to
! the creation of the White Squadron the
] few wooden ships of the United States,
called a navy by courtesy. were re-
membered by the busy citizen only
| when one struck a rock or fell to pieces
from the rotting of its own timbers.
| Up-country creeks and useless inlets
! We're considered to the tune of millions
| in Congressional appropriations, where
| a paltry few thousands were reluctant
| ly doled out for repairs to warships. The
| Naval Academy struggled for bare
| existence on an annual niggardly sum,
and when the Secretary of the Navy,
| following the routine of his predeces-
sors. embodied request for new ship
| or two in his report it was sat upon
| as a matter of course.
That was the material navy of 1910,
/ some years after the close Of the civil
| war, and it remained the same until
| the year 1893 heralded a change in the
| situation and saw John Roach at work
| on the first steel cruiser. That was the
material navy, / repeat, but there was
| a saving clause understood and recoS-
! MED by few Americans-a clause that
was destined to win the battle Of Ma
| Mia Bay.
| 1t was Napoleon who said in one Of
| his epigramatic moods, Il care not for
the weapon if the hand welding it be
| firm and true In the case in point the
weapon-the American navy with its
| almost twenty years of absolute stag
nation in building-was of little value.
| but the hand welding it, the personnel
the officers and men-was firm and
true.
To them alone is the credit due, and
| not to the succession of Congresses
that starved them in money, stinted
| them in ships, and belittled them
| through Indifference until the uniform
Of a bluejacket on our streets became
an object of gibes and derision
| The victory in Manila Bay and our
victories since-all have been won not
! because Congress finally constructed
few modern ships, but because first and
| last we have had earnest, faithful,
| hard working men in our naval rank
and file, and because they early reallz-
| ed these fundamental truths:
A warship is made to carry gun.
gun is made to throw a projectiie.
a projectile is made to hit the mark
at which ii is aimed.
There you have the whole secret OF
naval success, the result for which ev-
erything. ships, engines, guns, ammu-
nition men is intended to place the
projectile exactly in the spot you want
it.
And, bear it in mind, the power of
doing that is why we win in naval
combats, and why we Americans to-
day are astounding the world with our
success in war.
That point considered. the next thing
| is to ascertain why our naval gunners
are so true in their aim-to see by what
trick they send a thirteen-inch shell to