The times., 1898-06-13
AMERICAN GUNNERY.
Our Remarkable Proficiency Aston
fshes Europe.

L
| New York June l2-The remarkable shooting
| of the American gunners has opened the eyes
| of the naval men of Europe. 1t has convinced
| the nations that after all it is the man behind
| the gun and not the thickness Of the
| estimated horse power Of the engines that COM
pTises tho chief defense of ship in naval fight.
| It is no new thing for England to get in a state
ycrging on panic at the condition Of her navy.
| says the Military Naval Record. Periodically
| a furious onslaught is made on the naval experts
and admiralty officials by some member of Parlia-
ment OF cranky taxpayer, and the whole eoun-
try trembes at the idea OF its naval strength hay
| ing been over-estimatcd or willfully misrepre-
scnted. These scares are useful for they usually
| have some foundation in fact, and serve to draw
| out columns of newspaper articles and CORES
/ pondence, which in the end result in improve
ment and the al1aying of the chronic fear OF the
| taxpayers that they are footing huge bills and
| are getting nothing stable for the defense of the
/ empire.
| Just the owes its origin to the ra-
markabe accuracy and deadliness of the Ameri
| can gunners. Britons comparing the records
made at Manila with the scoring during the prae-
| tice fire of the British crews, and asking
with coed deal OF feverish apprehension where
their own gunness come in This has started
mass OF correspondence and special articles the
/
| and the subjects of the queen learning 70
their dsmay that very little if any importance
| it attached to the training of the gunners OF
what is supposed to be the first navy in the
world Among the numerous contributions on
the subject the most startling is that of
prominent naval officer who knows whereof he
| speaks and whose clear cut statements have
caused a sensation here.
! According to this authority, the gunnery prac-
| tice in her msjesty's navy is regarded rather
more as il necessary evil than duty that, for
the good OF the service, should be of first place
importance. Here is his calm statement regard
ing the gmncTy practice in the royal navy:
''It is usual thing for the signal to be made,
! Spread for target practice; rejoin by such and
such time the consequence being the prac
tica is carried out in hurried, panicky way,
without sufficient supervision or correcting OF er
rors made, in order to get it over Who has
not heard something like the following: Why
| don't you fire that gun? Can't the target,
/ sir Never mind that; fire At the splash
] Bang! And away goes pounds and pounds OF the
unfortunate ratepayer's money into the sea The
allowance of ammunition is very small. only eight
! rounds a quarter being allowed for such guns
! as a AZ 6 inch quick firing gun, ten rounds
! for the lighter quick firing and four rounds for
| the 12-inch wire and upward. The allowance
! for the heavy quick firing represents four rounds
/ each for Nos l and 2, or less than minutes
! firing once every three months. IT, in addition
Z this allowance 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 allowance has 10 be deducted
! from the next quarters allowance, or, suppose
/ a smart 47 guns fire sixteen rounds which
/ they should do in two minutes, they get
more practice for six months, which is, as Euclid
I would say absurd out OF the ten rounds al
lowed for the light quick firing guns has TO come
/ the amount fired from these guns in boats, like
wise the amount fred in night practice which
4 leaves about four rounds for No l to fire at his
/ quarters practice 1t is, to say the least Of it,
! hard TO train man to pick up his range quick
/ ly and keep it on such an allowance, which might
| well be doubled: and. if expended in intel
( iigcnt way, the increased proficiency would well
repay the extra expense in wear and tear Of am
munition, The eight rounds per heavy turrct gun
give four rounds to the captain of the turret and
two TO the captain of each gun. no other man
| Of the ttrrrct's crew getting 4 chance.
'ln addition TO the ammunition proper, how
| ever, the admiralty allows an immense amount
| OF tube cannon ammunition which is intended for
the individual instruction OF unframed partial
! " trained men, and should be expended as such.
| II is. however. too frequently fired at the same
time the heavy gun practice takes place. with
every available tube going at once, for the same
| old story, to get IT done The range suitable
for heavy gun practice IS Of course, quite out OF
the range Tor tube cannon, while from the
Der of guns going at once no man can Sc what
his shots are doing and individual supervision
becomes impossible; the result is comes up
! TO his gun, blazes away his ten rounds or 50
| with a fixed sight which is probably wrong, and
/ departs a. wise as he started
IF the admiralty and admirals inspecting paid
| any attention TO the gunnery efficiency OF the
ships in commission they would compel the cap
tains and officers TO develop that efficiency to the
utmost of their power, and establish healthy
| rivalry. At present in the Mediterranean far
more trouble and time is expended on fling the
chase OF gun bright and furnishing it (Which
is absolutely contrary TO regulations) than to in
surfing that the men are well trained in the use
of it,
These criticisms are severe enough, but the
! officer quoted goes further. He declares
! that returns OF the practice at the targets are
| Judged" or, in other words, the figures are
given as frst-class when in reality the practice
| has been abominable. thus deceiying the ad-
miralty officials and giving the British public
! an entirely erroneous idea Of the skill OF their
, seamen gunners, 1t would be thought that such
| a suggestion as that crews sent out to prac-
tce with small guns at points distant from the
| ship throw the ammunition overheard to save
the trouble OF firing it, and return to the ship
with the report that so many points had been
made, would not be put forward in sober earnest,
but writer actually states gravely that che
does not think this is done now,' but he does
| go on to say that the ammunition might almost
| as well be thrown overheard used in the way
| it is for practice in the royal navy today.
| To sum up the matter in the language OF the
expert referred 10, after viewing the recent great
| victory at Manila, he says:
''It cannot be denied that the ship that gets
in the first hit stands so per cent better chance
! OF winning the action than when she started a
ship that could make certain of 50 per cent hits
under ordinary conditions of weather at a range
| of $500 yards, and inside, could choerfully en-
gage three modified vessels with scratch crews"
| This is so impressive summing up that John
| Bull may well stand aghast he peruses the
| statements OF those who are in a position to
know concerning the woful ineaperience of
| naval gunners.
| To Make Her Happy.
| (From the Chicago News.)
| UAh - he cried shall Crjpyn Won