The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-09

range I'VE times running in 81 seconds.
The question is one OF range. At
what range are modern vessels. armored
and unarmored, expected to fight. 1t
appears TO be the View Of many naval
authorities that men OF war should en-
deavor TO get within a range Of 1000
yards, or point-blank range. II shells
carrying charges of high explosives.
with delay action fuses. can be fired
through targets OF respectable thick
ness, this new feature of gunnery Will
undoubtedly hasten the drift of opinion
setting in In OF the wider diffusion
OF rmo But II should be remembered
that the mere getting OF a shell through
a ships walls Is not enough. 1t must
burst on her decks. A shell moving at
the rate of 1.50O feet a second has a
margin of three-hundredths of a second
I'm which to burst while traversing a
deck IS feet WIDE. and one-fifth of a
second while ~traversing a deck 300 feet
long. but the careful student of gun
contests. such an T~egetthof's action on
Heligoland. or Farragut's actions. knows
that very few shells have burst between
decks.
Considering the large amount of
money spent in navies at target prac-
tice with large guns. very little Is
known of their shooting qualities when
afioat. This Is due in large part to the
want of a suitable target. but, whatever
may be the real difficulties, naval gun
practice has been VIGOROUSLY imperfect.
When the pneumatic dynamite gun was
tried for accuracy there was nc ques-
ton as to how its accuracy should be
proved. The points of fall of the pro-
~jectiles were marked by cross-bearings
In The horizontal plane. In firing over
.x.a q 1900 G-l--
of determining the points Of fall other
wise than by cross-bearings in the hori-
zontal plane. There is at present no
way of obtaining a record of the per-
formance of guns at sea except by OBJ
serving the points of fall by two hori-
zontal angles with respect to the tar
get. However. i'm ordinary practice on
board ship. particularly when several
guns are firing Rapidly at will, the
method Of noting the points of fall by
horizontal angles will not give the side
errors in a satisfactory manner The
proper side error of a gum, however,
eve IN the hands of a comparatively
unskilled person. is considerably less
than ten yards, while it's range error
is considerably greater than ten yards.
The only thing which offsets this want
is the fact that the targets usually pre-
scented in naval warfare are so broad
that 1t requires little skill to hit them
sidewise.
Guns are either central or side sight
ed; hat Is, their sights are either on top
or oil the side of the gun As the gun
itself furnishes a well-marked line to
the eye. central sights are usually the
best. but these become inconvenient as
the clearance angle IL cached. and
then side sights are used. Naval ord
nance officers say that as the distance
between sights increases the errors in
pointing-in placing the line of sight on
the target-diminish. And If 1t may be
assumed that the error of the eye in
pointing a gun consists in taking too
much or too little of the front sight
in a linear, as opposed tn an angular,
sense. IL follows that these errors Will
diminish in simple proportion as the
sight radius increases.
With regard to the selection and
training of men to be captains of great
guns. IL appears that W or three sim
pie rules are all hat are required. In
the first place. beforeoany man other
wise suited for the place should be
made a gun captain he should have
proved himself a good snap shot with
rife and revolver. The principle is laid
down and always admitted by naval
officers that "a man should be a good
snap shot before he is made captain
of a great gun. Their the training of
~ 6biiii'A = l'N 10 u ofit if'bia "
gin. After the men have learned to
handle the u properly without a
oad they are required to fire a string
of shot at speed at a target at a known
distance. The result they show, the
closeness of the target they ave made,
taken together with their speed of
handling the gun. Is the measure of
their quality as a guns crew.
One of the great problems i'm connec-
fiOn with UlnnerN iS DELAY in firing
The time which elapses between the
instant when "A gun captain begins to
try to fire a gun and the projectile's
leaving the bore is a measurable and
important datum. II is sometimes
called the firing interval. and though
il is perhaps impossible to reduce it to
zero. it's smallness and constancy is
the most important quality, after GER
tainty of action, in a firing device. The
interval between the time when the
gun captain began to pull the lock Ian
yard and the explosion of the primer
with the old laval percussion lock was
IS of a second. Thus il became APP
parent without adding the time for
the flight of the charge that skill must
be exercised by the gunner. especially
when his own ship and the ship of the
enemy are moving.
A word as to the accuracy with
which guns may he used. The height
of the bulrs-eye of the army 1000 yard
target for rifles is A. inches, and a few
of the best marksmen will put all their
best shots into IL. The Hotchkiss g.
FOUNDER requires IS inches vertically
to catch all it's shots fired at 1000 yards
range on the proof grounds. where. as
i'm prize rifle firing at the butts. every
thing is favorable to accuracy.
The English high-powered Finch
breech-loading rifle on the proof
grounds can put all its shots fired at
1000 yards range on a belt IS inches
across vertically, while at the same
range and with present degrees of
skill an average naval gun afoat will
put all its shots. when the rolling mo-
ton is not too great. on a belt about 81
inches across. This latter statement is
based upon the examination Of the rec
ords of the target practice of a number
of ships when at sea. 1t would appear
from the width of this belt that there
Is not much difference in the accuracy