The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-06-04
DEATH DEALING
WEAPONS USED BY REAR ADMIR-.
4 Al DEWEY AT MANILA.
The victory of Rear Admiral Dewey at
Manila Due to the Superior Armament
and Gunnery of His Communicative Beat
the World as Marksmen. >..,' '" 2

counted for by the fact that a great COM
mander placed his gallant sailors in
exactly the position and at exactly the
distance that gave the greatest advantage
to superior craftsmanship, and that our
gunners all along the line made 1t so
! hot for the enemy in every ship and at
every shore battery, that it was inpos-
sible for any Of them to work their guns
arises, What brought about that superb
Iority Of aim, that rapidity Of fire which
achieved so glorious result?" A dozen
ships were sunk or burned, forts were
silenced, nearly a thousand Spaniards
were killed or wounded. The answer is,
remarks the New York Journal, through
the efficient target practice in vogue in
the American navy.
A man In Dewey's squadron wrote from
HongKong a few days before the descent
upon the Philippines. "We had target
tpractice this forenoon, but could
mot finish, as we sunk the target before
half through the regulation allowances.
The target was about the size Of a
,Hcoupe, and We were Under way, at full
ri speed steamin. around it, one and a half
- miles distant. 1t was done with an eight
inch gun. When the she,. burst and the
smoke lifted not a piece of the target
tould be SEEM
Fifteen years ago, says Garbett, Of the
Royal navy, in his new book on NAVAL
Gunnery,' the ram was the weapon that
gave militarists the greatest concern;
ten years ago it was the torpedo; now the
gun has come back to it's original primary
position, as in Nelson's time. Even the
stealthy, much-feared torpedo boat was
outclassed at Manila, for the rapid-ire
rifles disposed of that menace before it
could get within reasonable range.
At Matanzas, few weeks before, the
thirteen-inch turret gun of the Puritan
had shown what wonders the modern
monitor could do, Dewey's cruisers de-
8 monstrated the efficiency of the eight
inch gun and the gun-1iring secondary
batteries. This was the crucial moment
for American seamen and gunners, but
the preliminaries were by no means
uninteresting., For instance, when Com
modore Schley's flying squadron became
fidgety. through inaction, while waiting
day after day at Hampton roads for the
orders to go and find the Spaniards,"
the strain was relieved by day at tar
get practice. Take the results of a morn
ing's work at sub-calibre target practice.
E1ghteen-inch targets were placed at a
distance Of 800 yards from each of the
ships and 45-calibre cartridges were used
In twenty minutes the Brooklyns target
was riddled and then e short CARR ed
,haway the tWo-inch flagstaff. This was
equivalent to hitting a target with a pro-
Stftile at 5000 yards. 1t was this work
Which led the Commodore to say that no
' torpedo boat could survive that kind Of
craftsmanship, and the men on the Balti-
more, Olympia and Boston proved it anew
at Manila.
But it's firing the big, main battery
guns that tells the tale. The target is
placed sometimes three miles off. It
floats ten feet high and is made of two
casks. two poles and an A-shaped piece
Of canvas. In the centre is a black bulls
eye, four feet in diameter. One after an
other the guns were trained upon it, and
every man in each guns crew has a turn
at aiming and firing.
? One day recently when SIMPSONS fleet
was getting keyed up at Key West the
men on the Iowa riddled all the avail
able targets and only half the main bat
terry gunners had turn at the Ian
yards. This, too, it must be remembered,
is all done on the high SEAS sometimes
in not very favorable weather. and the
target bobbing on the waves at long
range is much harder mark than any
battle-ship, cruiser or ordinary vessel of
the eneIny's. More than that, the econ
omy practised in our navy heretofore in {.
the matter of target work has been I
theme for the English and continental
critics most poignant observations. They
felt that our faith in our ships, men
and guns were not founded on any real
promises of known accuracy.
Our white squadron and other fleets
of evolution have never carried, much less
expended, the quantities of ammunition
and proiectiles other nations have allor-
ted to their vessels in drills and practice
cruises. Our artillery officers have COM
planned bitterly in private, of this Mig
gardliness and also Of the futility of Con-
gress in grudgingly appropriating sums
for harbor defense guns and not making
provisions for correspondingly adequate
increases in the artillery force to man1pu-
late them. '"They seem to think raw
men can be trained to use these highly
\, complicated pieces of mechanism on the
Of
officer on Governors Island the other day,
"but they can't" -
q To America the world is Indebted for
some of the most valuable inventions OF
range-finder and the Strauss telescope
sights, the dynamite, Maxim and other
guns, and improved armor plate but like
the Whitehead and Howell torpedoes, 1t
has been a national reproach and per-
sonal encouragement to find that foreign
governments first took them up. For in
stance, the Nicteroy, which we have just
purchased was armed four years ago
with pneumatic dynamite guns purchased
from q New York concern when she was
y turned over to Brazil. Now, under stress
of war, we buy the ship and-re-acQu1re
% what we should have had exclusively long
ago. ..- ~. -
- Ordinarily, target practice on board one
= of our men-o-war proceeds thus; The
ship is cleared for action. AL movable
yards and masts are sent down, and pre-
parations are made for passing powder
and shot through the deck chutes. Some
times sand is thrown on deck about the
guns to give a surer foethold. A couple
V of boats are sent away to float the tar
get and record the shots. When the
black, square bulps-eye Is floating 1900
or 1000 yards off the laundering begins.
The dead silence prevailing before the
war is heard intensifies the reverberation
wonderfully. Strange as 1t may seem,
the firing from turrets Is not half SO I'M
pleasant for those within the steel box
as it is for guns crew firing on an open
deck. The gun passes through a very
zle is twenty-five feet or more away.
The waves of air generated by the dis
charge find but little opportunity to enter
the turret and the sound Of firing is
therefore greatly diminished.
When all is ready and the order comes
to discharge say No. In the waist the
lieutenant in CHARGE glass In hand, takes
last glance at the target, turns to the
gunner and calls ready! The brown,
brawny fist grips the lanyard, the head
4 Is bent as the eyes look along the sights,
the long steel tube throws off glints Of
sunshine, far out at sea the target, q
white gull on the pillows, lazilyS rises and
falls on the swell. "Bang!" ''Whis-sht!''
follow almost instantaneously upon the
command "Fire!' The whitish smoke Is
dissipated. All eyes are strained ON the
Bwaying speck in the sunlight toward
the horizon. A pyramid Of glistenine
= foam rises high out Of the sea like the
belching Of a submaF3ne#volcano, fingers
an instant and sinks back into the tnznfA
II = IL