New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-15

| OF several miles. It Is longer necessary to
| pepper the hull Of . man-of-war full Of smau
| cannon-ball holes In order to sink her. This
can be achieved by one single well-directed
shot from any Of the great guns with which
| the warship Of the present day is armed Every
thing depends therefore. upon the precision Of
the gunnery. and the belligerent whose every
shot carries home IL practically certain to win
the day
This has apparently constituted the secret Of
Commodore Dewey's extraordinary success at
Manila. Each projecte from his guns seems
to have found its billet judging by the annihi-
lation OF the Spanish feet and the great loss
OF Spanish life; whereas owing to the poor
craftsmanship Of the foe. the harm done to the
American squadron has been ridicuously small
And in the same way the superiority Of Ameri-
can gunners is certain to carry the day In
every other naval engagement that may yet
take place with the Spaniards.
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN GUNNERY
In order to appreciate its excee nee 1t Is only
necessary to glance at the official report. Just
issued. Of the prize firing Of the ba.tIe-shi Of
the British Mediterranean squadron which may
be described as the corps d'Glite" Of the Eng
fish Navy According to the figures. the trials,
analogous as possible to hose Of actual warfare.
the ships firing at fixed target while steaminR
eight to ten knots an hour showed a maximum
percentage Of hits OF 43 per cent, the gem
eral average being low as - per cent Thus
the Royal Oak with her ten big guns only hit
the target four times In seventy rounds while
the tle-shp Arson failed to make q single
hn In twenty rounds. Yet the gunnery Of the
English Navy is recognized by all the naval ex-
perts In Europe as vastly superior TO that OF the
maritime forces OF every other Power In the Old
World. and certain II Is that the English Gov
eminent devotes far more money and attention
TO this feature OF warfare than any other Gov
eminent save that OF the United states Had,
however. the gunnery Of Commodore Deweys
squadron been on a par with that OF Englands
Mediterranean feet the American victory at
Manila would never have been OF so overwhelm-
Ing character. nor could the Commodore pos
sbly have succeeded In annihilatng the Spanish
force with so little damage to his ships.
GROG AND MARKsMANsHIP.
AS pointed out In the foregoing English sailors
are only deprived Of their rations OF grog when
really going into action and are subjected To no
such restrictions when engaged In mere manPu-
vres or gunnery practice. while in the Spanish
French. German Russian and Italian navies tho
od-fashioned custom Of doubling the allowance
or wine or spirits TO the crews when going into
action Is still retained May not therefore, tho
abstinence enforced upon United States men-of-
war have something to do with the superiority
Of American gunnery over that Of the remainder
Of the world Certain II Is that a man who does
not drink Is more cool and collected and there
fore better BILE TO shoot with precision than any
one whose pulse is in the least bit quckened BY
stimulant The English Admiralty has in fact
recognized this by forbddng the Of liquor
of any kind on the day when ships going
INTO action. and no one need feel surprised IL thu
present war leads to the grog ration being abo'
shed altogether in the British Navy.
THE VALUE OF GOODNESS
In the case Of hostile operations on land III.
same consideration prevails. and must weigh
n the balance Of victory defeat It IL not
merely that soldiers staying powers are aug
nented by total abstinence. but likewise his
hooting is improved. In these days. especially
With the new quick-fring rifles ard guns there
$ a tendency on the part Of the troops to hrs
wildly and to sQuander their ammunition al
he very outset Of the engagement Indeed
he object OF the officers Is to keep their
nen calm. cool and collected and free from
xcitemcnt so that they may reserve their frv
or the proper moment. and then Are to hit
indeed. what aroused most admiration at the
attle Of Atbara the calm and collected
manner in which the Highland regiments ad-
anced across the bullet swept plain In front
T the Dervish zercba. apparently just as FREQ
rom undue excitement and coolly keeping
heir formation with as much exactitude as II
hey had merely been on the drill ground
And lastly II may be well to point out that