The sun., 1898-06-12
JOHN BULL AGHAST

JOHN BULL AGHAST
At the craftsmanship of Our G runners
Under Admiral Dewey at
Manila.
The remarkable shooting of the Amer
ican gunners at the battle of Manila has
opened the eyes of the naval men of Eu-
roDe.
1t mas convinced the nations that after
all it ia the man behind the gun and not
the thickness of armor or the estimated
horsepower of the engines that CON-
prises the chief defense Of ship in a
naval fight.
It is no new thing for England to be
anxious at the condition Of her navy.
Periodically furious onslaught is made
on the naval experts and admiralty Of
ficials by some member of Parliament or
taxpayer, and the whole country
trembles at the idea of Its naval strength
having been overestimated or wilfully
misrepresented.
These scares are useful, for they u.s.
ually have some foundation in fact and
serve to draw out columns of newspaper
articles and correspondence, which in
the end result in improvement and the
allaying of the chronic fear Of the tax
PAYERS that they are footing huge bills
and are G tting nothing stable for the de-
fence of the empire.
Just now the scare owes its origin to
the remarkable accuracy and deadllness
Of the American gunners. Britons are
comparing the records made at Manila
with the scoring during the practice fire
of the British crews, and are asking with
good deal of ftverish apprehension
where their own gunners come in.
This has started mass of correspond
ence and special articles on the subject
of naval gunnery and naval training,
and the subjects of the Queen are learn
ing, to their dismay, that very little if
any Importance is attached to the train
ing of the gunners of what is supposed
to be the first navy in the world. Among
the numerous contributions on the SUBJ
iect the most startling is that of a
prominent naval officer who knows
whereof he speaks and whose clear
cut statements have caused Il sensation
here.
According to this authority the gun
merry practice in her Majesty's navy is
regarded rather more as a necessary evil
than as duty that, for the good of the
service, should be of first place impor-
tance. Here is his calm statement re-
garding the gunnery practice in the royal
navy:
ait is usual thing for the signal to
be made, Spread for target practice; re-
Join by such and such a time the con.
sequence being the practice is carried out
in a hurried, panicky way, without
sufficient supervision or correcting OF
rrors made, in order to get it over.
Who has not heard something like the
following: why don't you fire that
gum Can't see 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.
1.-The allowance of ammunition is very
small, only eight rounds a quarter being
allowed for such guns as AZ or 6-lnch
quick-tiring guns, ten rounds Tor the
lighter quick firing, and four rounds for
the 12-incE wire and upward The allow
ance for the heavy quick firing repre-
sents four rounds each for Nos. and 2,
or less than minutes firing once every
three months. II, in addition, this
allowance is exceeded when prize firing
when the number of rounds fired in the
two minutes allowed is unlimited), the
amount fired in excess of the allowance
has to be deducted from the next quar-
ter's allowance; or, suppose smart ~
guns crew fire sixteen rounds, which
is, as Euclid would say absurd.
"Out of the ten rounds allowed tor
the light quick-firing guns has to come
the amount fired from these guns in
boat; likewise the amount fired III night
practice which leaves about four lounds
for No. to fire at his quarters practice.
'It is, to say the least OF it, hard to
train a man to pick up his range quickly
and keep it on such an allowance, which
might will BE- doubled; and, if expended
in an intelligent way, the increased pro-
fciency would well repay the extra ex-
pense in wear and ,ear OF ammunition.
The four rounds per heavy turret gun
give. four rounds to the captain of the
turret, and two to the captain OF each
sun, no other man of the turret's crew
getting chance.
I'm addition to the ammunition prop
or, however, the Admiralty allow All
immense amount of tube cannon am
which is intended for indiv-
dual instruction Of UNFRAMED Or par
tally trained men, and should be ex-
pended as such. 1t is, however, too fre-
luently fired at the same time as the
heavy gun practice takes place, with
every available tube going at once, for
,he same old story, to get it done
"The range suitable for heavy gun
practice is, OF course, quite out the range
ior tube cannon, while from the number