The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-09
We DO BETTER SHOOTING
Striking Testimony to the Superb
GRITTY of Our Navy Marksmen.
WHAT THE ENGLISH ADMIT
One of London's Newspapers Gives Fig
ures Which Show That When 1t
Comes to Good Aim Amer-
cans Take the Lead.
From the London Daily Mail.

From the London Daily Mail.
The advantage in warfare on sea or
land" it has been said with absolute
truth. lis with the navy or the army
that can use it's weapons with the
greatest precision"
To have fine ships and splendid guns
does not necessarily mean victory. The
Spaniards had both in their recent war
With the United States the French
had both in the wars which marked the
beginning of this century. yet both
Spaniard and Frenchman went down
before good shooting.
There is at present general discussion
both in England and the United States
as to the shooting of our navy. Ever
since the victories of Santiago and Ma
Mia Americans have been inclined to
rank the prowess of their navy very
high, and they claim that their gun
ners are the best trained and most ac-
curate shots in the world.
In support of this claim they can
point to the fact that in 1897
they spent no less than $40.
600 and in 1898 G2oO,OOO upon tar
get practice alone, which, when allow
ance is made for the small size of their
navy gives each gunner greater sup
s
in our fleet, or indeed in any European
force
Then there are the facts of Santiago
and Manila. At either place the Amer
leans destroyed considerable Spanish
fleets with next to no loss to them
selves. In these two actions they had
only one man killed, and no ship dis
abled. At Santiago, however, though
all the Spaniards who survived the bat
tie spoke of the storm of fire the
steady hail of American proiectiles,'
the murderous rain of Shells" to the
stupefaction of the American officers
who examined the wrecks of Cervera's
four ships, only 120 hits in all were
found.
The Daily Mail for the first time
gives a correct list of these hits, de-
rived from official papers. They were:
hits by the big II or 13n. guns.
10 hits by the moderate Sin. guns.
II hits by the moderate 6 and sin.
guns.
IS hits by the moderate Ain. guns.
rs hits by the small 6-pounders.
hits by the small 1-pounders.
1t may be calculated that 100 rounds
were fired from the IL or 13-inch guns,
which gives a percentage of 2: that 200
were fired from the S-inch percentage
81: 80 from the 6 and 5-inch (percent-
age 3I) PSI from the 4-inch (percent-
age 81; and $500 from the 6-pounders
percentage 1.5). Such are the actual
results of battle. What is most sur
prising is that quite few shots should
be able to put four big ships out of
action so quickly.
American officers, however, do not
accept these figures as a test. They
say that. as the ships were damaged
by fire and explosions, there were
many hits all trace of which was OBJ
liberated. They also point to the fact
! that the fighting was at very long
| ranges-from 5000 to 5000 yards for
most of the time.
Practice firing usually takes place at
| ranges of 1900 20 1,400 yards, and the
! immense difference which halving the
| range makes must be manifest to all.
| Again. the Spanish ships were in rapid
! motion, whereas the target at practice
| is stationary: the smoke at Santiago
was very dense from the protracted
| firing. whereas in target practice the
guns are only kept going for few min
| utes.
These various reasons show that it
would be wrong to base any COMPARE
| son upon battle figures, which do not
exist in the case of our navy.
| Unfortunately the percentages of hits
obtained in practice by American ships
are confidential with one or two excep-
lions. We know that in 1897 the crack
ship of the American navy. the Phil
adelphia, had the very high figure of
80 per cent, While it is stated that all
! the ships which fought in Admiral
SIMPSONS fleet at Santiago had rec
Ords of from 10 to so per cent. These
figures are certainly remarkably high.
In the practices of 1898 the crack ship
was the Texas, with a record of SO. 1t
is stated in the official reports of the
e ;on
doubled after July %, 1897. Up to tina t
date there had been six practices at
sea, and one prize-tiring. The new reg
ulatons would give IA practices in the
year, or more than one a month.
The ranges employed in practice by
the American navy average between
500 yards for the small guns and 5000
yards for the large. The speed of the
| ship must exceed eight knots.
On two occasions in each year, by the
old regulations, the ship must be pre-
| pared as if for battle, and all the men
| must be at their stations. Two prizes
one of 81 and one of So, may be
awarded for every % men who take
part in the practice. Besides this
skilled gun captains are very we'll paid
first class captain receiving 9S4 6
year in addition to ratons.
In the British navy the gunnery re.
turns are confidential but no harm
will be done by referring to such facts
as have been already published. 1t is
much to be wished that all the facts
were given to the public, as they are
certainly known to foreign intelligence
departments. 1t is dangerous for us tC
suppose that our fleet shoots superbly
| if this is not the fact.
Now, our crack ship in 1898 was the
large armored cruiser Imperieuse, the
| flagship on the Pacific station. Hel
| priZe-tiring record works out thus:
9.2-in. guns, 81 shots, 25 hits, SIS pei
| cent.
Sin. guns, 81 shots, 81 hits, $50 pei
cent.
and 6-pounders. PIP shots, rs hits
1858 per cent
Or taking the averages together
about so per cent. Of hits for the ship
This is far below the Philadelphia anC
Texas reported figures. The range 70,
the big guns was 1000 to 400 yards
and for the small 1000 to 900 yards