The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-02-10


More Target Practice.
Washington. Feb. 9.-The naval an
nual, just issued from the office of
naval intelligence, is Of exceptional in
terest and breadth of scope. The lead
ing feature is an article entitled Re
cent Tendencies of Foreign Naval De
velopment and the Effect Thereon of
the Recent War With SPAIN by Lieu
tenant Commander George H. Peters.
This article presents in sUccinct shape
many of the lessons taught by the
Spanish war and utilized by the natives
of~TOreign nations.
Beginning with the statement that
the most striking feature is the marked
effort now being made by the import
ant maritime powers to increase their
naval strength, the article points out
that one result Of the Spanish war was
to demonstrate beyond further argu-
ment that b8ttleships constitute the
real fighting strength of a navy, even
in France, which has long chung 10 the
armOred cruiser.
ATAnored coast defense vessels have
been practically ignored in new con-
struction. While the war threw no new
light on the value of torpedo boats at
tention was freshly directed to their
vulnerability, and Germany has aban-
doned the building of any more small
boats. Still, some weight is attached
to the moral effect of torpedo boats
and their use in training young Of
ficers.
Rapid-fiTe Guns.
Another war lesson was that the big
guns on board ship are secondary here
after and dependence must be placed
upon a primary battery of rapid-tire
guns of moderate calibre. Already the
German navy has reduced the CalibTe Of
its heaviest guns to 9.45.
Above water torpedo boats have been
abandoned, and while some under
water tubes are retained, the tendency
is toward clearing the battleShip COM
pletely Of these devices.
ArmOr must be widely distributed,
and not restricted to the water line
and gun positions Foreign naVies are
securing the very best armOr regard
less of cost There is a universal eff
fort to abolish wood and cOmbustibles
from naval vessels. Canvas boats are
to be tested. Water tube boilers are
now beyond discussion for naval use
and the only question open is that Of
type. Torpedo nets have been aban-
dOned Tremendous efforts are making
IN foreign navies to improve gun prac-
tice, and in Germany the ships go to
sea every day for target practice, even
reserve ships, while the British navy
has largely increased its allowance of
ammunition for prize firing.
Our Terrible Gun Fire.
Foreign opinion criticises American
gun pointers as showing much room for
Improvement, based on their perform
ance at Manila and Santiago. Com
mander Peters, however, comments
that never before have fleets been so
utterly destroyed through gun-fre.
A comprehensive idea Of the ire
-neadoUs naval programme Of the Ger
man empire is afforded by an article
contributed by Lieutenant E W Kit
teIe, entitled The Creation and Main
tenance of a German Battle Fleet" lie
gives from German authorities in great
detail all of the argument which leads
to the government demand that the
navy be increased, over and above the
present building programme, by nifty
seven battleshipS, fifteen large cruisers
and thirty-siX small cruisers to cost
Zoo. 600 marks.
He quotes German technical papers
as saying that the government has
eliminated the continental powers in
calculations based on the attitude of
foreign countries toward the German
Increase.
The discussion is said to have mar
rowed down to Great Britain. Japan
ana the United States, and one paper
holds that England and the United
States viii soon be checked in the in
crease of their navies by the question
of manning ships and Japan by the
question of money, so that Germany
viii be in a position to cope with them
severally or collectively.
Ordnance and Armor.
Lieutenant Commander William H.
briggs furnishes an article on ordnance
and armor, in which he draws many
useful conclusions from a comparison
of the Spanish and American ships
during the late war. Contrary to some
other writer's, he insists that the Span
iSh commanders Of the torpedo boat
destIOyers lacked neither dash nor dis
cretion- He holds that the boats failed
to do damage owing to their inability
to run through the American gun-hre
Commander briggs says battleshiI
easily can take care Of two such boats
On each beam in clear weather he
takes vigorous issue with the CONT
mental writer's who have belittled The
STYLE of the American gunners, us
agreeing with their statement that the
percentage of hits was only between
8 and 4. but insisting that even so, tina
was all that was needed.
This officer attaches great value T.
the automatic pistol, which has beef
adopted by Germany and Italy in th'
army and navy. and he supplies full
description of the details Of the weap.
on. which fires ten bullets by one de
preston of the trigger.
Thorite is said to have given the mos
promising results of all the high eX
plosives already tested. A ten~fncl
/ she'll loaded with Jovite is said to nave
! been fired through a fourteen and Z
half-inch face-hardened piece of nicke
STEEL and then exploded by fuse IL
/ the rear.
/ Notwithstanding this feat, blacl
| powder is held to be the best explosive
4 fo- bursting shells. Our naval smoke
I less is said to be superior to the Brit
4 ish codite. as demonstrated by tria
made by the New Orleans guns LittI
/ progress has been made in the improve
/ ment of armor, the years trials slmpl,
] further establishing the superiority o
/ the Krupp armor.
! TTCTTTTTTEC OVID