The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-09


 decorating the ship" A notable excep-
 ton was the shannon. Sights were fit-
 ted to her guns, and the crews exer- clsed at them every day. They also fre-
 quently fired at a target. The reward
 was reaped when they met the Chesa-
 peake. These smooth-bore iron guns,
 With their wooden carriages, were most
 crude appliances for projecting shot.
 They gave frightfully inaccurate shoot
 Ing at any range oyer four hundred
 yards, which accounts for the old fleets
 sometimes engaging each other for half
 the day without inflicting material
 damage And seeing what advance has
 been made in naval artillery during the
 last twenty years, it is astonishing to
 think the old ordnance remained with
 us up to 1860. Then came a period of invention and experiment. Rifled guns
 iron carriages and improved powder all helped to give increased accuracy In 1864, France adopted breech loading.
 We, in the same year, rejected that system and returned to muzzle load CT. The decision hampered us for years and does so still as regards many ships still armed with these weapons. For 1t prevented us giving that length to the gun which velocity of projectile demanded and improved powder war ranted.' Our ordnance varied in length from twelve to fifteen calipers, the shortest being the twelve inch twenty five ton gun, which was twelve calibers long; while the velocity varied from thirteen to fifteen hundred feet per sec- ond. We thought highly of the thirty eight-ton gun, because with only three tons more metal than in the thirty-five t on gun and half an inch larger bore, we obtained a velocity of 1,560 feet per second, the length of bare being nearly sixteen calibers. We are so fond of this gun that it is still retained in the Ajax and Agamemnon.
 As the first breech loader adopted in 1880 had velocity of eighteen hundred feet and was over twenty-five calibers long, while We have now reached ff- ty-caliber gun with a velocity of three thousand feet per second, we can req lize how that unfortunate decision of 1864 long kept us back in naval artillery. hTe guns. were little better than howit- zers requiring great elevation at dis tanoes of two thousand yards and up- ward, and consequently unlikely to hit a moving object at sea. With muz- gle velocity of one thousand yards per second there is the immense advantage of trajectory so flat that, within 6 certain range, elevation above the hor- zontal is not required where the target Is the hull of a ship. Then the present are free from the causes of n accuracy in former carriages, and 1 allow the gun to be freely moved in a and vertical direction, while | he sighting apparatus enables it to be aid true.
 Quick loading has been further in sev- ,ral ways, so that now rapid and | straight shooting at sea depend mainly Ipon the efficiency of the guns crew. l f this was perfect every shot at target | practice should be a hit That we find | ,reat variation in the returns from the lifferent ships, and a. large percentage 1 if misses, indicates that the training is ar from perfect, and 1t would almost | eem as if sufficient importance is ven now not attached to this subject in the fleet. Take, for in- tance the result of prize firing in the Mediterranean fleet for 1899. The oints per gun made by the battleships aried from f1fty-two to thirteen, while ne cruised made seventy-eight points er gun. Some of these vessels had nore modern armaments than others, ut still such difference shoulo not be bserved in shooting at the service tar ct at the comparatively short range rescribed. As showing on the other and, what may be done by careful raining, the Barf1eur. on the China sta lon, has so improved the shooting of CT four ten-inch guns since she was as to give a result with 1em six times better than that chieved in 1899. On that station the dmirals and officers have presented a hallenge shield to be held each year 7 the ship making the best score at the nnual prize firing. A certain amount l money is given in prizes by the ad- iralty to every ship for the guns f hich make the best scores at the an S ual prize firing, but there is no dis nction made between a good ship and i I indifferent one in the aggregate re- lit. More money prizes are not re- tired, but honorary distinction to 2 lips, officers and men that excel in | eat gun shooting would be apprecia- d. A bluejacket is as proud of a T idge as an officer Is of c. B., but he ! lrries nothing to show that he is c arksman with 4.7-inch, six-inch or ! velve-inch gun What issues depend t oon directing with precision in action l e eight hundred and fifty pound pro- s ctiles from the twelve-inch guns of I e Majestic! The individuals who | aste the fewest of these shots should
 held in honor and cherished. heTn y
 regards the officers by whose assidu $ 7 and zeal such good results are ob- . ined. What stimulus to improved Il ooting would the occasional pfomo- m of an officer for efficient gunnery in d B. going ships give. fills not too much ought, even now, of "decorting the U ip," as Roosevelt says of 1872? can recall to mind, not so many ', ars ago, how the promotion of one of h } ablest officers in the service was im- ,, riled because he neglected the paint Q ,rk in his labor to increase fighting d How many admirals when f, ;pecting ships reported favorably on air capability for engineering an en- q