The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-25
IMPROVED mARKsMANsa1P.

During the past year craftsmanship
in the navy has improved to a crafty
ing extent, says the secretary of the
navy in his annual report. The control
of all gunnery training has been CEN
tralized under the bureau of navigation
and rendered uniform throughout the
service.
This Capitalization of control and
uniformity in the manner of carrying
out target practices has resulted in
placing the ships in practical COMPETE
ton with each other in the matter of
straight shooting. and our marked i'm
provement is due, in part at least, to
this cause. Competition is the life of all
games and is essential to skill in any
sport. 1t is the incentive for all ath-
letic training. We have simply utilized
these human traits in the training of
our gun pointers and gun crews. Gun
crews now are practically teams, and
target practices are contests between
them.
The immediate and general improve
ment in craftsmanship due to this CEN
tralization of the control of gunnery
training has been largely FASTENED by
the diligent assistance of the command
ers in chief of the various fleets and
squadrons and the commanding officers
of the various vessels in zealously car
rying out the instructions of the de-
partment.
The interest and enthusiasm display
ed in the present system of training has
been universal with both officers and
men throughout the service and the
spirit of competition has been marked.
The most commendable energy and zeal
has been displayed by gunnery and di-
vision officers in developing the team
work of their gun crews and rectifying
certain minor defects in the ordnance
material which were discovered by the
improved skill in gunnery Special
credit is due turret officers for the very
marked decrease in the loading interval
of heavy guns.
Our present great gun target is a
piece of canvas II feet high by q feet
wide, the range is nearly a mile, and
only holes in the canvas count as hits
Guns are fired singly, and are allowed
certain time in which to make ali the
hits they can, and the gun making the
most hits wins. Percentages are not
counted in determining merit. A pointer
who makes six hits out of eight shots
in minute Cor IS per cent? is better
than one who makes four out of four
SAAOto III lAt0 SdAA4S pCTIOu NOT lVU per
cent?, because he makes so per cent
more hits in the same length of time.
In the preliminary practice held in
September of this year the rapidity of
fire was probably twice that ever before
attained in our service, yet despite this
increased rapidity the percentage of
hits was also greater than ever before
As an example of the extent of our
increased rapidity. official instructions
dated February 1901. allowed a 1S-inch
gun minutes and 20 seconds between
shots, whereas an old thirteen inch
gun of the Indiana scored four hits
| in tins time in September last, and a
mort modern 12-:nclI gun of the Ala
bama scored 4 hits in minutes and 10
seconds. Similarly the interval bet ween
shots of q e-inch rapid fire gun has been
reduced from 40 to about 10 seconds
Improvement in accuracy has been even
greater than rapidity in fire..
Three men are trained as pointers at
every gun and two men actually fire
every gun, each target practice. Re-
suits attained on all stations show a
uniformity of Improvement. The point
ers of the battleship squadron of the
North Atlantic fleet may be taken as
fair average OF the service. The turret
| gun pointers of that squadron, in Sep
TENDER of this year. made an average
of 81 per cent of hits, and the average
of the 6-inch rapid fire gun pointers was
81 per cent, while "a per cent of the