The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1903-10-23
UNCLE sAM,s GuNNERs.
The Training School In the washing.
ton Navy Yard and It's Course
of Instruction.

| oSSh AohAOiO0o IA 10 10
tails OF work. Not among the least of
these is the latest-the school of in
struction in ordnance, established for
the purpose Of obtaining the perfection
of gunnery and a thorough knowledge
of artillery for seamen.
The school is in a building at the
south end of the yard, called the sea-
mems quarters. where every day young
men may be seen engaged in one or
another of the duties knowledge Of
which is necessary to fit a seaman to be
gunner in the United States.
This training school for gunners is
one into which landsman or men without
sea training cannot enter as students.
The young man who would enter must
serve an apprenticeship in the navy, be
qualified to perform the duties of a sea-
man and be armed with recommends
ton from his commanding officer, or he
must have completed the course of in
struction on training ship for lands.
men and be qualified to perform the
duties of a seaman, which are mere
kindergarten to the task now imposed
upon him.
These involve a course of instruction
which stretches into about half q
years length and embraces everything
that can be known about guns and naval
artillery in the whole calendar of can.
non.
He begins in the copperSmith shoI
and learns about powder tanks, brazing
soldering, forging, welding and gun con-
struction. He must know where injuries
are most likely TO occur in a gun and
when injuries are discovered, what &C.
ton is necessary.
Then comes everything connected
with breech mechanism, gun carriages
and hydraulics. how to mount a gun
and how to dismount and assemble por-
lions of guns. He must know the no.
menclature of all mounts and how guns
must be held out in a seaway.
He must know all about small arms
and machine guns and have thorough
knowledge of ammunition, how to fill
shells, the care and preservation OF o.
dnance material and stores about ships;
mixing paints, oils, shellac and score
upon score of other matters. When he
Is found perfect in all this knowledge
there is a feather in his hat.
But that is only one course. There is
another school. This is the torpedo
school at Newport. Here he must show
proficiency in steam engineering, in
electricity, in the construction and man
agement of torpedoes. Then he must
become diver.
One might think that all this work
requiring very hard study and rigid
discipline would brighten many of the
embryo gunners, but the young men
stand up to the rack and take their
medicine like old shellbacks. Every
year a number of them reach the goal
and are on the road to promotion to line
officers in the service. The road to the
top of the ladder is free to all.
But before becoming a full-fledged
gunner the applicant must have served
as an acting gunner. and this requires
that he must have been a seaman gun
ner, under So years old, who has served
seven years on board of cruising vessels
of the navy, and at least one year as
chief gunner's mate or gunner's mate of
the first class, and must be serving as
such under continuous service at the
time of examination. The average of
his marks taken from all records must
not be less than So per cent, and he must
have letters of recommendation from
his commanding officers
When a young man is fortunate
enough to reach the pinnacle of actins
cr1In nj 70 rrnhotiny,
Then, if the standards of proficiency are
kept up, he receives warrant as gun.
ner signed by the president. Then, after
six years, he is eligible to appointment
as an ensign in his Uncle Sans naval
service.
Thus far there are but three officers in
the navy who have stepped from the
ranks of the gunners into the grade OF
ensign. These are Francis Martin. of
who is serving with the
fleet, Louis James Connolly, of
Virginia, who is aboard the supply shir
Culgoa, and Henry Bishop Soule, of
Ohio, who is on duty aboard the first |
class battleship Wisconsin. There are
others serving as ensigns who have not |
received their commissions, as they are |
subject to examination.
Competent naval oficers-of course |
all naval officers are considered per.
sonifications of competency or they
would not be graduates of the Naval |
academy-are in charge of the seamenJ
gunnery school, and the discipline is
equallya rigid as that enforced aboard
ship or at Annapolis. AS at the academy,
a certain number of demerit marks will |
be fatal to continuance in the service