The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-08-27
JAPAN AND HER GUNS.

Guns have triumphed in the fan
east. That is the indubitable lesson
of the two great sea fights, comments
the New York Tribune. The japanese
victories were victories of guns. We
! do not mean of guns over armor mere
! ly, but of guns over torpedoes. and, of
| course, over rams and all other de-
vices of naval warfare. In the ear
| lier stages of the Port Arthur war
| torpedoes and mines were used with
some effect. Kipling's lines on 1.-THE
| Destroyer" were dramatized again and
again under the shadow of Golden
Hill. But those were mere Jennings
| and preliminary skirmishes. In the
real event, when fleet swung fairly
out to meet fleet in the open, the day
of the gun had dawned. OF all the
| tremendous damage that the Russian
fleet suffered off Port Arthur and in
| the Corean strait, we do not know
that any was done by torpedoes or
mines. 1t was donA with shot and
shell from the guns of Japanese war
ships.
Note that it was done at long range.
1t was the policy of th> Japanese for
obvious reasons, to avoid close quar-
tiers. At Port Arthur they did not
permit their large ships to come with
in two miles of the enemy, and most
of the fighting was done at a greater
distance than that. The shot that
killed Admiral Wittsoeft and smashed
his flagship was fired from several
miles away. At such range torpedoes
We're not to be operared and mines
were in vain. 1t was the 12-inch guns
of the battleships and the S-inch guns
of the cruisers that did the business.
The Russians complain that the jap
anese had a great many more torpedo
boats than they, but at the same time
they declare that the torpedoes did
them no harm. In battleships the
Russian fleet was as strong as the
Japanese, but the japanese battleships
beat the Russian battleships. That
was the story at Port Arthur. In
the strait there were three Russian
cruisers to four Japanese cruisers.
The Russians, ship for ship, were
much larger, the three Russians hav-
ing aim as much tonnage and al
most as many men as the four Jap
anese. Yet the Japanese sent one Rus
sian to the bottom and made floating
wrecks of the others.
How was it done? The story of the
had as many guns and as big guns as
the Japanese. Whether they were as
powerful we do not know. What we
do know is that they were not aimed so
we'll. The best 12-inch gun in the world
is of no more account than a popgun
unless it is aimed so as to hit the mark
The Russian shots went wild. They
bored holes in the air and ploughed fur
rows in the sea. The Japanese shots
hit the target. From miles away the
Mikado's gunners sent their shells and
bolts home with mathematical accu-
racy. That is the testimony of the
Russians themselves. Their ships, they
say, were simply riddled by a. veritable
hail of snot. That is the explanation. Is
an explanation of the explanation
wanted? 1t is simple. Russia's navy
has for years been VIGOROUSLY neglect
full of target practice. Her appropria-
tiohs of money for that purpose have
been the smallest in Europe. Japan, on
the other hand, has poured out money
lavishly for naval target shooting, and
for years has kept her gunners practis-
ing, at short range and at long range,
until they nave become the best marks |
men in the world-outside of America,
let us hope we may add.
There is the story OF ultimate naval |
You must have the biggest
and most powerful guns in the world. |
That means, of course. that you must |
have battleships big enough and strong |
enough to carry such guns. Finally, |
you must keep your gunners practising |
and practising and practising at the |
targets in time of peace until they ran |
hit the gold" at miles away; and then
you will know that in time of war, if
such time comes, they will send their
bolts home to the vitals of the enemy's
ships, as our men did at Santiago and
as the Japanese did in the strait and
n the Yellow sea.