The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1904-03-31
Ben Lundquist Of This City Writes Of
Great Work Done BY Men in the
United States Navy.
U. S. GUNNERS LEAD THE WORLD
Record NADIA at Pensacola, Florida, Sur
In Any Navy.
u. S. S. S. Kearsarge.
Pensacola, Fla, March 10, 1904.

Pensacola, Fla, March 10, 1904.
Editor KENoSHA EVENING News:
Dear Sir.-Hoping that this letter
will reach you in due season will en-
deavor to give you a few facts con-
corning the greatest record breaking
gun target practice that the world has
ever known. Knowing as do (hav-
ing been born and brought up in Ke-
nosha) that the people of Kenosha
are exceedingly patriotic and deeply
interested in the success of both the
army and navy, thought this a good
opportunity to write, and to make
known that, at present, the United
States is at the head of the list for
excellent manipulation of greatgu
wish to give you plain exp1ana-
ton of the proceedings of a target
practice held this year between March
18th and 10Th, by the u. S. S. S..
Kearsarge, just outside of Pensacola
Bay. The first guns we fired were
13-inch. Each 13-inch projecti1e
weighs LOO pounds and is propelled
by $50 pounds of powder. By a 49,
s
for that gun is 10 inches in diameter.
These shells are very difficult to
handle and therefore they cannot be
fired very rapidly.
The first pointer to, fire a 13-inch
Gun at this target practice was j..
Grant, Gun Captain first class, of the
Kearsarge, whose home is s'down
east" He fired seven shots in five
minutes and made four hits. Every
body thought that this was lovely
and of course they had a perfect right
to do so.
The next pointer at the 13-ineh gun
was Chas. Donne11y of Indiana, a
mere boy, and everybody expected to
see him fail, but Donnel1y surprised
the whole ships company and in fact
the whole world by sending seven
shots in five minutes straight through
the target screen. That is a record
that will probably not be beaten for
years, yes scores of years.
The next shots were from 8-inch
guns. These projecti1es weigh $50
pounds and are propelled by 125
pounds of powder. These are also
very difficult to handle and they too
make rapid firing very unsuccessful.
The record breakers on this gun we're
Roster of Chicago, gunner's mate,
second class, and G. Young of Texas,
boatswain' S mate, second class. They
managed to put ten of those horrible
missiles straight through the target
in five minutes, making another record
for the Kearsarge.
The next to be fired was the 5-inch.
The first 5-inch gun was manned by
Frank Kropke of Chicago, acting
boatswain's mate, and Curran, sea-
man, of the same city. When they
were through firing there was not
enough left of the target to know
what they really had done. The next
was another 5-inch manned by J..
Russell, a seaman, of Rhode Island,
and ]. Wallace, gunner's mate, third
class, of New York. They fired eigh-
teen shots in two minutes and, as be-
fore, every shot went through the
target and sped on to its destination
Will TIC O1Q l1lSS11S SOuHu lIdC Is
music to a nan-o'war mans ears.
These clear eyed, true bred marks
men deserve all the praise that the
people of the United States can give
them, for they not only showed that
they were good marksmen, but they
also showed that the u. S. Navy need
be afraid of no enemy while it has
such trustworthy gr1n-pointers to di-
rect the shots from it's well equipped
and up-to-date fighting ships.
BENJAMIN S. LUNDQUIsT,
Coxswain IT. S. Navy.