Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-29
ARMY AND NAVY NEWS
Organization Of the New
Light Artillery
Corps.

artillery corps of the United States army
The new corps consists of IS commits
stoned officers. As sergeants. 80 corporals
and 12S privates. having 90 Vickers Sons
& Maxim automatic machine guns and $50
horses and $40 mules.
This corps is formed from the existing
forces and will be divided among the cav
airy and infantry regiments so that each
regiment will have it's machine gun pIa-
toon. commanded by a commissioners off,
Ger and provided with two machine guns
of the type indicated. These guns popu-
larly known al screw guns" are cana BILE
of a fire of practically 500 shots a minute
The gun platoon, armed with two ma
chine guns, will be able to discharge at
the enemy a shower of projectiles equal
to the entire firing capacity of all the rest
of the regiment.
A gun platoon, which will be commanded
by commissionedof officer and one sergeant
will consist Of two gun detachments, each
consisting of nine priyateS under the di-
rection of a corporal. Each gun detach-
ment will handle single gun, which. with
its ammunition, will be transported on
five pack animals, horses being used in the
cavalry and mules in the infantry
The general staff and General Crozier
chief of ordnance. have been working
quietly on this scheme to increase the
efficiency of the army for several years,
the final tests, whereby the Vicker's Sons
& Maxim gun was selected from among a
number of competitors, having been con-
Quoted in the summer of 1903.
Arrangements have been made for the
manufacture of this gun by the Colt Man
ufacturing Company. and as soon as a
sufficient supply of the weapons is deliy-
cred they Will be served to the regiments
in the arms of the service named. When
the order has been filled each of the thirty
regiments of Infantry. the fifteen regi-
ments of cavalry and the Porto Rscan
provisional regiment of infantry will have
it's gun platoon, including two rapid fire
machine guns. Seven thousand rounds of
ammunition Will be carried for each gun.
One pack animal will carry the gun, tri-
pod and three boxes of ammunition, and
the remaining twenty five boxes OF amnu-
milton, the reIoading machine and water
boxes will be distributed among the four
other pack animals
The effectiveness of q gun platoon capa-
BILE of discharging 1900 rounds minute
from it's two guns, in protecting a point or
vantage or defending defle or pass. may
we'll be appreciated. In the estimation of
the army experts these guns viii almost
double the effectiveness of regiment en-
gagged in defensive work. In offensive
work the efficiency of the machine gun u.s.
of course less for the reason that while
each rife in a regiment is guided by
separate intelligence capable, presumably,
of placing each shot where 1t Will tell. the
machine gun must discharge most OF us
ammunition within a circumScr1bed area
and unless attack was made in solid col
IIrnns much of the ammunition would be
in dispensing riots has already been dem
onstrated
New Swagger Uniforms.
Several radical changes are to be made IN
the uniform of the United States army as
result of the recent visit to this country of
George b. Winter. the expert English mill
tary tailor Although neither the color nor
the general style of the uniform will be
jiorbt different
cut giving it a smarter or more lSwa gger
appearance. The quartermaster general OF
the army has approved the report OF the
special board of quartermaste1s appointed
to consider the various notifications in the
uniform suggested by Mr.. Winter, and IN
structions have been given to carry them
into effect IN the manufacture OF military
clothing.
The changes include new ,vercoat for
enlisted men, modelled on. the lines of the
present overcoat. but much fuller in the
back. 1t will be double breasted, but the
two rows of buttons will be further apart
than on the present overcoat, and the
skirts will be cut with flare. There VIII
also be cuffs on the sleeves.
The greatest change, however, will be
in the cut of the olive-drab service coat
of the enlisted man. The new coat will
have two Sits in the back skirt, pieated
patched pockets, two VS. at the collar and
closer and the shoulders wider thus max
ing the coat more becoming than the pres
ent straight up and down affair. This cut
of coat applies to the khaki service coat
as we'll as oliye-drab coat
improvements have been made also in
the olive-drah and khaki-service breeches.
These articles will be cut with much more
fullness in the thighs and more length in
back breadth. They will be tight from
the knee down. laced. eyelet holes rein
forced and faced with leather near the
knee. They will be reinforced and quilted,
and will not have hip pockets In other
words the olve-drab and khaki riding
breeches will be "mutton-legged" and
much more in the fashion and comfortable
than those now used by the cavalry and
field artillery, which are said to be entirely
too tight.
The olive-drab and khaki trousers for
dismounted troops will be cut full on the
have a seam and will be comparatively
tight from there down. They will be laced
the same as the cavalry breeches, they
are always worn with leggins.
Fate of the Old st. Louis.
After many years of buffeting by the
waters of many seas. the old sloop of war
St Louis lies In the Delaware river at
Philadelphia awaiting transfer to the junk
pile She is now being appraised with a
view to her sale at public auction to the
highest bidder. 1t is seyenty-eight years
since the then proud man-of-war was
launched In this city, where she had been
built for service In the far east. At that
time she was regarded as one of the best
vessels in the young navy.
During the first years of her service pi-
rates were the pest of the West Indies and
the Pacific The st. Louis. then one OF the
swiftest vessels in the navy, sent after
the men who sailed under the skull and
cross-bones, and to her efforts is partly
due the determination of the looters.
On one occasion one of the rakish crafts
closely pursued by the coming Union Jack,
ran aground on large island and her
crew escaped TO the wooded interior. Lieut.
Horton, a gallant young officer of that
day. led a cheering company of his men,
armed with cutlasses and pistols, to rout
out the desperadoes Over hills and copse
the chase continued for a mile. when the
fleeing buccaneers ambushed the pursuers
and pitched battle resulted. After fierce
hand to-hand combat the pirates were all
killed or captured and the latter were
hanged the following day from the yard
arm of the st. Louis.
At the time OF the naming of the ST.
Louis there was much opposition to thus
honoring town of such small Importance
and size as that great city was then
Much discussion finally ended In victory for
the st. Louis partisans, and 1t was only
recently the government changed the name
of the ship to the Keystone State on ac-
count of there being another vessel In the
navy called the St Louis. However, the
new name was hardly ever apDiied axeeDf