Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-22
Plea for the Naval Gunners.

The controversy which is arising be-
tween the Army and Navy in regard to
the target practice of the two services has
called forth an expression of opinion from
one naval officer. which. il is claimed,
should be borne in mind by the non-tcch-
Eical public in order to afford the basis
FOR sound Judgment. This officer declared
that 1t Is practically impossible to make a
fair comparison between the army and
navy gunnerS because of the radical diff
ference in the conditions under which tar
get practice is conducted IN the forts and
or sh!pboard.
The coast defense gunner has every ad-
vantage IN these conditions save In the sin
gle matter of the range. In that the naval
gunner has the best of II, for his target
practice range is but 1sOo yards, only a
few feet more than mile. while the ex-
IRENE coast defense range is no less than
U.0o0 yards, a distance so great an ordinary
river steamer would appear TO be the size
OF a rOWboat at the closer range. But the
army gunner stands on an immOvable plat
FORM while the sailor is being constantly
elevated and depressed and pitched forward
and backward. The army gun. too. Is per
fectly steady. while the naval gun. OF
course. rolls about in every direction, point
ing sometimes into the depths of the sea,
and again up to the clouds as the battle
ship yields to the motion OF the waves.
The naval gunners only chance OF making
a hit on the target is 10 guess just when
the guns sights will fall in line with the
Target through tlt TOILlNH OF iIlt sI4lp-d
fraction Of a second. too soon or too late.
and the shot would go far Wild
Another advantage in favor OF the army
Is the accurate knowledge of the ranges
possessed by the gunners in the forts.
Every foot of the water surface as far as
the eye can reach around the fort has been
plotted in advance; the whole water sur
face has been divided into imaginary
squares each numbe cred, and the squares
all reproduced on the firing boards.
Whenever the telescope shows that vessel
has entered upon n certain square. the sig
nal officer has only to report that number
to the fire control station, and. the gun be-
ing elevated to the exact degree the
scale laid down In the firing tables. the pro-
Jectile Is dropped precisely into that square.
The naval gunner has no such aids. The
best his officer can do Is 10 point range
finder at the target, and then estimate the
distance. Notwithstanding all the claims
that had been made by the inventors: ac-
cording to naya, officers. none OF the range
finders that can be used shipboard is
entirely reliable The delicate electrical
apparatus that will work with a fair de-
gree Of precision on shore is thrown out of
adjustment by the vibration aboard ship
caused by the discharge of the big guns,
and the readings of the scales are more or
less Inaccurate. So the turret captain
relies principally upon the sight bars Of his
gun, as distance finder. Taking a pot
shot at the target. he spots the projectile
and noting whether It is high or low, he
corrects the elevation of his gun.
Another thing that bothers the naval
gunner is the lack OF uniformity in smoke
less powder. Al the same range, the sumo