Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1907-11-21

ragut and Porter during the Civil war.
But fighting gun, or q battery, or
lighting a gunboat or a cruiser, or a
battleship, for that matter, doesn't
necessarily make man a Trustworthy
commander in big naval battle.
There is no disgrace in all this. 1t
10 simply the price we pay for Peace
With all its advantages, Peace doesn't
develop fighting men. or courss
when the occasion arises the man for
the occasion will arise, Just as al
ways has happened with us. But who
can now point to him?"
Evans commanded battleship in
the Santiago fight" said another Off.
Ger. "He was a young officer in the
Civil War and received wound which
made him lame for life. His prompt
responsiveness, when aggressivencss
was the thing, won for him the name
of Fighting Bob a name, by the way,
which is highly distasteful to him.
AS an actually, Evans is not
strongest as a fighting man. but as a
diplomat. He has gained all his dis.
tinction as level.headed. cool diplo.
mat, to be trusted not to embroil his
country in difficult and delicate stun.
tons. These qualities which shine in
Admiral Evans need not go along with
signal ability as commander of a fight.
ing fleet"
Flick Goodrich or Mccalls
Among the officers of the navy sta.
toned here there appears to be a con.
victiOn that Rear Admiral Goodrich or
Rear Admiral McCalla, retired, would
eG placed in command of the fleet. Nc.
Gala is regarded by many as pre.emI.
nently the foremost tactician in the
navy. One officer of broad experience
regards him as the greatest naval tao.
ucian Of the day
Another point which worries naval
officers is the uncertainty as to the
amount of ammunition on hand. Vir.
lually all the reserve shells were used
in the Spanish.American war.
Serious lack OF ammunition has pre-.
vented target practice under as advan
tageous conditions as prevails in the
British navy. Our big scores are
made. not at running targets, as on
English ships, but at stationary tar.
gets; and a large part of our practice
is with sub.calibre contrivances, which
reduces Pinch gun practice to pre.
rtR
pistol.shooting galleries. whore small
Calibers and smaller charges are meas
ured to 1T actual field conditions as
nearly as may be-valuablc practice
hut not to be compared with actual
outdoor work.
Lewis Nixon, the naval constructor.
commenting upon the mggardliness OF
Congress in the matter of approprla
lions for ammunition for target nroc.
tee, said:
I'VE make n great mistake in this
country in. the matter of target prac.
tee. Instead of shooting at a target
while the ship is going at full speed,
such as would present actual service
conditions, as the English do, we shoot
at stationary target and are satisfied
with picnic scores.
at is precisely as though you should
have our troops fire at targets from
rests in shooting gallery. Those are
rot the targets Of actual war. As a
consequence the English are ahead OF
us in this particular and | think, also.
the Japs.
1--WE have as good courage as either
Japs or English. We will fight our
ships to the death, as either Will But
we put off serious things and are NJ
ways trusting to luck We are salts
fed with a stunning score at sta
tionary target, forgetting that the less
brilliant moving target score counts
IN a fight"
Officers admit that We have the bat.
tleships justifying our claim to rank
as second sea power. but question
whether we have the ammunition to
serve the big guns or the experience
to use them. They admit that the
President ig npI,,,fnfy