Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-10-22
DISPUTE ON GUNNERY

Ul0P Ult UH hUHNE. Il
Lively Controversy Between the
Army and Navy.
NAVAL EXPERTS HOT SHOT
Commander Sims Claims Navy Cum
ners Shoot Better Than Coast De-
Tenders Soldiers Say Navy Shoots
BY GuessWorls at 1000 Yards and
Army Scientifically At 5000 Yards.
a dispute about the relative merits
4 of army and navy target practice
seems probable as a result Of the atti-
5tude Of officers Of both branches Of the
service, says d Washington special dis
patch to the New York Times.
Commander Sims, director Of target
practice for the navy, went to Fort
Monroe some time ago to witness the
work of the coast defense gunners He
prepared q report for Acting Secretary
Of the Navy wberry. Some Of the
army people who saw the report were
astonished to find Mr. Sims had gone
into the question Of the coast defense
gunnery in a critical way and figura-
lively had Torn it all to- pieces show
Ing how and where the navy gunners
had made better records.
Its bad enough said an army OH
Ger, thout ubbing It In The army
is the Y unpopular branch of the service,
but # has not been obliged to get out
moving pictures to gain recruits q
s The statement made by Commander
Sims is likely not to remain long I'M
answered.
The army believes the navy has per-
fected its system and is fully persuade
ed that our navy is the finest on earth,
but is confident 1t has far better sys-
tenn of*gunnery Of Its own.
Since the war with Spain the army
and navy have made startling adj
yances in gunnery.
It was found that at Santiago about
2 per cent of the steel shells hit their
marks. That had been SUFFICIENT to do
the Work, but the officers Of the navy
though fully went to work to figure out
why the efficiency Of their fire had moi
been greater. The men IN charge Of
the gun practice set TO work To ascer.
tain what could be done. What has
been done seems nothing short of mar.
veious
Whereas formerly the biggest guns
! could be fred about once In i've min.
sutes. now they can be fred twice In
one minute, and, whereas they former
ii5ly rarely found the target, now the
| twelve and thirteen inch guns make
about 30 per cent OF hits. With the
other guns practically no misses are
| made.
But what has the army been doing?
Thy. bless you. sir, z exclaimed one
OF the army officers, 5s.the navy shoots
at range Of 1000 yards, and oul
/ coast defense guns are fred at range
| up TO, 9. 600 yards II we had any gun
1 ners in the army who could not hit thu
target every time at 1900 yards We
would run them out of the service OF
| put them where they would not have
| to do with the artillery.
/ The navy's system is based on .
sort of guessWork. Ours is based or
purely scientific principles. At Ions
range their system would prove seri
ously at fault.
It's all very well for the navy to talk
about hitting a canvas thirty feet or SC
square at 600 yards, but at Fort
Banks the twelve inch guns put six
shots into space that could have been
! covered nicely by an armor plate and
/ did It at 6,000 yards in the quick time
Of 8 minutes 40 seconds. That would
4 have sunk the biggest battleship afloat
The navy's system is based on d sort
1 Of guesswork. Ours Is based on pure
j scientific principles. " AT long range the
4 nayy's system would prove seriously
at fault.
The navy makes use Of what is call
ed the sspotting system An observer
a1oft with a pair of binoculars watch,
es where the shots strike. If the splash
shows that the shot is over the target
the gunners depress the muzzle OF the
guns. If the splash shows that the shot
4 falls short, the observer orders the
nuzzle raised. The opportunity for er.
rors In judgment are great If that Is
what Commander Sims wants the ar:
my TO adopt. 1t IS hard to see what use
could be made Of his system at the
/ long ranges the army has to shoot ait
] AS q matter Of fact, the army aban.
doned the spotting system years ago. &
Concrete Telegraph Poles.
Concrete for telegraph poles Is the
4 latest, according to a Bloomington
4 (Ill.l special dispatch to the New Yorl
i World, W. 10 Boyce, the publisher, Il
4 onducting the experiments. He II
i planning to build an electric power
4 line between NTarseflles and Peru via