New-York tribune., 1907-12-21
NAVAL TARGET PRACTICE
Order of Merit Rearranged-Geor-
gia Heads List.

Washington Dec 2o-Careful study Of the re-
suits % the practice under battle conditions
the Atlantic feet last fall has caused the Navy
Department TO make material Encouragement Of
the order Of merit of the ships in regard to proA
ficiency in sunfre. The first calculation gave the
percentages of the various ships, based entirely
the number of hits and without particular re-
gard to the rapidity of fire or the ealiore of the
guns of course these elements are of first inpor-
tance and it is patent that m bSttle quick firing
gun throwing shell of large cahbre and weight
would be effective than ., slower light cal
ibre gUH Therefore the naval experts have rear
ranged the merit list of the fleet the basis not
only OF the number of hits. but also to certain
extent the rapity of hittES and the propertienats
weight of the projectes- In making public this
order the department explains that the
paratvely low made by some of the vessels
accounted for by the fact that they came on
the range d much greater distance from the
target than that assigned to them-
As promulgated to-day, the merit list, with ths
names of the captains and ordnance officers at
tached 70 the ships at the time the practice was
made, is follows:
=, tieorgia--Captain II. McCrea; Lieutenant D. ".
"urtspaush. ordnance ofhcer-
Connecucut-C aptain FL. Osterhaus: Lieutenant
t. H. smith, ordnance officer.
NIrginla-GaPtaln 5 Schroeder; Lieutenant Gem
Psnnsylvania-Cap A Ward. Lieutenant ".
Maine-Captain g. B. Harber; Lieutenant r.
Kentucky-Captain f &. Barry; Ldeut.na Mt r T.
Craven. ordnance officer.
d. d.
H w Butler; ordnance officer
Maryland-Captain G.. Thomas; Lieutenant 6. z.
Holm. ordnance officer.
Alabama-Captain s P. Comfy: Lieutenant R. 1.
Kearsarge-Captain n. Winsow: Lieutenant
Comma nier " G. Mcfarland. ordnance officer
LOuisiana-Captan r. Wainwright; Lieutenant
r. W McNeely: ordnance officer
IllinOis-Captain c. BlOcklinger. Lieutenant Com
mander L. r. De Steisuer, ordnance officer.
Ohio-Captain L. {. Heilner; Lieutenant Com
Rhode Island-Captan j. B. Murdoch; LLeutsn-
ant Commander P. Babin. ordnance officer.
ant Commander F. b. Popham ordnance officer.
Missouri-Captain C.. A Merriam Lieutenant
Commander W. p. Scott. ordnance officer
Each of the above ships assigned a Ger
tain at which 10 fire. depending the
power of her guns, but in cases the vessels
came on the range at much greater distance than
that assigned To them, and this undoubtedly ac-
counts for the comparatively low made by
of them. For example, the Missouri began
firing a distance OF nearly mile greater than
her assigned range. the Illinois at 12o yards, and
the Louisiana at 900 yards greater.
The comparative efficiency attained at night bat
tie practice. where the firing done exclusively
by torpedo defence guns, three targets. was al
follows:
The Kentucky. the Kearsarge, the Alabama, the
Louisiana the West Virginia. the Ohio. the Viz
ginia, the Maryland. the Rhode Island. the Colo
rado. the Pennsylvania, the Missouri. the Maine.
the Georgia, the Connecticut. the Illinois and the
New Jersey.
The relative standing of the vessels OF tn.
cruiser. gunboat and torpedo boat classes has
not yet been made out. some vessels in each
class late in firing and their scores have not
been received.