The Washington herald., 1907-09-08

can ships. from the popular point OF view.
left nothing 10 be desired. The Spanish
ships were soon in flames and soon driven
20 the beach. their gun crews swept from
the batteries by the rapid and destructive
fire Of the ships OF the blockading fleet.
which SO triumphantly checked Ceryera's s
sortie
That was all right for Santiago u
was furthermore all right IN that the
enemy. according to that master Of terse
English. Rear Admiral didn't hit
a blank thing excep, the water"
But while the SpRniards managed 10
hit little else, Il has since been conceded
that the American ships broke no target
records IN that encounter. Il will probably
amaze many TO know that the percentage
OF hits TO shots fred was but little over
2 Per cent, these. Of course. being the
American.
But since Santiago the navy has put
In an enormous amount Of work NJ target
practice and the result shows in the
scores that were made az the last record
practice.
This record practice, as Commander
get practice. recently pointed out In the
Naval Institute, 'is misn0mer Inherited
from the past" It is, in reality. pTin-
cipalIy a firing test" 20 determine the
actual skill of the pointers and gun crews.
Before IL begins. division officer knows
almost exactly the relative accuracy and
rapidity with which his various pointers
can aim. but IN the case Of uutried point
ers. be does not know whether OF not they
will show the necessary nerve and steadi-
ness under the excitement Of firing.
Sometimes he is disappointed 10 find
that an otherwise excellent pointer gets
ratified" but there Is one thing that
both he and all OF his pointers under
stand thoroughly, namely that a hit will
be made every time that the gun is ac-
curataly aimed, and no mistakes are
made in ranges, &c; that the target is
large enough 10 include all OF the errors
of guntire afloat. that cannot be avoided
by any precautions on their part, such as
differences in the initial velocity of differ
ent charges, &c. In other words, the re-
lation between the range and the size Of
the target Is such that all hands know
that the result Of the shooting is a fair
comparative test Of the skill OF the per
sonnel. and that success does not depend
on luck; hence the intensity Of loyal com
petition. without which only Indifferent
success can be attained in gunnery train
ing. OF IN any other training requiring
skill and dexterity
But the result Of that assiduous training
has brought about a dexterity which
means that whereas the 12-inch guns
formerly averaged one shot IN FIVE min
utes, they now habitually fire two a min
ute. Moreover. these now rarely miss
whereas they formerly did. The general
average for the Pinch and the l3-inch
rifles is now placed at 50 hits out CT every
100 shots The accuracy and rapidity Of
fire OF the smaller guns have increased IN
relative ratio Of 1900 per cent: the other
at an enormous ratio, but one which can
not be so closely appr0ximated. When il
is said that the turret guns of one Of OuT
battle ships recently scored twelve hits
out of twelve shots, the vessel under way
at the time and steaming past target
bobblng 1600 yards away. the target being
not much larger than a few barndoOrs
placed alongside each other then Il may
be realized just how expert our navy gun
pointers have become since Santiago.
There they had targets much larger. tho
distance was not much greater, yet tho
percentage Of hits was only a bit more
than 2 per cent. II the battle were 70 be
fought over again, our gun pointers, az
the present stage OF efficiency, would be
able TO place the figures nearer 90 than
per cent
Ten Star ships,
Statistics that have been recently COM
piled by tho navy show that this year
1Eg~ nh
final merit is at least s. per cent Of that
Of the trophy winner Of her class), where
as. last year there were only three. Last
year tire average final merit Of all ships
was g. per cent of the highest final merit,
while this year II is Il per cent Another
remarkable fact in connection With the
result is that the efficiency Of the Pacific
Squadron. which was the smallest In final
merit last year, ig this year the highest Of
all the squadrons. The ships which COM
pose the second squadron Of the Pacific
fleet, and were last year the Pacific
Souacron, under command Of Rear Adj
miral Swinburne, won all that they cUuld
win-that is, the cruiser, gunboat, and
torpedo boat trophies. The battle-shir
trophy, Of course, went TO the Atlantic
fleet, as there is no battle ship in the sec
ond squadron Of the Pacific feet. All Sra
vessels of the squadron come within the
star-ship class, with the exception Of the
destroyer Paul Jones. The final merit OF
Admiral Swinburne's squadron is 20 per
cent higher than that of the next highest
squadron. The winners, as shown by the
accompanying score. are as follows: Bat
tle-shlp trophy, the Illinois; cruiser trophy,
the Boston; gunboat trophy, the Prince
ton; torpedo boat trophy, the Preble