New-York tribune., 1908-03-25
FLEETS RAPID WORK.
SUNDAYS NO EXCEPTION.
Records of Target Practice TO Be
-4nnounced Later.

San Diego. CAL March o4-Wireless reports
from Magdalena Bay tell Of rapid progress being
made by the sixteen battleships of Rear Ad-
nlIral Evans's command toward the completion
of target practice All of the firing so far has
been at range of 1.G0o yards just short Of
one mile The firing has also been confined to
sta ationary targets. and it is believed that
there will be a change either of range or char
acter OF target during the remainder OF the
practice. At first it was thought that the Mag
dalena Bay work of the fleet would include a
variety of ranges, extending even up to nine
! thousand yards. the maximum for battle prac-
tice, with the primary l. and Is inch turret
guns and moving targets attached to the end
of long tow line. but late advces say the
gunner practice will he strictly limited 10
record work at l6OO yards and at anchored
targets II by u feet in size.
The practice has been under way foE more
than days, and the firing has been constant.
Sundays being included in the rush to finish
early possible. Another ten days. il is be-
lieved will see the end of the range work. and
then will follow period of coaIing and clearing
up for the fetes that await the ships along the
shores of California
According to present plans. as announced by
Admiral Evans. the fleet will leave Masdaena
Bay at daylight the morning of April Il, just
one month from the time of it's arrival The
steaming speed will be raised to II knots
the run to San Diego. TO bring the fleet to anchor
off Coronado Beach at 2::j0 p. on April II.
The from MagdaIena Bay to san Diego is
about $40 miles. and has been made in forty
seven hours by cruisers. Admiral Evans viii
allow fraction over hfty-six hours for trip.
however he does not desire tire out the
engine room forces.
/ RECORDS TO BE WITHHELD
| No official announcement of the records made
by the ships Will come from Magdalena Bay,
Admiral Evans having decided TO send all OF this
class of information in confidential mail COM
muncations to the Navy Department Wash
ngton. 1t will take some time for Lieutenant
Commander Ridley MCLEAN. the fleet ordnance
officer of Rear Admiral Evanss personal staff.
to prepare the individual and average records.
and it may be that the reports will not go East
| until after the arrival of the fleet off this port
Splendid records are looked for however, as
the short range and the fixed targets call for
| high percentage of hits under the efficiency at
! tanned in recent years by the gun crews of the
! navy.
| Record practice which is always carried on at
the 1.60D-yard range was really training in
speed and facility of firing. rather than a true
test of accuracy, which principally comes in the
| battle practice over ranges which vary from
| 1000 to 5000 yards 1t is the naval theory that
men who can fire straight and rapidly at 1900
| yards can be depended upon TO fire just as rap
idly and With almost the same precision at the
| greater ranges where familiarity with the guns
| means everything.
Some idea Of the amount Of work being done
| at Magdalena Bay be CLEANED from the Off
Cial statement of ammunition expended by the
cruiser Tennessee recently returned from the
practice grounds. her preliminary practice
the Tennessee used 13. 143 pounds of powder and
rs 24o pounds of shell, the cost being S1S,99 20
At record practice the Tennessee used l9992
pounds of powder and u 1916 pounds of shell. at
a cost of So. H. 20. The Tennessee's largest
guns are of 10-nch calbre as against the l.
and Is inch pieces of the battleships. The ships
of the Connecticut type, of which there are hVe
in the fleet will use up at least one-half more
ammunition than the Tennessee and the older
ships and the Kentucky and the Illinois types
will use third more.
THE TARGET PRACTICE.
The stories of the target practice work at
Magdalena Bay are filled with interest. The
little targets are placed at the apex OF care
fully measured triangle. across the base OF
which the ship at practice steams at the rate
of ten knots an hour AS the ship approaches
the range the gun pointers and loading crews
are stripped 10 their waists. Guns are kept
trained on the target some time before the
signal to begin firing is sounded through the
ship and scarcely have the first notes of the
we'll known bugle call Go on been sounded
than the crack of the guns is heard. Strangely
enough it is declared that to the novice the
sharp quick report of the small rifles is more
irving on the nerves than the deep throated
roar of the Pinch guns whose great muzzles
protrUde from the slanting elliptica turrets of
the modern vessels.
The firing lasts only five minutes. Then the
ship turns and steams back in the opposite di-
rection giving first the port and then the star
hoard gun crews their turns at the targets OFF,
GERS and men are especially trained for the work
of following the fire of the guns. Some have
eyes keen enough to pick up the pencll-hke
three and five inch shells soon after they leave
tba nouzzles of tr1 guns and follow them to a
,,it or miss at the argets. When one OF these
lvnx-eyed experts once was asked by lands
man if he could see 12-inch shell going through
the air he exclaimed:
see it, Why it looks big as trolley
car!'
Lieutenant Joseph r. Defrees, one OF the men
in charge Of the United States government gun
factory at Washington. D. c.. is in San Diego. on
his wav To Magdaena Bay, where he Will in
snect the new torpedo tubes being used for the
first time bv the feet. 1t is the intention of the
Department to give the tubes a thorough try
out at Magdalena Bay before deciding to
them.
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