Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-06-24
OUR GUNNERS LEAD WORLD
Fighting Bob" Scores Red Tape
System.
Admiral Evans Also Raps Critics OF
Our Mnrtsmsnship mt Santiago.
Since 1--WE s?@stroyed the
Spanish Squadron In Rc-
cord Time"

I'nat the nttlng power OF american
battleshps is to-day, ship for ship, sec
ond to that of no other navy afloat.
is declared by Rear Admiral Robley ID.
Evans reviewing, in Hamptons Maya
zine FOR July, the wonderful advance
we have made in gun-meking since the
Spanish war.
AT Santiago we thought our shooting
fairly good writes Fighting Bob"
but learned later by the testimony of
an expert before the Senate naval com
mittee that It was disgracefully bad.
whether It was good. bad. or di9gTace-
fui, the fact remains that we destroyed
the Spanish squadron in record time,
and the impression among those en-
gagged IN the battle was that this com
plete destruction was the result OF our
good shooting,
ut is eminentiy unfair to compare our
firing then with what we could do to-day
That II was as good as, or better than.
any other service could have done at the
time seems established by the very
favorable reports OF many foreign crit
tics.
After the ciose Of tho Spanish War
many officers Of the navy became thor
ouehly interested IN the subject OF the
hitting power OF our gune, and some of
these-thcse VINO carne under my per-
eonal observation--Tnerit personal men
tion," adds Admiral Evans.
The use OF srnokeless powder for the
navy became general Immediately after
the Spanish American War: during that
conflict we had used II for the smaller
guns only, and brown pr1snatic powder
for the larger guns The Introduction Of
the new powder necessitated resighting
all the guns, and this was done by the
ordinance department as rapidly as pos
s,ble New sights were supplied to all
OF our heavier guns, but In practice
these sights proved TO be- IN every case
either defective in principle or too weak
IN structure to stand the heavy shock OF
discharge.
TN March, 1902, was ordered to
China TO command the cruiser d.
vision OF that station. Rear
Admiral Frederick Rodgers, the COM
n1ander-in-chief was kind enough to as
sign the ba1tleship Kentucky US flag
ship for me. This gave ME the opportun-
ity 7 had been looking forward to, to see
If could do something toward making
target practice the valuable thing 1t
should be.
I'VE had no target ammunition In
those days and therefore had 70 use
regular service charges and projectiles.
As many Of our shells had failed to ex-
plode when fired during the Spanish
American War, ! selected. for the target,
the face OF a rocky bluff on small
island off III entrance TO the harhor. sc
that we could observe the action of
fuses and shells as well as determine
the accuracy of the firing. We used full
charges of smokeless powder for the
first time SO far as l know, for regu-
lar target practice.
"On July 9th the New Orleans was
inspected and a part of her inspection
consist ed in firing her guns one after
another as rapidly as 1t could safely he
done A regulation size target was care
rully whitewashed on the face Of the
rock and the ship steamed up and dowr
in front OF Il at a speed OF ten knots
Just as Is done to-day, and fired unit
each gun pointer HAD exhausted his al
lowance The accuracy and rapidly OF
the firing was promising and gave evi
dence of careful training
II remember we'll how the first shot
from a s,x-inch gun knocked the bulls
eve out Of the target. and that one OF the
guns made fifteen consecutive hits The
guns and their mounts functioned well
but the four and seven-tenths gun:
showed a tendency to Jam the hreect
blocks, which made the firing slow. The
Yecoil Of these weapons were very VIC
lent and often injured the men firins
them. Ono man had hts collar broker
IN this way.
THE Kentucky went on the rang
July 10Th for her firing and the results
were in some respects startling. TIT
gun with the Mclean sight made sever
hits IN one minute and they were al
punched in a small space. The field o
the telescope was small and the eros
wires coarse, which made the firinI
slow, but 1t was evident that the gun
could keep on hitting for any length o
time. In view Of the goor results OBJ
tanned. sent to Paris and ordered
telescopes OF high power and finer eros
wires for all guns. The chief Of ord
nance paid the bill. and from that da,
to this our guns have been FURNISHED
with this kind of sight whenever
could be used. and great improvement
has been made in the manner OF 1t
construction. The orders Of the nav
department changed our procedure Il
minor details only. such as making Il
IRE AT a canvas IdISfA IhiI4ti tlldH q
one painted rock. The principles w
established and the methods pract
iced were approved and continue in tn
service 10 this day.
Early IN 1904 returned from tn
East, and a few months later was ord
cred to command the North Atlanti
Squadron. afterwards the Atlantic Fleet
Upon assuming command found m
turret gun sights Of all the battleship
IN the same unsatisfactory condition a
had existed in the East I was agai
fortunate In having on my staff An Off
Ger of exceptional ability, Lieutenant
Commander Mark Bristol, who succeed
"a IN fitting sights to all the guns
Was due to his untiring devotion to dut
PAther than to the efforts OF any othe
one man that the battle-shtp troph
came to the North Atlantic Squadron
And to him, and his successor AZ Fle'
Gunnery Officer. Lieutenant Commando