Evening star., 1909-05-09
BR|T0NS CLAIM LEAD
Declare Their Naval GunnerS
Are the Most Efficient.
SIZE OF TARGET REDUCED
Scores Made Indicate Notable In
crease in Accuracy.
CRITICISM OF AMERICAN FIRE
Percentage of Hits in Smashing Ger
vera's Fleet Declared Ridiculously
Low-Japanese Expertness.
SIZE OF TARGET REDUCED
CRITICISM OF AMERICAN FIRE

Special Cablegram TO The Star.
/ LONDON. May S.-While all the world
is talking of Dreadnaughts and big guns
and many critics are clamoring for an
inquiry into the state OF the British navy.
the question arises. Which nation can
claim to hold the championship for ac-
curate gunnery?"
The query is suggested by some as
tonishing revelations which have just
been ELECTED as to the condition of the
French fleet. The latest firing lists of
the French northern squadron are re-
garded as being very unsatisfactory. The
squadron was required to steam at
speed of seventeen knots and the firing
was at 5000 yards range and lasted one
and half minutes. During this period
the Leon Gambetta hit the target twelve
times out of 1916 rounds the Goloire and
the admiral Dude fifteen times each for
LAG rounds fired. while the Gueydon
scored eighteen hits for 126 rounds.
British Accuracy.
Happily not even the btterest critics
of the present board of admiralty can say
that the British navy is in SO bad a way.
Every one knows that it still leads the
world in efficiency. Two months ago the
returns of gunlayers' tests for 1908 were
issued and show very encoura sing fig
ures. The percentage of hits to rounds
fired in 1907 having reached the high
average of 81 A. the area of the target
was reduced from :s30 square feet to 80
square feet The result was that the
percentage fell to :5.51 I'm 1908. but. seeing
that the target was only a quarter OF
its former size, the figures really indf-
cate a notable increase In accuracy of
fire.
In 1908 the most effective work with
the twelve-inch gun. the navys most
powerful weapon. was done by the In
domitable. which scored - per cent The
King Edward class of battleships made
an average of As per cent in spite of the
fact that not a single one of the eight
rounds fired by the Hindustan found the
target. The best shooting with the -
gun was made by H MS. Good Hope,
with III per cent
Sir Percy Scott. as every one knows, is
largely responsible for the greatly in
creased accuracy of our gunnery. The
improvement may be saueed from the
fact that in 1898 our navys best average
made with the A. gunS-was only .6
per cent, while some of the bigger weap-
ors only scored p per cent.
France and Italy. being for the present
at least out of tine front rank of naval
powers. and Russia's fleet being little
more than name. only Germany. Amer
lea and Japan remain to be considered
AS for the first. the returns of naval
gunnery are kept as secret as possible
from outsiders and few reliable details
are available. But it is believed that
the kaiser's navy has been worked up
TO a high standard of accuracy.
American Aim Criticised.
The American fleet is declared by some
experts to have fallen away In this re-
spect. The total destruction of Cervera S
fleet during the war with Spain was
accomplished only by prodisious ex-
penditure of shells, the percentage of
hits being ludicrously low. Four years
late. some figures were published by the
American naval board, which We're ac-
conpan MED by the official comment. "Our
sailors are forgetting how TO shoot The
following were the records of three
ships:
Alabama. - shots, IL hits; kearsarge.
45 shots. l3 hits; Massachusetts, 80 shots.
5 hits The target fired at was 80 feet
by Is feet and the average range was
1909 yards.
Th4 close attention given by the Japa-
ne.e to naval gunnery was shown by the
terrible experience of the Russians in
1894 For instance, in the first sea
fight of war off Chemupo the -Asama
shot the Variag to pieces at over i,GU0
yards, while at Tsuhma the shells strih-
ing the Russian vessels were compared
to a ceaseless blizzard of exploding steel.
Not only was frightful destruction
wrought. but the nerves of the Russians
We're paralyzed and their shooting pro-
duced little result. All naval records
teach the same lesson. 1t is: The man
behind the gun counts for most in the
day of battle.