The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-07-01
HIrrMa POWER or OUR NAVY

mower OF the navy Oh Jus OAAVS0
states has not kept in close touch
With the developments that have
been going on in the past few years.
Hampton's Magazine for July con-
tains ! most interesting article from
the pen of Rear Admiral Robley D..
Evans that sets the progress that has
been going on In the making OF guns
since the close Of the Spanish q
sat Santiago we thought our
shooting fairly good" writes Fight
ing Bob, but learned lately by the
testimony Of an expert before the
senate naval committee that 1t was
disgracefully bad. Whether 1t was
rood, bad, or disgraceful, the fact re-
mains that we destroyed the Spanish
squadron in record time, and the Inn
preston among those engaged in the
battle was that this complete de-
struction was the result of good
shooting.
SIT is eminently unfair to compare
our firing then with what we could
do today. That 1t vas as good as, OF
better than, any other service could
have done at the time seems estab-
lished by the very favorable reports
OF many foreign critics.
After the close of the Spanish
war many officers Of the navy became
thoroughly interested in the subject
o fthe hitting power of our guns. and
some of these-those who came un-
der my personal observation-merit
personal MENTION" adds Admiral
Evans.
''Tne use of smokeless powder for
the navy became general Immediately
after the Spanish-American war; dur
ing that conflict We had used 1t for
the smaller guns only, and brown
prismatic 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 possible.
New sights we're 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.
'1n March, 1902, I was ordered to
China to command the cruiser divis-
ION OF that station. Pear Admiral
Frederick Rogers, the commandment
chief was kind enough to assign the
battleship Kentucky as flagship for
mo. This gave me the opportunity
had been looking forward to, to see
if i could do something toward max
Ing target practice the valuable thing
Il should be.
had no target ammunition in
those days and therefore had to use
regular service charges and project
lies. AS many Of our shells had fail
ed to explode when fred during the
6panish-American wal, I selected, fol
tho target, the face Of q rocky blum
on q small island on the entrance to
the harbor, so that we could observe
the action Of fuses and shells as well
q determine the accuracy of the Ar
Ing. We used full charges of smoke.
less powder for the first time. SO fal
- 1 know for regular target practice
Z The Kentucky went out on the
range July 19th7for her firing and the
results were In some respects startl'
Ing. The gun with the McLain sight
made seven hits In one minute and
they Ill were punched in a small.
space. The field Of the telescope wa.
small and the cross wires coarse
which made the firing slow. but Il
was evident that the gun could keeI
on hitting for any length Of time. Ii
view Of the good results obtained, ]
sent to Paris and ordered telescopes
Of high power and finer cross wires
for nj guns. The chief Of ordinance
pald the bill, and from that day Il
this our guns have been furnished
With this kind Of sight whenever Il
could be used and great improvement
has been made In the manner Of 1t,
construction. The orders OF the navy
department changed our procedure II
minor details only. such as making vi
4rs OF canvas target rather than a,
one painted on q rock. The principle,
70 established end the methods ",
practiced were approved and continu,
70 this day.
EARLY IN 1904 / returned from
the east and . few months later wa.
ordered to command the North At
lantic squadron, Afterwards the At
SslAntic feet. Upon ass1lmin93 command