The Holbrook news., 1911-06-16

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 IVY targets off the Virginia
 w capes steamed majestical-
 ly up New York harbor re- gently, the Michigan brought back the trophy for the year. Her gunners had broken every record. The American navy is pre-eminent on all the five oceans for It's unerring marksmanship, but the Michigan's guns and the men behind them now stand at the head of the roll of fame for accuracy and dead ly skill Tn the battle practice the Michigan made 12 hits out of 26 shots. Her gunners made four bullseyes sim ultaneously at 12,OOO yards, feat that Is unique in the annals of naval gun nery.
 To fully understand what it means to make four bullseyes at this distance of six nautical miles the reader should consider these facts: A target rises above the sea less than the height of a three-story house, and is just about as long as city dwelling of this sort Only the center of the target-the big round spot of canvas sewed to the net ting between the supporting masts- can be seen even through good glass. All that the naked eye can distinguish at a distance of six miles Is just a tiny, blurry speck on the horizon.
 It would be counted good shooting on solid ground to hit a speck like that far away. But when the Michigan knocked the targets to pieces she was driving through the sea at the rate of mile in four minutes. There was a heavy swell on out in the blue water and she rolled and pitched so that aim ing the great guns was as difficult as shooting sparrows with a revolver from the back of a bucking horse. Though the Michigan smashed all gun nery records that ever were made the other big men-of-war were not far be- hind. Taking them collectively, there never was such an aggregation of levi athan sharpshooters sailing under any nations flag.
 That was the spectacular part of the battle practice. What precedes 1t and leads up to the tremendous climax of broadside of 12-inch guns is no less interesting. In the hay and liquid gold of dawn the bugle sounds to gen eral quarters" In a twinkling the great steel fortress is stripped for bat tie. Everything movable or likely to be torn away by the tremendous con cussion of the huge guns is slowed be- low decks. Then the men are lined up and inspected. Every one of them must have had a fresh bath and be dressed in clean clothing-these are the new antiseptic rules to discount accident.
 Then the alarm sounds its deep, toe sin-like strokes; the spotters and the telephone force clap on their leather headgear, like that worn in football games, and shin up to the foretop through the funnel smoke. Up there the concussion is the worst. The sail ors wear celluloid ear protectors that go inside the ear and are almost in- visible Then, as the big ship gathers the instructions to man the starboard batteries and the information that six salvos are to be fired, 40 seconds apart. The targets have to be picked up blindly. for the ship is playing at grim war.
 The plain red pennant, the signal for commence firing" hangs like a stain from the yards. Then comes the loading signal from the ordnance ofi- cer; the stand by" bells sound their shrin peals. The spotters stand rigid, staring through the soft rubber eye pieces of their binoculars, waiting the of the final range and Reflection
 Slowly, far below, the moving tur- rets begin to nose upward their guns like intelligent creatures. The big fo'castle deck is an empty, slim, fiat finger. There is hoarse hiss of the air blasts clearing the bores. Then-"Fire!"
 The shock of the broadside tears Into ribbons the bridge screen; 1t shat ters the four-inch-thick glass in the portholes. It is like the explosion of 8 powder magazine. Complete unison In a broadside is impossible, however, with each firing key in a separate hand, and the buzzers allowing four seconds in which to press them. the shock might have been worse. In the dead seconds between the salvos the eye follows the travel Ing shells, seemingly endless mo- ments, until they bloom out in a gar den of mighty geysers of foam around the targets. There is burst of throaty cheers from here and there between |