Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1912-06-14

abled before she came within the lighting range
adopted by some powers.
In target practice all the rules aim at the
reproduction of the conditions of actual battle and
every effort is put forth to accomplish this end
some time before the practice is to be held each
ofhcer whose post requires an advance knowledge
OF the work TO be done receives book of rules
Tor that particular practice This book is consd
cred to be confidential document the contents
OF which are not to be revealed to persons outside
the service. The first page is perforated and
bears number corresponding to that on the book
Itself The recipient signs a receipt on this page
and 1t is torn out and retained by the navy depart
ment This book, therefore, is held under a signed
agreement not to reveal what its pages contain
The practice this year included a spoilers test
target shooting by individual ships and by dvi-
sons torpedo firing by battleships and by torpedo
boats. The sunken battleship San Marcos for
merly the Texas which is being used as a naval
mark, was the target in the case of the spoilers
test 1t is reported that later her lattice frecon
troll masts are to serve targets in order to learn
how long that type of mast Will stand when under
hre Each battleship has one or more spoilers
These are the men who occupy the fire control
baskets on the lattice masts and watch the fall
OF the shots They are expected to be able to tell
almost instantly how far over or under the mark
the shells struck and telephone 1t to the plotting
room, down in the bowels of the vessel They sup
pement the mechanical range finder. and assist
the potters below working out the ranges to cor
rect any differences thus indicated. The discrep-
ancy between the range obtained mechanically
and the observation of the spotter is considered to
Indicate the strength of the powder charge and the
supply OF powder is varied accordingly.
In the spoilers test the range was known to
the umptres, and the guns were fired at prear
ranged elevations, ranges. The spoilers
expected to tell what the errors, or discrepancies.
We're Their estimates were then compared with
the known ranges
In individual practice each ship is limited to
certain number of shots and 1t has its own target.
The scoring is based on the number of hits per
minute per gun. 1t has been found that the gun
ners in land fertilization may be expected to
average one hit in three shots at a moving target
It is therefore considered that a ship that can
make 80 per cent. OF hits has made a perfect
score FOR the floating gun platform not only is
unstable but is moving. while the fertilization not
only has a fixed platform, but there are oppor
tunities for increasing the length Of the base OF
the range finder
The ranges are obtained by taking two sights
at the mark from different points whose distance
apart is known with precseness. The angles of
the two sight lines when the sights are focused
simultaneously on the object taken with the
known length OF the base line viii show its exact
distaEce The fertilization has an advantage over
vessel also In that the garrison can plot out
some of its ranges In advance. The range finder
on a battleship Is approximately sixteen feet long
This is the base line upon which the calculations
are worked out. Taking this into consideration,
the capacity for making a hit on a target more
than six miles away is an evidence of great skill
on the part of all who manipulate the fighting
machine
AS the ship is not only limited In the number
OF shots to be fred but in a measure tn the IN
tervai Of time In which they may be sent In search
of the target, Il vii be seen that without prelim
mary practice OF some kind tina records which
have been made would be imp2Setfas Z - na.