Charlevoix county herald., 1912-07-06

aDled 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
officer whose post requires advance knowledge
. nj the work 10 be done receives a book of rules
Eor that particular practice. This book is consid
, cred 10 be confidential document the contents
, of which not to be revealed to persons outside
he service The first page is perforated and
bears number corresponding to that on the book
Itself. The recipient signs receipt on this page
and it is torn and retained by the navy depart
ment. This book, therefore, is held under signed
agreement not to reveal what its pages contain.
Tue practice this year included a spoilers test
target shooting by individual ships and by divi-
sions, torpedo firing by battleships and by torpedo
boats The sunken battleship San Marcos for
merry the Texas, which is being used naval
mark the target in the case OF the spotters
test II is reported that later her lattice fre-con-
troll mass to targets in order to learn
how long that type of mast will stand when under
fire. Each battleship has one or more spoilers
These the men who occupy the fire control
baskets the lattice masts and watch the fall
of the shots They expected to be able to tell
,almost instantly how far under the mark
The shells struck and telephone 1t to the plotting
room down in the bowels of the vessel. They sup
plement the mechanical range finder and assist
the plotters below working out the ranges to cor
rect any differences thus indicated The discrep-
anCy between the range ODtalned meChdhiCdhs
and the observation Of the spoter is considered 10
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 umpires and the guns were fired at prear-
ranged elevations, or ranges. The spoilers were
expected to tell what the errors, or discrepancies,
were. Their estimates then compared with
che 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. IL has been found that the gun
ners In land fortihcation may be expected to
average hit In three shots at a moving target.
St is. therefore. considered that ship that can
make 80 per cent. OF hits has made perfect
score. for the floating gun platform not only is
unstable, but is moving while the fortificaton not
only has a fixed platform, but there oppor-
tunties for increasing the length of the base OF
she range finder.
The ranges are obtained by taking two sights
Bt The mark from different points whose distance
apart is known with preciseness. 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, will show its exact
distance. The fortifcaton has advantage over
vessel also in that the garrison can plot out
ssome OF its ranges In advance. The range finder
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 hit on target more
than six miles away is evidence of great skill
Un the part of all who manipulate the fighting
machine.
As the ship is not only limited in the number
OF shots 10 be fired. but in measure to the In
terva of time in which they may be sent In search
of the target II vii be seen that without prelim-
finary practice of some kind the records which
lhave been made would be impossible 1t Is not