The Calumet news., 1914-09-26
A BRITISH WARSHIP
At TARGET PRACTICE
Big Guns Tear Holes in a Small
Target Miles Away Every
Thirty Seconds.


and bare. for its decks and denuded
of men, while all rails and other up
standing membranes have been laid
Hat on deck.
The gun turrets. five OF them. are
trained round with the long, lean
muzzles of their twin weapons point
ing out over the sea, and every now
and then one or the guns twitches
ever so slightly or turret revolves n
little, as the gunlayers keep their
sights aligned on the distant target.
The ten big rifles the ship carries
are powerful weapons. Each one OF
them is over fifty feet long and
weighs close on eighty tons, while
their 1,25O-pound shells can be hurled
to distance of fifteen miles. The
enormous projectiles. too, leave the
muzzles at the rate of 1880 miles an
hour, and can penetrate the thickest
armor afloat at a range of 5000 yards
No Signs of Life.
But now, as the ship moves on
through the water. with its sharp bow
sending up two little cascades of
spray on either side OF the stem, it
looks like "A great mastodon uncon-
trolled by man. There are no signs OF
life on board-nothing except the
twitching gun turrets and the black
smoke rolling from the squat tunnels
which tells OF the men laboring below
But every man on board is at the sta
ton he would occupy in action, and
before long the uproar of the guns
will have begun.
In the coming tower, with it's 12-
inch armor stands the captain, his
navigating officer, a junior officer or
two, and several other men. The small,
circular erection, barely ten feet in
diameter seems very cramped for all
il has to contain.
Above the coming tower is another
armored erection, containing range
finder and inside this is the gunnery
lieutenant. with half dozen more Of
ficers and men. He is surrounded by
strange looking instruments while the
man at the range finder. with his eyes
at it's rubber eye pieces, is monotously
chanting out the distance OF the ap-
preaching target.
Target Miles Away.
To the naked eye the target itself
a great, lattice work structure, towed
by another battleship-looks absurd
ly small and insignificant at its six
mile range. But the gun layers i'm the
turrets are provided with telescope
sights. and these. with their powerful
lenses, serve to counteract the diff
Guilty.
Inside the turrets themselves the
eXpectant men are grouped round
their guns. The great projectiles and
the cordite charges behind them have
already been pushed home by the hy
draulic rammers, and since their
weapons are thus fully loaded. the
guns crews are idle for the time beinS
But the gunlayers-the men who aim
and fire the guns-and the trainers
those who keep them pointing in tho
right drection-are anxiously keeping
the sights on the target; and every
small brass handles, there is a wheez-
ing OF machinery and the great breech-
es rise and fall ever so slightly, while
the whole armored structure contain
inf them revolves an inch or 30 at a
time to keep the sights on.
"Ready"-"Resdy."
\ minute or two later after an or
der has come from the control posi-
tion. the lieutenant in charge of the
foremost turret suddenly raps out the
order Bring both guns to the ready"
The men standing by the breeches
flick over their small levers. Right
gun ready! Left gun ready" they re-
port in rapid succession.
The range, meanwhile, is decreasing
rapidly and about ten seconds later
there comes the strident rafting OF an
electric bell.
1t is the signal to open fire. The
gunlayer holds his breath, sees the
cross wires Of his telescope cutting
the lattice work OF the target and then
presses an innocent looking brass
thumb piece. AS he does so, there is
a roar, and, with a blaze OF orange
flame and a pail of brown smoke, a
projectile weighing more than half a
ton is sailing through the air on its
way towards the target.
outside the turret the concussion IL
terrible, but inside it is barely felt and
the only means the guns crew has OF
knowing their weapon has gone off is
by the rocking OF the turret and the
recoil OF the gun.
The men, meanwhile, are working
like demons. Someone, by moving "a
small lever, has opened the breech. A
cloud of acrid cordite smoke fills the
turret; but another man, turning a
tap, sends a jet of water spouting into
the chamber to extinguish any still
burning fragments
Chaos Only in Seeming.
Everything seems chaos. but every
one knows what to do-they have
done il time after time and i'm less
than thirty seconds we hear d sharp
order: Right gun-load!"
man moves an upright lever, and
"A miniature lift climbs into view
through the unor II has cpn,a ,,,, frc,,