Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-07-24
FINDING THE RANGE AT SEA
How the Crew of Battleship Fire
During the Target Practice.

The gray battleship seems strange
ly deserted and bare, for her decks
are denuded Of men, while all rails and
other outstanding membranes have
been laid fiat 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 of the guns twitches
ever so lightly, or turret revolves
little, as the gunlayers keep their
sights aligned on the distant target.
| The ten 135s the ship carries are
powerful weapons. Each one Of them
is over so feet long. and weighs close
on 80 tons, while their 1,250-pound
shells can be hurled to a distance of
over Is miles. The enormous pro-
iectiles, too, leave the muZzles at the
rate of 1900 miles an hour, and can
penetrate the thickest armor afioat
at range of 5000 yards
But now, as the ship moves on
through the water, with her sharp
bow sending up two little cascades of
spray on either side of the stem, she
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 be-
| low. But every man on board is at
the station 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, midshipman or
two and several other officers and
men. The small circular erection,
barely ten feet in diameter, seems
cramped for all it has to contain.
Above the coming tower is another
armored erection, containing a range
finder, and inside this is the gunnery
lieutenant, with half a dozen more
officers and men. He is surrounded
by strange looking instruments, while
the man at the range finder, with his
eyes at its rubber eye pieces, is mon
otonously chatting out the distance or
the approaching target.
To the naked eye, the target itself
"a great, lattice-work structure, tow
ed by another battleship-looks alb
solutely small and insignificant at its
IT.. pttt % n
the turrets are provided with tele-
scopic sights, and these, with their
powerful lenses, serve to counteract
the difficulty.
Inside the turrets themselves the
eXpectant men are grouped round
their guns. The great projectiles,
and the cordite changes behind them,
have already been pushed home by
the hydraulic rammers, and, since
| their weapons are thus fully loaded,
the guns crews are idle for the time
being.
But the gunlayers-the men who
aim and fire the guns-and the train
ers-those who keep them pointing in
the right direction-are anxiously
keeping the sights on the target, and
every now and then, as they move
their small brass handles, there is q
wheeling of hydraulic machinery. and
the great breeches rise and fall ever
so slightly, while the whole armored
structure containing them revolves
an inch or so at time to keep the
sights on.
A minute or two later, after an or
der has come through from the con-
troll position, 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
report in rapid succession.
The range, meanwhile, is decreas-
| ing 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-looKins
brass thumbpiece. AS he does so
there is roar and, with a blaze or
orange flame and pell of brown
smoke, a projectile weighing more
| than half a ton is sailing through the
air on it's way toward the target.
Outside the turret the concession is
terrible. but inside it is barely felt
and the only means the guns crew
have Of knowing their weapon has
gone off is by the rocking of the tur-
ret and the recoil Of the gun. Back
she slides, with the water whistling
and gurgling through the hydraulic
valves far below. She stops, and then,
as the running-o out springs exert their
strength. Is driven back to the firing
position.
The men. meanwhile, are working
like demons. Some one, by moving
small lever which actuates hydraulic
engine, 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
burning fragments.
Everything seems chaos, but every
one knows what to do-they ha 'e
done it time after time, and in less
than 80 seconds we hear a sharp or
der: Right gun-load!"
\ man moves an upright lever, and
an arrangement looking like a miLia-
ture lift climbs into view through The
floor. 1t has come up from the shell
room below laden with the new
charge and projectile, and stops dead
in the rear of the gun.
Reposing in a tray is the shot it
| self Another lever is worked. and
Il flexible chain hydraulic rammer
looking like a snake, darts out of its
| resting place and pushes the shot be-
q. ,,f