El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-02

n
AA/ Gunnery pTatice is to De an
Important feature Of the great
naval war game, in which the Ameri-
can fleet, under command Of admiral
Friday Fletcher, has underuaszep to de-
feat an imaginary armada approaet1ans
our shores with hostile intent, ana IN
cidentaIy to prevent the landlng OF
troops from transports supposed 10 a.
company the enemy's dreadnau us
These troops, perhaps 100000 Of lheIn'
with guns and other arulleFy e4uiP
ments, might be landed at any pom /
between Cape Cod and Norfolk; out our
fighting ships are going TO prevent II
II they can
If it were real war. and not merely
make-beleve, the prospect OF a success
full landing in force by the enemy
would depend mainly upon the result
Of one or more fleet acJons az 80 80
And this result, in turn, would oepeIu
more upon accurate craftsmanship
with big guns than upon all otnef
factors Of the fighting problem put
together
Too Much Economy.
It is no longer a secret that In this
most important Of all matters relatIlS
to fighting efficiency our-naVy mas run
down" to an alarming extent durlhs
the last few years While germany
and Great Britain have been constantly
engaged in gunnery pratice, We nav
done less and less Of it-for the last
two years almost none at au-because
Of a desire to economic
Ten years ago our navy was spend
ing SI5OO.O00 per annum Tor such
practice. and the intention OF the gov
eminent then was to increase steadily
the allowance for the purpose Inc
idea was that each one Of our nght-
ing shfps sOuld be made to count as
much as possible as a ughung unit
This meant a practical economy, even
though some money might have 70 De
spent But recent secretaries OF the
navy have preferred to save il, think
ing it a shame TO shoot away all those
good dollars.
People generally are far from realiz-
ing the extent to which naval MARKS
manship has Of late improved At the
time of the Spanish war, only II years
ago, a turret gun was thought 70 De
doing all that could be expected II Il
fired one shot every three minutes, anu
this shot was usually a miss even
at a very moderate range. Lest this
statement be deemed an eXaggeration'
il viii suffice to sag that, in the IlshI
with Cervera at Santiago not quite
so many as four shells struck the
enemv's ships out of every 100 fired;
and, OF those that scored hits, a great
majority were from the smaller rifles
Of the secondary batteries
Range Is Twice As Great Now.
Yet in the Santiago fight, the average
range (meaning the distance between
the opposing vessels) was not more
than 5000 yards just about hai1 OF
what is now reckOned as the norman
battle range in a combat between
dreadnaughts at sea At 5000 yards
(somewhat over three miles, it is now
reckOned that a l4-lnch naval rlIlef
aimed by first class gunner. ought 70
be able to score three hlts per min L uCe-
The German battle-cruiser Blucher was
smashed and disabled by shells Ilred
from a distance Of eight miles, during
the recent running fight IN Britlsn
waters, the Lion and Tiger attacking
her while she was so far away as 10
be below the horizon and invisible eX-
cept to the range-finding observers In
Scientific Gunnery Wins.
II every sea fight OF the present var
II has been scientific gunnery that has
won. Every such victory has been the
direct result and outcome Of persistent
target practice in time OF peace
Obviously, If a German battleship can
score twice as many hits in a given
number Of minutes as one OF our pat
tleships, il is equal, for fighting pur-
poses. TO two battleships OF ours. All
such facts as these have been drummed
persistentIy into the ears Of sue
cessive secretaries Of the navy, but
while admitting their truth as academic
propositions, those officials have failed
TO realize their Importance. Now II IS
announced that a new departure Is 70
be made, and that our gunners are 10
be taught how to shoot.
Mr. Roosevelt said The only SHOTS
that count are the shots that hit But
q point most important 10 De lahen
into consideration is that superior
craftsmanship enables the naval com
mander to gain the enormous adTan-
tage Of smOtherinE the enemys IRE
before the latter can get his guns ef-
fectively to work. Once this IS &C
complished, he can with safety run into
close range and smash the adversary
TO pieces with a few big shells aimed
with sureness at his vitals-
Once Best In World.
Ten years ago the gunners Of the
United States nevy were the best naval
marksmen in the world. They proved
IT by the wonderful records they made
in target practice. But nearly all OF
passed out Of the service into other
emplOyments, and their successors have
had no opportunity to acquire a nearly
equal skill No battleships afloat are
better than our own, but If the men
who are relied upon TO fight the guns
cannot shoot straight, what can we ex-
pect but defeat when We are opposed
to expert antagonists?
The high power naval rifle Is a com
pleZ piece of machinery. Its efficient
utilization is based upon mathematical
science, and, so far as the gun-pointer
IS concerned, demands special aptitude
and long practice Nothing but prac-
tice viii enable a man TO make the
shots that count" in battle at sea
In a modern sea fight few on the losing
side are saved, II any; and a dread
naught, with its guns and other equip
ments, represents a money value OF
SIS 900, 600.
The naval gunner must be a man
OF exceptional Intelligence. It is not
merely the sighting of the huge rifle
that he has to consider; there is the
adjustment to be made for range; he
must know the right instant to fire
as the ship rolls, and he must make
allowance for the speed Of the ship and
the force of the wind. The target
vessel Of a battleship) is 800 feet or
more in length. but its height above
the water is relatively small, and most
Of the shots that miss 90 too high or
too low The gun-muZzle rises ana
falls with the roll Of the ship, adding
greatly to the difficulty Of accurate
aim.
Many kinds Of targets have been used
for gunnery practices in the United
States navy. One Of them, 1Oated
on three empty barrels. with a TRAN
Eular base. is somewhat like a tent,
each Of its three sides having a bulls
eye in the middle. Such a cOntrivance,
5 feet high and six feet across the bot
tom is lowered overheard by a battle
ship, which thereupon steams away to
proper firing distance.
New Type Of Target Adopted.
But a target Of this sort has the
disadvantage that it does not represent
either in size or appearance anything
that a naval gunner in actual battle
rH~or-1T F,a 0a11aG rrnnn IN shoot At Hence