The herald., 1917-10-04

ticlpate things before firing. 4 draft
of men came on board drcadnaught
The other day. Though willing, they
had only a mere idea Of naval disci-
pilnc: they had only been a. the train
ing station for few weeks. They
dldnt ask who the "topSide guy was
walking up and down the deck with
an opera glass under his arm doing
no work" They knew that he was
me officer Of the deck But in man-O'-
war terms, they were just green.
The first thing was 10 show them
gun; the second. which was the bust
ness end of the gun. and where the
gun was loaded. And in the doing the
l"adlnG machine was introduced.
c"htrlvance which Stimulates the
hreech of a gun, in which the blue
Jacket lad is taught TO pump in pro-
)ectileS and powder at the rate Of Il
minute. Then sub-calibpr work,
which means that q small gun clamped
on the big one IS fred at IA small tar
get close aboard
With all hands properly keyed up
and full Of pep and hope there wns
the first target practice. Not one Of
the rockies had ever heard anything
bigger 90 off than a Fourth of July
hrecracker. Three gun crews We're TO
fire AT the target in what is known rs
Short-ranCe practice, which consists of
firing nj mark not very large and AT
moderate distance. The doors of each
gun compartment were closed. so that
each gun was comparatively isolated
from the other and from communiCa-
ton with the entire ship except by tel
ephone or voice tube. Several runs
were made across the course: ranges
were taken down; the Sight-setter set
his sights. and outside of actually fir
ing the pieces 1t was the first touch
in the test.
One Of the precautionary measures
which is always taken in target prac-
tice is that after round is fired the T,
first loader looks through the bore of |
the gun 10 see that there are no I'M |
burned powder grains or parts Of the |
powder bag or any smoke or flame left |
in the gun. An automatic aIr-blast |
drives the gases out Of the muZzle, |
thereby preventing premature explo-
sion. Neither the shell nor the pow
der charge are put in the breech until |
this man sings out bore clear" But !
AT this practice the wind was on the |
hn TT
gun parts and the muzzle of the gun,
taking II longer to clear the bore.
The youngsters knew and had been
told what fiarebacks meant and that
any premature explosion would send
ali hands to kingdom come. The order
commence firing" had been given. AL
most instantly the gun pointers found
their range and had the cross wires in
the sights right on il. Number one
gun fired right after number two. As
The breech of number two was thrown
open some smoke and powder gases
rom number one were blown into the
nuzZle. The second loader, whose
iuty II was TO examine the bore, took
good look through il, and. seeing
hat the bore was apparently filed
with smoke, sang out: Bore not
lear"
Now, the lad with the powder charge
'elt instinctively that something was
wrong. Anyway, his routine was in
erfered with. In his arms he had the
powder. He knew its potential energy.
he knew the danger. So he threw
himself fiat on the deck and wrapped
himself around the powder bag Just
ike an elephant wraps his trunk
around peanut. He had to shield II.
lie believed that the life of the ship
depended upon him.
With only months training the
10Y had already the instincts of a
man. He was willing 70
acrifice his life 10 save the ship. and
lie did it uron his own responsibility.
without anyhndy'S say-so. He had al
eady learned initiative.