The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-05-25
VKEy41

sections, the first OF which
already has been graduated.
Upon the Coast Artillery corps has
been thrust the burden Of handling
the heavy ordnance with which the
army Is equipped, and which In the
field will be manipulated by meth
DDS more or less resembling the meth
DDS already laid down for sea coast
ordnance. These methods are far
different from those used by the field
artillery proper-that is, the light
three-inch rifles and 4.7-inch howitzers.
The present-day heavy artillery off,
Ger must be q mathematical shark,
railroad engineer and an expert In
handling gasoline motors. besides hav-
ing an intimate knowledge Of gun
merry. says a writer in the New York
Herald His equipment has changed
from the battery commanders ruler
Of the field artilleryman to a slide rule,
a transit and a book Of logarithms.
In addition he must understand per-
fectly the manipulation OF heavy
masses-termed the art of mechanical
maneuvers-for his guns will not be
securely emplaced in concrete, but
viii be exposed to the mercies OF the
open road, with consequent overturn-
fngs and sudden shiftings. He must
know how TO use tackle Of oil sorts,
and in general know all the tricks OF
the modern contractor.
The officers who came down to Fort
Monroe were nearly all graduates OF
the National Guard courses prescribed
by the war department and were fully
competent to handle seacOast ordnance
in the forts to which they were as
signed. They thought that their
knowledge was ample, and 1t would
have been for this work, perhaps, but
after day or so they found out thai
while this knowledge was essentla
to them as basic, 1t was only the be
ginning.
Gunnery the Big Thing.
The big thing, of course, was gun
merry. This included practical knowl
edge Of ballistics-the science Of thu
movement Of bodies through the air
Ballistics is a very exact science, ant
in these days Of precision is absolute
~ essential for the artilleryman. Re
fluced to language for the layman, l
consists in the knowledge Of just hoV
far q given piece Of ordnance will hur
Its projectile under all conditions.
Very simple, say you. Yes, unde
standard conditions. Every gun whel
1t is turned out from the maker 1
known to fire q certain projectile I
n certain range at certain elevation
These data are compiled in tables an
are theoretically the same for all gun
pf the same caliber and model. Thes
tables are known as range tables, an
the conditions given for the firing @
proiectiles for these theoretical range
ore known as range table condition:
Remember this.
Now some Of the principal rang
table conditions or assumptions ar
that the earth is fiat and does not n
yolve; that the atmospheric cond
lions are standard; that there Is
wind: that the gun and target are o
the same level, and that the actio
Of gravity is constant throughout I'll
trajectory.
All well and good. We know Thu
our gun, then, will fire its projectil
let us say 10000 yards, under rams
table conditions. In other words, give
the above conditions, it will, If pro-
oerly laid in direction, hit targ'
10000 yards away. But unfortunat
iy for us the earth is not fiat, our ia
get is 10000 yards away, and 200 fe