The Ordway new era., 1918-04-26
|||'g||!|||||


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
ods 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 mathematical shark,
railroad engineer and an expert IN
handling gasoline motors, besides hav-
ing an intimate knowledge Of gun
merry, says writer in the New York
Herald. His equipment has changed
from the battery commanders ruler
of the field artilleryman to slide rule,
transit and book of losarithms.
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
will be exposed to the mercies of the
open road, with consequent overturn-
ings and sudden shiftings. He must
know how to use tackle Of all 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 that
while this knowledge was essential
to them as basic. 1t was only the be-
ginning.
ounnery the Big Thing.
The big thing, of course. was gun
merry. This included practical knowl-
edge of ballistics-the science Of the
movement of bodies through the air.
Ballistics is very exact science. and
in these days Of precision Is absolute
ly essential for the artilleryman. Re
duced to Language for the laymans 1t
consists in the knowledge of just how
far a given piece of ordnance will hurl
its projectile under all conditions.
Very simple, say You. Yes, under
standard conditions. Every gun when
1t is turned out from the maker is
known to fire a certain pro1ectile to
a certain range at a certain elevation.
These data are compiled In tables and
are Theoretically the same for all guns
Of the same caliber and model. These
tables are known as range tables. and
the conditions given for the firing Of
proiectiles for these theoretical ranges
are known as range table conditions.
Remember this.
Now some of the principal range
table conditions or assumptions are
that the earth is fiat and does not re-
volve; that the atmospheric condi-
tions are standard; that there Is no
wind; that the gun and target are on
the same level, and that the action
of gravity is constant throughout the
trajectory.
All well and good. We know that
our gun, then, will fire its proJectile,
let us say 10000 yards, under range
table conditions. In other words, given
the above conditions. 1t will, II prop
perly laid in direction, hit target
10000 yards away. But unfortunate
ly for us the earth is not fiat. our tar
get is 10000 yards away, and 200 feet