THE FATHER OF GUNNERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 249, 20 October 1924, Page 4

THE FATHER OF GUNNERY.

That the primary business uf a warship is to hit, with its guns, hard and often, may seem so obvious a truth as hardly to require statement. Vet. as tlie death of Sir Percy Scott remind? US, it did require a greut deal of reiteration in tlie British Navy a generation or bo ngo. In his later years Sir Percy was associated chiefly with the controversy over the battleship typo, but he did his country and the Kmpire a much greater service when, years before, lie look tlie lend >" improving the gunnery of the Fleet. Sir Percy Scoll said that the attention paid to gunnery in his earlier \cars in the Navy, was scanty in proportion to its importance. The general nraartness of the ship was the tirst consideration. He quoted the' inspection report of an admiral, written as late as 1001, on a ship that was the best shooting ship in the Navy; it contained no reference to that very important fact. "Xo wonder that the captain and gunnery officers of the ship came to the conclusion that they must devote their time and attention to the appearance of ships and not to battle-worthiness." Indeed, it is said that borne ollkeis regarded gunnery practice as a nuisauce, because it dirtied the guns and interfered with other work. Tlie year 18'JS was an epoch-making one for the Navy, for in that year bcott had command of the cruiser fcfcylla in the Mediterranean, and was alduAo carry out his ideas for improvement ot gunnery, lie introduced a new sub-calimv gun, increased the strength of tlie gun-crews, adopted the toweo" target, and invented tne "dotter" system of aiming practice. The result was that the i-cylla scored eighty per cent ol tuts witn ucr Huge jjuue. What was done by insignt and enthusiasm and mechanical ingenuity in the Scylla was done eventually for the whole iN'avy, with added improvements, though it was a hard struggle to extend the reiorm. A new sciiom ot eiiuuu-i----astio and very competent gunnery officers was formed, which had the strong support of Admiral Fisher, the greatest naval innovator of his age. Lord Jellicoe was one oi lb, apt puiuia. Sir Percy Scott, however, was never satisfied. Right up to the war he kept on urging the adoption of other improvements, and in his reminiscences, w, .turn after the war, he accused the Admiralty of being responsible for the loss of the Good ilope and the Monmouth in the battle of Coronel, for want of instruments to enable tne guns to be worked ! efficiently in rough weather. But for the ingenuity, faith and persistence of Sir Percy Scott and his school, the Navy might have fared disastrously in the war. Before tl.e rise of the German Navy the neglect of gunnery probably did "not matter much, but the German Navy was a. scientific service in which great attention was given to guns, projectiles, and shooting. As it was, the Germans were superior to us in ' several important respects. They had a 'better armour-piercing projectile —as was shown in the way they disposed of three battle-cruisers at Jutland —and they were better equipped for night fighting. Their shooting at the beginning of an action was admirable. It 1 was° fortunate for the Empire that the , Navy produced a school of gunnery reformers in time for the gunnery of the Fleet to be thoroughly overhauled and improved. Sir Percy Scott was the most conspicuous figure in that school I —unless' we except Lord Fisher—and 1 the Empire should be deeply grateful ito him for his vision, his skill, and 1 the indomitable way in which he *„..„>.f v,u wav through opposition.