The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1908. NAVAL MARKSMANSHIP.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 116, 8 February 1908, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1908. NAVAL MARKSMANSHIP.

Whether it be from the point- of vi?w of the American /Yellow Journalist, or, the saner,-and quite reasonable, standpoint- of tlie 'Secretary of the United States Navy, or the mere curiosity ;of; the general obserVer,, it is correct to say that thdi lengthy voyage of the great American fleet now on its. way to the Pacific is. being .watched, the worldrover,'with unprecedented interest; .For the naval authorities ,of other, nations the protracted sea manceuyres.of this fleet- have a.special attraction, ' and, most probablymany instructive object lessons yet to be made patent, and- forced home. ; It may .be said, _ without ; pffensiveness, .that America's .'is: the first time on, its' trial—a- peaceful trial undoubtedly, but one which will serve as' a. tes</of' fitness .in - many ways, from, the. construction ofthe ships to their equipment, manning, and finding.l Indeed,: there ; are : already: whispers abroad that, the '.construction of. the American ' battleships has ; been proved > faulty' by the' experience of the 'heavy seas/met with-in the; course of the progress so'far. made. A low freeboard has, it - is/ 1 alleged> teen responsible for the- ships, : when; steaming at any speed - in, rough water; shipping seas in such quantities as to render a third-of the guns useless. It is also said that, when the vessels' are loaded down, ' the shell-proof armour -about, the- water-line is submerged; that the warships - are fitted with inferior, ammunition hoists; while the open shafts from the .'turrets to the powder magazines -are"' .1 source of'constant danger. These Allegations following,so speedily on the fleet's departure - from its base are sufficient t6 show in what manner America's ' naval experiment may be full of usefulness to the nations .which' are; so closely following, its gradual development.' '■ ■'

.; I}y no means tlie least of the' results which will be awaited witli interest by naval men will be the records of the frunnery practice of, the American'fleet. ■They.' will have a! special attraction for the British naval 'authorities/ because it is claimed by the United. States Navy that its gunnery vis far in the lead of other nations, while the British Navy has been wont to claim the same distinction. :In an Article in "The; World's Work," by . Francis John Dyer, the reason for America's faith in its naval gunnery is set forth'at considerable length, aided by pictorial explanation. With commendable - candour it is admitted that the secret of the' American success is the adoption of a British admiral's .discovery, namely, the idea of continuous aim; the putting 1 into practice of which gave Captain, now Admiral, Scott, of H.M.S. : Terrible, his remarkable scores when in the Chinese waters. '. The shooting' of the Terrible: was watched' by an American naval officer, and ; the . system which produced it was at once adopted by the United ' naval authorities, although it was not until two years later that Captain Scott was able to persuade the British Admiralty to take it up. Consequently,, America's -'Navy has had two years' gunnery start of the British Navy, and, haying improved the system, is enabled to claim the lead of the nations in this vital particular of naval .warfare,. The Americans make every; ship a gunnery school for the training of gun-pointers, in constant and severe competition with all the other ships in its class. The " continuous v aim'-' requires two gun-point-ers to each gun, one to find and keep the range horizontally, the other to do the same thing perpendicularly. There is the greatest rivalry among the crews for the money prizes awarded for the gunnery, and the men keep themselves trained to the condition; of athletes in their eagerness to excel in working the

guns. '' As to results, it is claimed that whereas'the average score of the British Navy with 12-m. guns-was ,583 lxits per minute, the American average,

if their records were computed in. tlie same way, would be .99. This is equivalent to saying that American gunners can put 12-in. shells into the target at the rate of one a minute, approximately, averaging all the guns, while the British i gunners hit the mark about once in one and one-sixth minutes. At the recent target practice at' Cape Cod the' records, according to the size _of the guns, were:—All 12-in. and 13in. guns averaged.3o.7.per cent, of liits; 8-in. guns, averaged 27.0 per cent.; and 5-in., 6-in., and 7-in:. averaged 16 per cent-. All these percentages include the ranging shots used for. determining the distance from the target. This target, it may be added, is a small one, 17ft. by ; 20ft. It is claimed by the American Navy that whereas when they commenced gunnery under the new conditions only 13 per cent, of hits was made, now the ship which does not make about 75 per cent, of hits is disgraced. Alloying for somewhat tall talk and patriotic desire to depict American naval'gunnery in as brilliant a condition as possible, there is ample evidence still remaining that the time and attention given to gunnery in the United States Navy, is a marked feature of'the' men's training, and that the service is following the science up with the usual national thoroughness and adaptability. At the same time there is no proof yet that Great Britain's Navy is lagging so far behind as is stated. On the contrary, the recent practice of Lord Beresford's fleet, at the hulk of the battleship Hero showed that the shooting was of a very high order, and quite up to standard.