SIR PERCY SCOTT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1738, 1 May 1913, Page 9

SIR PERCY SCOTT.

VINDICATION OP ADMIRALTY,

GREAT GUNNERY IMPROVEMENT,

Vice-Admiral Percy Scoit, the great authority on naval gunnery, announced at tho annual dinner of tho Chambers of Commerce in London on April 12 that ho is going to voi ii'o next week to mako way lur his juniors, Ho referred to "gaseous bombs" directed against tho efficiency of file nnvy, nnd assured his audienco without hesitation that the liavv had never been in a mopo effective. * state. Iho navy, ho declared, did not get sufficient practice in peace time because enough money was not spent on ammunition. Accuracy of shooting was of moro importance than tho number of ships. But the present Board of Admiralty had done more towards improving tho gunnery during the last two years than had wen done before in five year. This was the most important of many improvements they had introduced. ,jlr Percy Scott said: The rumour that a P m ,F°i"S to retire from the navy is perfectly correct. I shall leave tho navy J? 1 n week. I could remain on the active list for another year if I wanted to, but so doing would only delay the promotion 0 Jl'.V juniors. As regards the efficiency 01 the Fleet the Chambers of Commerce muM; be guarded in accepting all they hear. Iho.First Lord of the Admiralty, being an interested party, will, of course, tell you that everything is well with tho navy, and that you can 6leep comfortably in your beds. In tho morning you pick up your paper and read that tho British navy is a fraud on the public and a danger to the State, that if we went to war wo should suffer a crushing defeat, that our ships have no bottoms and our admirals, no brains, that our Admiralty administration is wilfully culpable ! n < 1 .. criminally wrong, that the fighting efficiency of the country's hrst line of defence is imperilled, that in our Fleet there is nothing but disor- «! on ' demoralisation, and confusion, that the very existence of our colossal empire is in the gravest possible danger, and that if the country only knew the i .re wou ld be a panic. You look at the signature under this gaseous bomb, and you again sleep comfortably in your To return to the efficiency of the navy. No navy can be perfect. Tho administrators can only be expected to keep on improving it by introducing new ideas, n <n V an( l new mechanism. The offioers aiid_ men can only be expected to improve titemsalvps in education, in science, and in acquiring the necessary knowledge to fight our modem ships. In taose respects greater strides have been made during the last eight years than in any other eight of the forty-seven years that I have served in the navy. Without hesitation I can say that the British Navy has never been in a mora effective state than it is to-day, and I have no axe to grind. Tho navy estimates now before Parliament are large, but-concerning a factor of efficiency that I am very interested in I don't consider that they arc large enough. Tfc'.- factor of efficiency that I allude to is hitting the enemy. We do not get sufficient practice in peace time,, because we do not spend sufficient money on ammunition. If we have not got enough money to increase the allowance of our practice ammunition, and if we are absolutely certain that the number of ships that it isproposed to build is oufficient I would reduce that number and spend the money so saved in perfecting our target practice appliances, and in increasing the allowance of ammunition fired by our Fleet in peace-time. Accuracy of shooting is of more importance than number of ships, and accuracy of shooting can only be obtained by constant practice. The present Board of Admiralty have during the last two months done more townrds improving the gunnory of our Fleet than has been done in tho five years, and this is. in my opinion, the most important of the many improvements that they havo introduced."