THE FLEET'S MOTTO

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 253, 15 March 1913, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE FLEET'S MOTTO

"GUNNERY, GUNNERY, GUNNERY." London, January 3. The baronetcy bestowed on Vice-Ad-miral Sir Percy Scott is regarded as an indication that his fire-director has been adopted for the general use of the Navy. It is reported that the Thunderer, which was equipped experiment-

ally with the Scott director, recently fired with an accuracy from 300 to 400 per cent, greater than the Orion, which was not so equipped. The Telegraph remarks that if any such increase in the ability of the Navy as a whole to hit the enemy in the early stages of an action can be attained, then the fighting efficiency of the Fleet will stand exceedingly high. It will, in fact, mean a revolution in gunnery hardly less startling than the former revolution which followed upon the remarkable performances by the cruisers Scylla and Terrible when under Admiral Scott's command as a captain. When the average of the whole navy in, the gun-lay-ers' test was only 28 peT cent., and the Terrible did better, then it was that the Scott methods were introduced into the Fleet.

The new appliance has been submitted to a series of exhaustive tests, and these have been uniformly successful. A few weeks ago the First Lord, accompanied by other members of the Board, witnessed in the Channel a final duel, in which the new battleship Thunderer, with the director, was pitted against the Orion, without the director, both ships firing their ten 13.5 in guns under exactly the same conditions at a- range of about 8000 yards, or about 4% miles. The test confirmed the results obtained a series of firings by the same ships off Berehaven. Although no details were officially communicated, it is'stated that the Thunderer scored about four times as many hits as the Orion. When it is remembered that each shell of a 13.5 in gun weighs 12501b, and that under the Scott system it is possible to discharge at an immense velocity a projectile from each of the ten guns simultaneously, some conception can be formed of the importance of any contrivance which enables this mass of metal to be placed accurately at any given 'part of a hostile ship or ships. A Dreadnought of the latest type at a single broadside can thus hit an enemy, if all the/shots are accurate, with rather mora than 5y 8 tons of metal. There are eight Dreadnoughts in each of the first two squadrons of the Home fleets, and consequently, if all the weapons were directed to fire at once, they would send projectiles weighing nearly ninety tons-on their deadly mission at one'discharge. The percentage of shells which "got home" in this first round of ft sea duel might decide the fate of the Empire. Hence the importance of the Admiralty's decision to adopt the new director, which will raise the fleet's hitting ability 300 or 400 per cent. The exact character of this new contrivance is confidential. Tt is carried i high above the water line. By its aid all the guns of a ship are brought to one level, and, consequently, when they are trained at an identical elevation—a.Si directed from the fire control station —they drop their shells at the same spot. In effect, all the guns are controlled as by one hand, and at a word all can be fired in unison, so as to obtain the fullest effect from a broadside. At present, each gun finds its own range, and the firing, as a rule, takes place in succession from the various turrets, with the result that some guns may fire well, and others less well, and every inconvenience is suffered from the successive clouds of smoke, particularly if the wind is contrary. Under the new regime the human element is largely dispensed with, and each Dreadnought becomes a unified and standardised machine, with which officers may hope to hit first, to hit hard,_and to keep on hitting—which is the maxim of victory. One of the virtues of the Scott director is that it enables good shooting to be obtained even when the ships are rolling, and some of the Dreadnoughts have a marked inclination not to keep on an even keek It is believed in naval circles that the new Board of Admiralty is determined that nothing shall be left undonewhatever the cost in money or labor — which can contribute to accurate shooting. As there are over fifty battleships and battle-cruisers to be equipped, apart from certain armored cruiser?, and in the case of four new vessels the position of the funnels may have to be changed, the decision to instal the new director will involve a very heavy expense, which is estimated at half a million sterling, and may even exceed this sum. But the outlay will be relatively small (writes a naval correspondent) if the director leads—as there is assurance that it will—to a general and astonishing improvement in the hitting power of the Fleet. In 1904 Lord Selborne, when he was First Lord, with Lord Fisher as his naval adviser, remarked that if he were asked what should be the motto of the British fleet, he would reply, "Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery." The Board acted on this motto, and whereas in 1898 no fewer than 09 shots out of every 100 fired by the Fleet missed the target in the gnnlayers' test, the percentage of misses in 1907 had fallen to 21.