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: a a estimate the error. August, 1914 sounded, decks were cleared, life lines taken down, the crews had all taken their posts and save for the_signalman, no sign of life could be seen aboard the great ship, but as the target grad- ually came back toward our beam, one could notice that the angle. of the great guns was imperceptibly but con- stantly changing and that no matter where the target was, like a finger of destiny, the mouths of the great guns were covering it. Gradually the range got shorter and shorter until of a sudden your feet seemed to drop out from under you as though someone had struck you back of the knees with a club, and a flash and a deafening roar -annotinced that the No. 2 turret had fired its two guns as a ranging shot and that the long awaited practice was on. It takes fifteen seconds for the shells to travel from the guns to the target many and this time seemed like as THE MARINE REVIEW have increased 100 yards so he tele- phoned down the order "Up 200" and the sight bars were raised to corres- pond. A few seconds more went by and the guns in one of the after groups let go and we saw that the second ranging shot was much nearer than the first. Another correction from the spotter, a few seconds more until all was steady, a blinding flash and a roar, a tremendous whip on the tower on which we were standing and we knew that the remaining six guns had sent forth their messengers in one simultaneous shot and then for a few minutes, calmly and quietly, without confusion or noise of any kind, save for the tremendous roar of the ex- plosion, broadside followed broadside until at the end of six or seven minutes the target had absolutely disappeared from our view! The men at the guns with their high powered: glasses could: still see its forward flagstaff and still UTAH'S TARGET BEING TOWED TO BASE AFTER FIRING. UTAH FIRED 47 SHOTS BUT TARGET WAS BROKEN INTO THIS CONDITION AT ABOUT THE TWENTIETH SHOT minutes, but as we waited suddenly two great spouts of white, water shot up 200 feet into the air and we noticed that one was beyond and the other this side, due to the fact that the ordnance officer had purposely tried to Straddle the target with his ranging shot so as to be able to more easily There is only one Way to get exact ranges when firing at these long distances and that is by "spotting" or judging by the splash how much the shot has gone over or fallen short and then by correcting the range by this difference. In this case the sight bars were set at 11,000 yards and the shot apparently fell short 100 yards So that it is evident that the range should: have been 11,100. The spotter Judged that the target was on a di- verging course and that before the Next shot was fired, the range would tried to cut that slender pole six miles. away until the fire control officer finally decided that he was wasting time and ammunition and that he would stand on the record already 'made. In a few seconds over ten min- utes, we had fired 49 shots and were credited with 17 hits, although for a large part of that time there was prac- tically nothing for the men 'to shoot at. In' the: 'practice last Arkansas scored six hits from the two guns in one turret in 57 seconds, a record which speaks wonders for the accuracy and efficiency of the men who manned her guns. Torpedo defense drill is extremely interesting, taking place at night which is the only time that torpedo destroy- © ers would be able to attack a battle ship. The target is conical in shape, only 9 feet across the base resembling the . motive power and. directive: force. spring, the_ 295 wedge shaped bow of a torpedo destroyer coming head on and is about two miles away. As the ship goes onto the range, every light is turned off, abso- lute darkness -prevailing. At a certain point the search lights are turned on and endeavor to hunt out and pick up the target, holding it illuminated while the 5-inch battery opens fire. The shells from these guns are fitted with flaming torches which burn as they go through the air, lighting their path and enabling the spotters to follow © their course. After running for three or four minutes, the ship is again dark- ened for a period, relighted, targets picked up again and fire resumed. It is easy to See that- under such condi- tions accurate shooting is not easy and good scores at night practice are the exception rather than the rule. It also makes one think that unless a fleet is well protected with a heavy screen of destroyers, (in which our navy is woe- fully deficient), the. enemy's boats have a pretty fair show of getting in close enough to launch their deadly torpedoes under cover of darkness. One of the most interesting practices of all is the torpedo run. ' These en- gines of destruction are launched from tubes. fitted in the sides of the battle- ships at right angles to the keel, com- pressed air being used to drive the tor- pedo from the. ship. After one is once launched, it is beyond the con- trol of those who have sent it forth and must depend entirely upon its own The former is supplied by two screws -re- volving in opposite direction, driven by air engines whose power consists of air under the pressure of 2,250 pounds per square inch, which is carried in the main body of the torpedo. A horizontal rudder operated by a pressure diaphram keeps the torpedo traveling at any de- sired distance under the surface of the water. A vertical rudder operated by a gyroscope keeps it running in the direc- tion determined upon before it is fired. The minimum effective range is about two miles and the speed 28 knots per hour. After the torpedo leaves the ship, the bubbles formed by the escap- ing air often enable one to follow its course and when the opposing ship is firing at your own, you can often times pick up these bubbles nearly a mile away and watch the course of the tor- pedo as it comes toward you. After the air is exhausted, the torpedoes rise to the surface like a great fish and the fleet stops, lowers boats and searches until they have been secured and re- turned to the ships. : All in all, battle target practice is an exceedingly exciting and interesting ex- perience and any one who has been through it is not likely soon to forget. a