12. The productive life of a naval gun is divided into periods during which five to ten shots are fired. By the target practice methods developed to date, the results of each period can be definitely computed in hits per gun per minute. This measure of efficiency is direct and easily arrived at. It becomes a part of the records of the men in the gun's crew, of the battery or turret officers concerned, of the gunnery officer, of the Executive and of the Captain. Each of them is, therefore, intensely interested in making as high as possible the "hits per gun per minute" of each of the guns which affects his record.

13. In the active training of guns crews and the units that make up the gunnery organization of a ship the conditions of target practice and actual service of the gun can be and are very closely simulated. Records of the hits per gun per minute can be and are made a part of the daily drills and thus give continuously a direct means of comparison between guns crews, divisions, ships, and larger units of the fleet.

14. A better plan for stimulating interest of all concerned can hardly be conceived. The "hits per gun per minute" make the lever by which gunnery has been raised to its present level of excellence, and the lever which in the hands of interested officers will serve to force progress hereafter.

THE LACK OF INTEREST IN ENGINEERING

15. The productive life of a machine is quite unlike that of a gun. The nearer to 100 per cent of its actual life that can be made productive the better the machine. The cleaning of a machine is a minor, although necessary, part of its life. The repairs to the machine are more or less frequent depending on the conditions of operation. During operation it requires constant attention such as lubrication, adjustment of speed and load, increase of, or decrease of, input, of temperature, etc.

16. Although the engineering material of our ships is uniformly good, standardization in engineering has proceeded to a less degree and the excellence of similar machines on different ships varies in very marked degree.

17. There has not been developed, nor is there in immediate prospect a definite measure of the productiveness of a machine in terms similar to hits per gun per minute. We have not yet developed a convenient, easily understood, easily arrived at measure of efficient performance for each machine. There is no

measure of results of productiveness which becomes an immediate part of the record of the men responsible for the operation of the machine, the supervisory officers concerned, the engineer officer, the executive and the captain. The methods of operation usually shift, partially or completely, the immediate responsibility for proper operation of a given machine each time a watch changes, i. e., every four hours. In consequence, there is no stimulating vital interest in the men or the supervisory officers, extending through the engineer officer and the executive to the captain. In this fundamental point lies the trouble with operating engineering. The engineering competition fails, and has failed, because it does nothing to give a vital interest extending from the man with the shovel or the oil can through the supervisory officers and the captain to the commander-in-chief and to the Navy Department itself. There is now no lever of like value to "hits per gun per minute" which can be put in the hands of interested officers to raise the standards in operating engineering and upon which to base rewards; assuming that proper rewards are forthcoming.

18. In propounding the question "What is the matter with operating engineering” and in explaining the lack of vital interest in engineering, a parallel has been drawn with gunnery and gunnery methods.

19. It is not intended to indicate thereby that the vital interest giving element that it sought for engineering can be furnished by the methods developed for gunnery. In view of the great differences indicated above, it is believed that it may be found in a very different way. The finding of this method of stimulating interest in engineering appears to be largely a psychological problem which must have a practical solution found by the navy for itself. The trained psychologist, however, should be able to give valuable assistance.

20. It is confidently believed that a solution of this problem can be found and that, when found, operating engineering will rapidly advance, as it should, and remain thereafter the coequal partner in a growing success of our navy. Such solution cannot come without the careful thought, efforts, and cooperation of all officers who are interested in seeing our navy the leader of naval progress without a peer in all branches of naval endeavor.

[COPYRIGHTED]

U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD.

A PROPOSED SYSTEM FOR STIMULATING INTEREST IN OPERATING ENGINEERING

By LIEUT. COMMANDER FREDERICK C. SHERMAN, U. S. Navy

The defects noted in connection with the interest in operating engineering in another paper in this issue of the PROCEEDINGS may be listed as follows:

(1) Lack of an accurate and convenient measure of efficiency of a machinery installation.

(2) Lack of interest in engineering by supervising officers and men.

(3) Lack of a proper competitive feature similar to competition in gunnery.

Further, it is stated that the problem is psychological and that engineering is not recognized in true proportion to its importance in getting the guns into position in battle. If the psychological problem can be solved and if the interest and brains of the personnel concerned are applied to operating engineering in the same measure that they are applied to gunnery, it is believed that operating engineering will advance in step with gunnery and will solve its own problems.

The present methods of engineering competition have outlived their usefulness and have failed to solve the problem for the following reasons:

(1) The competition is based on economy rather than efficiency. Economy is only one feature of efficiency and not even its most important one.

(2) The engineering competition is extended over such a long period that interest lags and, figuratively, the personnel go stale. No athlete would attempt to keep up to A-1 condition and run a race every day in the year.

(3) The present engineering competition sometimes puts a premium on delaying desirable repairs for as long a period as possible in order to save on economy.

(4) The present competition fosters discontent by encouraging the cutting down of fresh water supplies and electric lights and fans to such a point as to cause discomfort or inconvenience to the officers and crew. This fact causes some ships to take little interest in competition as they rightly consider contentment more important than a high place in the competition.

(5) The present competition has no spectacular features, with results immediately visible to everyone on the ship. Such a feature is infinitely more desirable than waiting on endless computations of figures which are usually not available until the end of the competition year, as with the present method of competition.

(6) There is no suitable method of reward for every member of the ship involved in the results achieved.

There may be other elements in the problem, but it is believed that the above comprise the principal reasons for the failure of the present method of engineering competition to achieve the results desired in operating engineering.

To correct the conditions a system of competition is believed necessary which will accord with the following specifications: (1) It must create interest, rather than discontent, of all hands. (2) It must not include any features which may result in the cutting down of adequate comforts for the crew throughout the whole year.

(3) It must measure efficiency rather than an economy which is liable to become niggardliness.

(4) It must be spectacular enough to arouse the interest of the entire ship's company from the captain down to the lowest seaman and to have results immediately visible to all.

(5) It must be intimately connected with gunnery in order to bring home to everyone the fact that battle efficiency depends both on operating engineering to place and keep the guns in position and on gunnery to hit when so placed.

The following system is proposed as designed to fill the above requirements:

A competition should be established for battle efficiency to comprise both engineering and gunnery features in the same

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competition. Base this competition on the ability to place the guns in position and on the ability to hit with the guns after being so placed. In order to accomplish this, the knots per ton of fuel, best performance, should be established as a standard for each ship. Then figure out a standard number of miles to be steamed for the battle target practice. Assume this is adopted as 40 miles. Then assign to each ship for its battle efficiency practice, the exact amount of fuel required to steam 40 miles at the rate of its standard of knots per ton established from its best performance, and allowing for a certain period of full speed, say one hour and the balance at economical cruising speed. Umpires would be appointed to measure out the amount of fuel allowed and observe the operation of the ship. Then have the ship start its approach from a point accurately a certain distance, say 25 miles, from the target. Require the ship to steam at full speed for one hour at some time during the run (establish the full speed revolutions as a standard for each ship) and at its enconomical speed (discretion of each ship) during the rest of the run, proceeding all the time toward its target. Let it fire its guns if it gets into position and continue steaming until its allowance of fuel is expended and then stop. Its score for engineering would be its percentage of the established number of miles (based on revolution curve) obtained from its fuel allowed. In other words, a ship which steamed only 30 miles would get a score of 75 per cent. A ship which steamed 40 miles would get 100 per cent. If a ship exceeded its best performance and got more than 40 miles, it should be credited with a multiple correspondingly greater than 100. In connection with this competition, the starting points of the target and of the firing ship should be a definite. distance apart and the course and speed of the target should be unknown, although to make the competition even, the component speed of the target along the base course should be the same for all vessels of a class. In addition to steam used in main propelling plant, the ship should be required to run all the auxiliaries required for battle and to make a certain quantity of fresh water depending on the evaporating plant installed.

Under this competition, if the ship failed to reach the firing point before her fuel allowance was expended, she would have to stop and would not even get a chance to fire her guns. Of course she could be allowed to fire her guns in a separate run for training purposes but such firing would not count in the competition.