U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD.

A SYSTEM. OF AIMING DRILL.

BY ENSIGN PHILIP ANDREWS, U. S. Navy.

Blunt's Rifle and Carbine Firing contains many valuable suggestions and rules for target practice with small arms, among them the following exercise for sighting:

"Sight three times at a movable target which is each time brought into the line of sight without moving the piece." Following this rule, the triangle drawn through the three shots, if small, will indicate regular, but not necessarily correct sighting, since there may be a constant error. Blunt recommends that the instructor, after drawing the triangle, himself see whether the center is in the line of sight; but this affords no criterion, since the instructor's aim may be no better than the man's.

The following method of sighting drill is believed to be an improvement on this method. It was first suggested by the writer in 1891, and was then used on the Chicago, and has since been used to some extent.

The target board and rifle should be fixed throughout the drill in absolutely the same position.

Let each man sight three times at the movable target after he understands theoretically how to sight.

Connect his three shots so that they may be identified, and number the resulting triangle.

The number of shots given each man is immaterial, as the mean point of impact of his shots can be readily found, but three shots will be ample.

After ten or more men have shot (and about ten shots will be a long enough drill), find the mean point of impact of all the

of the rifle really point, and is certainly much more accurate than the sighting of any one or two men.

The mean point of impact of the shots of any one man compared with the position of the mean point of impact of all the shots will show what the errors of that man are, whether his sight is coarse or fine, and whether he sights from one side or the other of the rear sight.

The following figure illustrates roughly the method to be followed:

1, 2 and 3 show three shots of any one man.

4, 4, 4, show mean point of impact of the three shots.

5 shows mean point of impact of the shots of a number of men.

a shows horizontal error of a man's shooting.

b shows vertical error of a man's shooting.

This method shows with considerable accuracy the absolute errors of sighting, its accuracy increasing with the number of shots taken.

An approximate idea of the progress during drill may be had by having the best shots start, to correct glaring inaccuracies of aim in those following.

Experience shows, however, that the same man, from carelessness or other cause, does not sight the same from day to day, so this brings up the subject of records for each man, to finally show, after a reasonable number of observations, what his usual

This may be done in two ways:

First-By keeping a tabular statement of each man's vertical and horizontal errors from the mean point of impact each day and averaging them, say weekly or monthly, in the meantime making daily corrections of evident inaccuracies in aiming.

Second-After the usual determination of the mean points of impact of each man and of all of them, place each day's final mean point of impact (the point at which the rifle aims), coincident with the bull's-eye of a figure of a short-range target (which for convenience may be on transparent paper) and mark each man on the scale of 5 for a bull's-eye, and 4, 3 and 2 for the other rings. The figure of short-range target should be of a size proportioned to the mean vertical and horizontal deviations of the rifle used at the distance selected.

The second method furnishes an excellent record of a man's general improvement, but would not show the components of his errors; the first method would seem to be preferable for purposes of correction, since it shows a man's vertical and horizontal errors; and thus, after a reasonable number of shots, just what kind of a sight a man uses.

I have found that a long range is preferable to a short one, the aiming appearing to be about as good at 100 feet as at 50, and that the competition among the men, by having them understand the system and appreciate the comparison it makes, engenders a spirit of rivalry akin to that in real target practice.

It may be pointed out that aiming drill may be profitably had with a 6-pdr. or 5-inch gun on poop or forecastle, or with the turret guns, clear spaces of 30 to 100 feet being generally obtainable.

Aiming drill is beneficial for general sighting improvement, but the main and secondary battery guns should be used, where practicable, for sighting drill, to improve the aiming of these

weapons.

U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD.

MOTTO:

HONORABLY MENTIONED.

Historically, good men with poor ships are better than poor

men with good ships."

THE ORGANIZATION, TRAINING, AND DISCIPLINE OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL AS VIEWED

FROM THE SHIP.

By LIEUTENANT WM. F. FULLAM, U. S. Navy.

It is admitted that the personnel of the Navy should be reorganized. At the last session of Congress a joint commission was appointed to investigate the matter. The commission devoted much time and study to the subject, listened to the views and claims of all classes, and took a large amount of testimony representing all shades of opinion. From a careful review of the proceedings of the commission, it would appear, with all due respect, that considerable time was given to the consideration of recommendations having a very remote bearing, if any, upon naval efficiency. The claims of individuals and classes were urged with greater energy than were the demands of the Navy as a whole. The interests of distinct corps were pressed to the front with a persistency that often sent the consideration of general fighting efficiency to the rear, or hid it beneath a load of bewildering arguments.

Notwithstanding the fact, however, that some of the most important elements of naval efficiency were obscured by irrelevant testimony, the commission demonstrated that it had in many instances carefully weighed the conflicting claims put forth by corps and individuals, and had formed an intelligent and generally correct idea regarding many points that have been the basis of contention for years.

But after the testimony was all in, the verdict of the commis