STRAIGHT SHOOTING AND RETALIATION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE 'SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Although it is possible that the policy of fiscal retalia- tion against foreigners may not be resented by them, it is also conceivable that our relations with hot-headed patriots on
alien soil may be strained, and even ruptured.
In either case, is it not prudent to see that the guns of our Fleet are efficient, that the gunners can hit the target quickly, and that the straight shooting of the Fleet is made the first con- sideration before we are involved in a naval Armageddon by the fiscal policy of our spirited rulers ? By the kindness of naval correspondents in the Fleet, I am again able to give the results of the heavy-gun prize firing on the Mediterranean station in 1903. It is more regrettable than surprising that the results are disappointing. There are eight classes of guns, of which the largest calibre is the 13.5 in. gun carried only by the Ramillies' and the 'Repulse.' The shooting of this class of gun has deteriorated from -26 toil hits per gun per minute. The 'Ramillies' had been three years and four months in commission. In the shooting of the modern 12 in. guns which form the heavy armament of the best eleven battleships in the Navy there is scarcely any improve- ment to be recorded. The average of hits per gun per minute in 1902 was -39, in 1903 -40. That the flagship of Sir Compton Domvile is at the top of the list is an excellent contrast to the flagship on the Australian station, which missed with all her big guns.
No comparison with 1902 is possible in the case of the 10 in. guns of the Renown,' or in those of the 'Aboukir' and 'Bacchante,' but in the two last-named ships the average of hits per gun per minute was P33, which cannot be regarded as unsatisfactory. Nine ships contested for primacy in the shooting of the 6 in. Mark VII. guns. The ` Bulwark ' is again in the place of honour with an excellent average of 4.08 hits per gun per minute. The 1903 average of the nine ships for this class of gun is 3.24 hits per minute against 2.86 for 1902,—a perceptible and gratifying improvement in this class of gun. Twelve ships carrying the 6 in. quick-firing guns produced an average of 2.71 against 2-64 hits per gun per minute. H.M.S. Gladiator,' with an average of 3-75, is at the top of the list. Her performance was the more creditable as there was some motion of the ship on June 6th when the trial was conducted. There is a deterioration in the firing ol the 6-pounder quick-firing guns in the twenty destroyers, speed 15 knots, from 1.58 in 1902 to 1-40 in 1903; while the machine- gun practice in eighteen ships has actually sunk from 42-1 in 1902 to 18.0 in 1903. This is all the more regrettable since only 8,512 rounds were fired in 1903 as against 21,526 in 1902, showing that undue economy of ammunition by the Admiralty is the probable cause of the falling off. Do not the facts about the shooting of the Fleet point to the wisdom of delay before finally adopting the policy of retaliation ?
—I am, Sir, &c., ARNOLD WHITE.
2 Windmill Hill, Ha9npstead.
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