. St. Nicholas [serial]. t onful country will never minimize the work Iand or sea- The PurP°se is- with a stronger force, to overwhelm the weaker opposingfleet; to strike first, hardest, andquickest. It was Goliaths ideato pick off the Israelites one byone, and a modern pugilist coulddefeat a hundred men if theycharged him singly, and he coulddown the first before a secondcame up. ... A battle-shipsteaming as fast as any rivals,bringing more guns into actionthan any rival, hitting an enemyat seven miles, could destroy thewhole of an opposing fleet oneby one, even as the pugilistwould take the
. St. Nicholas [serial]. t onful country will never minimize the work Iand or sea- The PurP°se is- with a stronger force, to overwhelm the weaker opposingfleet; to strike first, hardest, andquickest. It was Goliaths ideato pick off the Israelites one byone, and a modern pugilist coulddefeat a hundred men if theycharged him singly, and he coulddown the first before a secondcame up. ... A battle-shipsteaming as fast as any rivals,bringing more guns into actionthan any rival, hitting an enemyat seven miles, could destroy thewhole of an opposing fleet oneby one, even as the pugilistwould take the lighter weightsone by one. But the horse-trotting, fire-fighting, Americanstop-watch practice is also in theNavy, and it was realized that ifthese big guns could be fired fourtimes as fast, it would be verynearly the same as having fourtimes as many guns, or four timesas many dreadnoughts ; and alsothat if the skill of aim could beincreased fourfold, if four shotswould reach the target as com-pared with one in the older. From photograph by H. R. Jackson. AFTER TURRET OF THE NEBRASKA, WHICH HOLDSTHE RECORD OF TWENTY SHOTS, TWENTY HITS INTWO MINUTES, FIFTY-FOUR SECONDS. of the men who fought and won that famous andeffective sea-fight. At that battle, however, theefficiency of our gunners was only from two tofour per cent, of the shots fired. We cannot butfeel gratified, therefore, to know that the effi-ciency of our marksmen has increased over athousand per cent, since that time. Percentages for battle practice are not madepublic. In elementary practice the men are al-lowed prize-money. This will average about $10per man, but has run up as high as $125 in anindividual case. Prize-money is not allowed forbattle practice. The trophy which the successfulindividual can win is a small pennant, intrinsi-cally worth about five cents. Yet the honor ofpossessing this bit of cloth is such that an enor-mous interest is manifested by the men. Theyhave been quick to appreciate the difference
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
