The Gunner's Examiner. Harold E. Cloke
from the plotting room lay the piece. What is Case 3?
3. For Heavy Guns.—(Heavy guns refer to 8-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch rifles and other guns which are provided with a system of vertical and horizontal position finders.) Name the principal parts of the telescopic sight (one used for instruction purposes); show how it is used. Its readings for elevation and deflection, east count of its scales. Place it on the Hagood tripod mount, level it; set it for given elevation and deflection.
4. Use of Difference Chart.—An example like the following will be given: Range 4500 yards, azimuth 210. Put down the corrected range and azimuth.
Examination in the foregoing subject (c) to be confined to the authorized systems in use by the company during the year and to the complete equipment of the battery to which the company is assigned.
(d) Elementary Gunnery.—Axis of the bore; line of departure; line of sight; drift; muzzle velocity; quadrant elevation; sight elevation; angle of fall; jump; trajectory; time of flight.
(e) General Features of Warships.—General features of battleships (broad beam compared to length, low freeboard, general massive appearance, large turrets fore and aft, heavy guns, heavy armor, generally moderate speed).
Armored cruisers: (High freeboard, narrow beam compared to length, medium armor, medium turrets, medium guns, high speed).
Protected cruisers: (Fine lines, moderate size, no armor, medium guns usually with shields, protective deck).
Torpedo-boat destroyers: (High bow, generally great speed, light guns, no armor).
Torpedo boats: (Small size, high speed, no armor).
The following head will take the place of subject (b) in the examination of candidates for first-class gunners of organizations assigned exclusively to rapid-fire guns:
(b) Subcaliber Firing.—The 15-pounder gun and subcaliber attachment will be used. The target will be Target X, miniature target, page 25, Small-arms Firing Regulations, 1906, pasted on a screen of sufficient size to catch all the shots, preferably the screen used for small-arms Target A; range about 95 feet, where six minutes on the scale is equal to 2 inches at the target; method of scoring as prescribed for small-arms practice.
During the test one member of the board will be at the target and will personally superintend the marking.
The preliminary shots will be fired under direction of the examining board until three hits have been obtained with the same elevation and deflection. The center of impact of these three shots will be referred to the horizontal and vertical axes through the bulls'-eye of the target and its coordinates carefully measured. This center of impact will not be on the miniature target and may be changed by the board as often as they deem necessary during the examination. These measurements, with the elevation and deflection used, will be given to the candidate, who will be required to make corrections corresponding to the distance of the center of impact from the bull's-eye. Each candidate will fire five shots, the piece being thrown off the target between shots. Each shot will be marked as fired, the candidate making such changes in elevation and deflection as he may deem necessary before firing the next shot. The ratio of the candidates' score to the maximum score possible will determine the credit, the maximum credit being 20.
After this test the candidate will fire at the fixed subcaliber target anchored at about 500 yards, without knowing the exact distance, five rounds under service conditions in one minute and thirty seconds. Three sighting shots will be allowed each candidate preceding the latter test. Each hit on the material target counts 6.
Syllabus of Examination for Candidates for Gunners in Companies and Detachments assigned to Mine Defense.
The following syllabus gives the outline of the scope of the examination of candidates for gunner in companies and detachments assigned to mine defense. It is not intended that the theoretical instruction in any subject shall be limited to what is indicated in this syllabus, but the examination for candidates for gunners will be closely confined thereto.
SECOND-CLASS GUNNERS.
(a) Ammunition, Nomenclature, and Service of Guns assigned to the Company of which the Candidate is a Member.
Duties of the cannoneer and nomenclature of the piece to which assigned. (Note: If not assigned to a piece, or if the company is assigned to different pieces of different calibers, the candidate will be examined upon the piece of the caliber selected by the company commander.)
Describe the ammunition and name all the projectiles used for the piece upon which examined.
(b) Material of and Duties in the Loading Room (except electrical principles involved).
What apparatus is used in making a Turk's head? A telegraph joint? A joint to be used under water? Name all the parts of an assembled mine. Name all the parts of a compound plug and explain how to load one. What is a cut-out plug? Explain how to prepare a cut-out plug and box. What apparatus is used in preparing a compound plug? How are mines numbered? How are mooring pipes prepared, and what are the rules for lengths of mine cables and of mooring ropes?
(c) Material for and Duties on the Water.
What apparatus is taken out in the grand-junction box-boat? How and in what way are the cores of cable numbered? How is a mine, together with its attachments, arranged on a boat for planting? Name the apparatus on the boat used in planting and raising mines. What are the duties in the triple-junction box-boat in planting and in raising mines, and what precaution is taken so that cables may be distinguished when box is raised? Explain how soundings for a triple group are made.
(d) Cordage.
Name the important knots used in mine work and explain how to make four of them. The mooring rope of a heavy weight cannot pass over the winch, but lifting must be done with the fall; explain the method of proceeding.
(e) U. S. Magazine Rifle.—Nomenclature of the piece, kind and weight of powder used, description and weight of projectile, muzzle velocity. Setting of sight for range and deflection.
FIRST-CLASS GUNNERS.
(a) Care and Preservation of Mine Material.
Name the supplies necessary for cleaning mine material. Name those used in preserving it, stating for what each is used, and how certain ones (to be selected by the examiner) are applied.
(b) Handling High Explosives.
What high explosives are used in mines? What are the important precautions to be taken in loading mines? How is frozen dynamite thawed? Where is the main supply of explosive kept, and how much is taken out at one time to the explosive house near the loading-room?
(c) Knowledge and Use of Azimuth Instrument and Plotting Board.
Names of important parts. Set up the instrument with given data. Read angles from instrument. Act as observer. Act as reader.
Describe a plotting board. Explain the method of computing the time from any plotted point to a mine. Act as plotter.
(d) Batteries, Generators, and Searchlights assigned to the Company of which the Candidate is a Member.
Name the batteries used in mine work. Describe the casemate battery. What precautions are necessary in keeping it in order? What is used as the signal battery in mine work? Describe a searchlight. Describe parts of generators and important points to be observed in caring for them.
(e) Apparatus and Operation of Casemate Switchboard and Care and Use of Telephone.
Name the apparatus of the