Show I 1 Our Oar Naval Guns I l with nth fourt fourteen cn enn inch il guns gUll gi give gie i a nati nation n a I i fueling eling of sec security rity but in a pinch they arc are valuable only in ill in so far faras far t as s th the men men be behind ind those guns can point them s straight raight I The American have been led to believe that their S i people gun- gun i piers were ere the best in the world Some Sonic navies keep their target practice tice t ice ce record secret while the American navy has lIas been accustomed in inthe in Nt the past to letting its good scores out fo for foi public consumption V v Colliers Collier's Weekly however in the current issue has an article that will ivill take some of the conceit out of the American public in regard io to accuracy of its naval gunners Publishing a table which it declares delares de de- de- de clares lares it t has reason to believe is accurate Colliers Collier's give the scores made in ill target practice last February and March 1 in Cuban waters The ships were allowed one hundred and twenty-six twenty shots each Here Herere re Are e the hits they made New Jersey 13 Virginia 12 Louisiana 10 i Nebraska 10 Kansas Kans s 5 Rhode Island 1 Commenting on this Colliers Collier's Weekly says editorially d 14 t An An official of the navy department has since told the newspapers news news- d papers l apers that the marksmanship of the tile fleet has improved 40 per cent i pp a year If that is true be in interesting to know how near Rhode Island came to hitting anything last year Colliers Collier's insinuates that Secretary of the Navy Daniels is re- re t for this his slump in Jl target hitting a as he is is also responsible for the delay in the building of a great navy for this country More two years ago to be exact on July 30 1914 the genel general l board prepared a naval program and gave it to Mr 11 Daniels secretary of I the navy who buried it and not until an agitation of congress 1 forced him to produce it was it brought to life W 1 The Th building program as as adopted by the senate recently is almost identical with the rep report rt of the general board made over two Vicars ago A It Its Itis is sad to think that what ii is no now nov proposed by hy the senate just as well have been begun two years ago ago says Colliers Collier's Jin n an editorial in the current issue 0 t The emergency was a as pressing then as it is now The danger Was W s as pl plain ini in 1914 as it is in 1916 S Ii Paying his compliment to the secretary of the navy the tho editor i J Colliers Collier's says In considering possibilities of pettifogging t lacked in expression and still is practicable in such a casi case cas i 7 Josephus tr it is well to remember that through his obstinacy and andi i j Mis s cu curious ious infatuation infatuation with ith delay the building of or i in m in March 1915 were not commenced until December 11 9 6 In the case of the Oklahoma and the Nevada these dread dread- were tere authorized in March 1911 1911 keels keels were laid in the r r. r tJ of 1912 and th they were commissioned in the spring of 1916 I. I 04 i. i lie 10 entire work of construction of these ships was under the Von of the present prescott secretary of of the navy It is only fair fail to say that c fhe t work work on the Pennsylvania has been more expeditious That Thatis is IS due to th the thc pounding the worthy man has las had to hear heal the t tl the e hands of tl the e practical and industrious American public |