AUTOMATIC 
!Sl(xH TINGr 
— BY - 
CAPTAIN H. S. JEUDWINE, R.A. 
I N a paper by Colonel Watkin, published in the “ Proceedings ” for 
June, 1898, some possible disadvantages attending the use of 
automatic sighting were brought forward. I venture to think, how¬ 
ever, that the arguments which I am about to submit in favour of the 
system are so strong as to counterbalance any objections which have 
hitherto been raised. 
The practical advantages which, it may be claimed, are conferred by 
automatic sights of the service pattern are :— 
I. Greatly increased rapidity of fire. 
II. Increased accuracy of fire. 
III. Diminished liability to disorganization of a command from 
hostile fire. 
IY. The power of decentralization and its attendant benefits. 
I.—Greatly increased rapidity of fire. 
This hardly requires proof. It is very evidently the case with the 
lighter Q.F. guns used against torpedo-boat attack, where all pauses 
in fire to give out ranges, or to set sights, are avoided. It is sufficient 
to say that with the 12-pr. Q.F. with automatic sights, a rate of fire of 
twelve rounds a minute is attained, at a target going from eighteen 
to twenty miles an hour, and with most accurate results. I am told 
that in the Royal Navy eight aimed rounds a minute is the best that is 
expected from a 12-pr. Q.F. (of course with ordinary sights) at a 
moving target. It is improbable that the Garrison gunner could do 
better, with such training as he is likely to get. We may take it 
therefore that automatic sights will increase the rate of fire of these 
guns (the mainstay of torpedo-boat defence) by fifty per cent., without 
lessening their accuracy. This is an immense advantage in the case 
of targets which are likely to be under fire for an extremely short 
space of time. It may be mentioned that this advantage is practically 
independent of questions of range or site. Ranges will be short— 
probably not over 800 yards—and a height of twenty feet is sufficient. 
8, VOL, XXVI. 
