10 
LAND & WATER 
July 19, 1917 
^varcl-room tabic : " We should have shed tears when we 
launched her instead of sprinkling her with champagne." He 
became unpopular : he was called an " anarchist." 
When Sampson's fleet returned to New York and the 
boom of guns and the shriek of whistles and the hurrahs rising 
over the arches of honour welcomed the heroes of Santiago, 
few were aware that only 4 per cent, of our shots fired against 
Cervera's fleet hit, and that no heavy projectiles struck home. 
The late Professor Algar, then the Navy's recognized authority 
on gunnery, wrote : " At the distance of 2,800 yards, nearly 
half the shots fired at Santiago went 100 feet to one side or 
another." Such poor shooting was not the fault of the " man 
behind the gun. He did the best he knew, and that he 
failed to do better was due to the workings of an inferior 
system. Guns improperly installed, and gun sights far from 
accurate, were part of it. Our naval renaissance began in 
the Far East. One of the keenest naval minds. Captain, 
now Vice-Admiral, Sir Percy Scott, commanding the British 
cruiser Terrible, was its godfather. Sir Percy Scott had 
originated a method of target practice where only actual 
hits on the target counted. The American way then was 
tiring on a small triangular target, and imaginary hits were 
plotted on a profile of a ship. , It was farcical, wrong in 
principle and did not establish the mechanical skill of the in- 
dividual gun-pointer. The American blue-jackets took 
no more interest in gunnery than in scrubbing decks. It 
was throwing ammunition overboard. It was a 5,000,000 
dollar ship making live dollars worth of hits, firing away thou- 
sands of dollars worth of shells. About that particular time 
one of our vessels during her annual fighting efliciency prac- 
tice fired 12 shots with her 8 inch guns with no hits, 166 from 
the 4 inch guns with 4 hits, 269 with the 6 pounders hitting 
3 times, in all 447 aimed shots of which 7 hit. 
British Target Practice 
Again Lieutenant Sims hammered his typewriter. He 
showed that the Scott system of target practice was based 
upon the individual sporting instinct of the blue-jacket, upon 
competition. He proved that the British could shoot and 
that we could not. In 1901, the Terrible, commanded by 
Scott, established the world's record, making 8 hits with 8 
six inch shells. Night after night Sims wrote. A few of his 
friends helped to copy his reports and spread the gospel of 
straight shooting. The work was done after the day's duty, 
mostly on the quiet. In the East he wrote eleven papers. 
These were passed from ship, to ship. The " anarchy " of 
"hits and holes" and "continuous aim" spread, and the 
thumb-marked pages of these reports were the beginning 
of the new era. But the Bureau system would not budge. 
It was its own judge as well as jury, and always acquitted 
itself. Sims' reports were again pigeon-holed. 
Sims said before the House Naval Committee : " I used 
rather unofficial language because I wanted to tear some- 
thing loose. 1 saw later that was a failure. So over 
the head of the Commander-in-Chief I wrote direct to the 
President. It was the rankest insubordination, but according 
to my ideas, when a situation like this arises, where you know 
that you are absolutely right, and where there is nothing 
doing, complete military subordination becomes cowardice." 
Every chance was against him. The Bureau system was 
heavily entrenched. President Roosevelt's own brother- 
in-law was a Bureau Chief. The popular impression then was 
that our ships were the best and that the man behind the 
gun was all right. Why be disturbed ? 
But to find out for himself. President Roosevelt ordered 
five battleships of the Atlantic Fleet to target practice. 
These ships fired two broadsides at a condemned light-ship. 
They hit the target three times. There was no answer. 
The Bureau system collapsed so far as gunnery and self- 
laudation went. The President called Sims back from China 
and put him in charge of the Navy's shooting. He became 
the Navy's first Inspector of Target Practice. Result, 50 per 
cent, of hits at the first practice — this at 1,500 yards at a 
stationary target — this distance about that time being sup- 
posed to be the minimum fighting range. 
By infusing the same friendly competition that exists 
between football teams and fostering the individual sporting 
desire to excel, Sims transformed the Navy's target practice 
from a monotonous drill to a contest where each man's 
work counted, and where everyone took pride in his effort 
and did his best to beat the next fellow. Money distributions, 
trophies and other prizes have made an esprit de corps in 
framing gun-pointers. They kept their guns on the target 
and learned that only hits counted. It became ship com- 
peting against ship, turret against turret, division against 
division, gun against gun. 
Last year I was permitted to announce that during the 
winter's battle practice in Cuban waters, the American 
Fleet excelled in remarkablp shooting. At 16,800 yards, the 
first leg at long range, all ships made 8.4 per cent, of hits. 
At 13,000 yards, 18.5 percent. The Dreadnoughts, at, iy,i$$ 
yards, made 8 percent., at 13,000 yards 20.28 per cent, of hits 
all in a moving target. This year, again, the Fleet has 
bettered its own record, and beyond the expectations of 
gunnery experts. Let that be enough. And future naval 
historians will have to state that this probably unequalled 
performance occurred while Mr. Daniels was Secretary of Navy. 
In the only interview on naval matters which Roosevelt 
gave as President of the United States, he stated to the 
present writer : " Commander Sims has done more for target 
practice than any other man in the United States. It is 
chiefly due to him that we shoot as well as we do. It is 
humiliating to think what poor shots we were during the 
Spanish War." 
Captain Bradley Fiske, now Rear- Admiral (retired), wrote 
in the U.S. Naval Institute : " In regard to the officer who 
was instrumental in introducing this excellent target practice 
of ours, he was not an ignorant crank, but a lieutenant- 
commander in the navy of excellent reputation. He proposed, 
not a fantastic, highly expensive, and extremely scientific 
experiment, but simply that our navy improve its gunnery. 
Did the navy see ? Not at all. Did any naval officer of 
high rank help ? Not one. Who did ? A civilian. President 
Roosevelt. The writer (Captain Fjske) does not believe 
that he ought to write what he thinks about this episode, 
but he feels that every naval officer ought to regret that we 
failed to manage so clearly our own business and that a reform 
of purely naval character, so simple and so good, should have 
had to be forced on us by' a civilian." 
Admiral Sims was at the Naval College, working for two 
years as a common student, taking the long course, studying 
the art of war in its highest form, writing essays on tactics 
and strategy, proclaiming the same conclusion as every other 
military student, that : " The advantage in expense would 
be greatly in favour of ample preparation in time of peace 
rather than the lavish, wasteful and inefficient expenditure 
that lack of preparation necessitates upon the outbreak of 
war." Relinquishing command of the Nevada, his last sea 
duty, he returned to the Naval War College, but as President. 
Now, as to the man ? Tall, slim, square-shouldered, over 
six feet, strong as an ox — ^with a sharp ej'e, not. an American 
face, hair and beard streaked with gray, large forehead. Kind, 
witty, sharp, what the French call charmer. Fo'castle slang 
mixed with French metaphor (he spoke French like a Parisian) . 
Never idle, seldom at the theatrei, giving never a thought to 
display. He used to ride to the College on a bicycle, some- 
times taking one of his children on the handle bars. 
Traditions at sea have made discipline and authority 
dominate, and often replace common sense. But Sims' for- 
mula is as follows : 
Always let your general mission be understood. The 
American is willing to co-operate when his intelligence is enlisted. 
Invite suggestions, and consider them carefully. 
Hold conferences for this purpose. I have known valuable 
improvements in seamanship, gunnery, radio, etc., to result 
from such suggestions from junior officers and enlisted men. 
Make use of competition where practicable. It promotes 
interest in even the most strenuous drills. 
Be sure you know thorou'jhly the .subject of all your instruc- 
tions. Knowledge of your job always commands respect from 
those associated with you. 
Encourage your men to come to you for information on any 
subject, and take pains to look it up and supply it. Help them 
in anything they want to study. 
Train your men in initiative by " putting it up to them " on 
all proper occasions, and explain why you do it. 
When you have inspired loyalty in all your men, more than 
half your troubles will be over, for thereafter initiative will develop 
rapidly if you give it intelligent direction and adequate oppor- 
tunity. Thus, you will have developed a team in which the 
men will speak of the ofTicers of their division or ship as 
" we," instead of " they." 
Maintain discipline with the muiimum reference to highe? 
authority. If you succeed in establishing the relations indicated 
by the above, you will hardly ever need to appeal to higher 
authority. ^ 
Always be considerate of ,, inexperience. When admonition 
will correct a. small faiilt.^it is_a,lmost always a mistake to inflict 
punishment. / ' ' 
Be absolutely just in all your dealings with your men. Hardly 
anything tends more strongly towards loyalty. All kinds of 
men respond to the " square deal." 
Never destroy or decrease a man's self respect by humiliating 
hnn before others. If his self respect is destroyed his usefulness 
will be seriously diminished. A man who is " called down " in 
the presence of others can hardly help resenting it. 
Do not let the state of your liver influence your attitude to- 
ward your men. , 
Avoid as you would the plaguej hostile criticism of authoritv. 
orevei^iaceUous or thoughtless criticism that has no hostile 
