DISCUSSION Director Fire a Century Ago (SEE PAGE 1097, WHOLE No. 209) REAR ADMIRAL BRADLEY A. FISKE, U. S. Navy.-The writer of "Director Fire a Century Ago," published in the July PROCEEDINGS, shows a surprising misconception of the essential feature of director firing, which I, as its inventor, beg leave to point out to your readers. I made application for the patent in the United States on May 15, 1890, and in other countries shortly afterward. Naturally, I knew of the methods of concentrating the guns to hit a certain target, which the writer of the article describes, because I had made recitations on them frequently at the Naval Academy. I knew, however, that those methods were used simply to secure lateral concentration, and were effective because the distance to the target was small, as compared to the distance between the guns. I also knew that they had naturally gotten into disuse as the ranges had gradually increased. In 1890, the main difficulty in hitting the target was in noting when the gun was at the correct angle above the horizontal, and arose from the difficulty of keeping the pupil of the eye exactly on the line joining the front and rear sights of the gun; and the difficulty increased—(and increased greatly) with any increase in the rolling of the ship. To overcome this difficulty, I invented and patented “A Method of Pointing Guns at Sea" which is now called the "Gun Director System." The Patent Office brought forward in opposition to the claims I made a number of "references" to past and present methods and apparatus of many kinds; but finally on Sept. 9, 1890, it granted me the following claim: "The method of pointing a gun located on a rolling, heeling or vibrating platform, which consists in adjusting a telescope, also located on said platform, and movable on a transverse axis, approximately parallel to that of the gun, at an angle to the bore of the gun equal to a certain predetermined angle of elevation necessary to cause the projectile fired from the gun to travel to a given target, and second noting the moment when the line of sight of said adjusted telescope is caused by the movement of said supporting platform to intersect said target." Inasmuch as the Director System of to-day is exactly described by the phrases of the above claim, except that certain additions have been made to the original apparatus; inasmuch as it is a matter of common knowledge that the Director System is most effective (as compared with others) where the rolling is the worst; inasmuch as the writer of "Director Fire a Century Ago" states flatly "In case of heavy rolling the (marine) theodolite was not used to show the instant of firing, because of the ballistic action of its pendulum, but was employed only for conning the helm "; inasmuch as the scheme described in his article was therefore wholly different in principle from that of the Director System; and inasmuch as the history of my invention has often been described (notably in this magazine), the appearance of this article is most disconcerting. Dues Lieutenant A. H. Lewis, U. S. N., regular member. Captain W. F. Halsey, U. S. N., regular member. Rear Admiral T. W. Kincaid, U. S. 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It is requested that all Election members fill these out and return to the Institute as soon as possible. Whole Nos. 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17, 144, 145, 146, 147, Notice 149, 155, 167, 173 and 179 of the PROCEEDINGS are exhausted; there are so many calls for single copies of these numbers that the Institute offers to pay for copies thereof returned in good condition at the rate of 75 cents per copy. ANNAPOLIS, MD., August 15, 1920. PROFESSIONAL NOTES PREPARED BY LIEUT. COMMANDER H. W. UNDERWOOD, U. S. Navy FRANCE'S NAVAL POSSIBILITIES.-The 1920 Marine Budget, amounting to nearly £40,000,000, has just been voted by the Paris Chamber after an interesting discussion, in the course of which were raised many points of international importance. The Breton Député de Kerguézec, who acted as Rapporteur du Budget, and is well known as the protagonist of a vigorous naval expansion on jeune école lines, bitterly criticized the Admiralty management, and especially the reduction of 28 per cent that has been made in the original estimates (whereas the Army Budget was only reduced by 4 per cent), and patriotically warned his countrymen against the deadly sin of indifference towards the navy. In truth, his sarcasm and reproaches were somewhat undeserved, the attitude of Messieurs les Députés showing their consciousness of the vital value of sea power to France, and their willingness to consent to all the sacrifices that may be deemed necessary in the near future. In this respect a great difference exists compared with the previous Chamber, no dissenting voice this time being heard to mar the concert of enthusiastic praise that was made of Mathurin's past and future services. Cardinal Richelieu's time-honored saying that "without maritime strength France could neither profit by peace nor successfully wage war" was solemnly recalled and unanimously applauded. Ex-Minister Thomson deplored the relative decline of the "marine républicaine," gloomily hinted at the use America and Japan might be tempted to make of their rapidly-growing supremacy, and urged "la nécessité d'un effort résolu." From the subsequent declarations by Deputés Lecour-Grandmaison (an ex-naval officer), de Kerguézec, Boussenot, and Minister Landry, it is obvious France realizes the deep change the war has brought in the balance of sea power and the new requirements that confront her. The contest for the mastery of the ocean is virtually between the world island and semi-island powers, viz., Great Britain, the United States, and Japan. For the present America retains the supremacy on paper, but the superior |