To All Who Tried
CHAPTER V
THE CHOICE
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So precise are the naval guns and so exact is the naval gunnery, granted the proper observation, that it was not only possible to hit forts like those of the Dardanelles from ranges at which they could not reply, but to hit in succession every single gun in them. In fact on February 26 the Queen Elizabeth scored two hits in 18 rounds, and destroyed the two guns of No. 1 Fort in 31 rounds; and even the old 12-inch guns of the Irresistible put the two guns of No. 4 Fort out of action in 35 rounds.
Coming to closer ranges and smaller guns the theoretical results are even more impressive. The various marks of 6-inch guns in the Fleet are (and were) capable, at under 2,000 yards range, of hitting the individual guns in the Dardanelles forts fifty times out of every hundred shots. In some marks of guns the percentage is even higher. For instance, a 6-inch Mark VII gun should hit a 9.4-inch (24 cm.) Turkish gun sixty-two times out of a hundred at 2,000 yards range, and ninety-seven times out of a hundred at 1,000 yards range, provided always that the attacking gun is new, the ship is at anchor, the range has been determined, and the laying is accurate.
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