Repository: UIHistories Project: War Publications - WWI Compilation 1923 - Article 46 [PAGE 18]

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SECTION C I \! Ui \ I ION OF FIRING DATA KOR pIRECT AND INDIRECT FIRE<

/ r greater simplicity we assume in this section throughout that the gunl (more accurately, the muzzle of the gun), the target {man as they will be used, the "battery commander*s station and ming point" all He in c/ horizontal plane. gun and lo not >ffer i nous difficulties in practice. In pointing a gun it is first necessary to know the range and diction of firing.* The d« nnination of these <|iiantities is the only problem which we Bhall discUM ill tins section. When range and direction are known, "range tables", constructed for < ach type of gun, the angle <>\ elevation under which the gun must be fired. In the Field Artillery the range 11*determined by rough computations or measurements, and an error of a hundred yards or more is apparently accepted as normal ; corrections are based on actual observations of the results of tiring. In the Coast and I leavy Artillery, on the other hand, every effort is made to secure a hit with one of the tirst shots. We abstract entirely from relatively small, but very Important corrections which must be made in pointing the gun and which are due to rifling, wind, etc. for the direction, and to wind, temperature, airpressure, etc. for the range. OUTLINE I. Determination of range when target is visible from gun. II. Determination of range when target is not visible from gun. III. Determination of direction of firing when target is visible from gun. IV. Determination of direction of firing when target is not visible from gun. (Deflection).. DETERMINATION O F RANGE. For the determination of the range several methods are available of which we mention the following: I. Target visible front gun; find la. From the maps.

•Compart for thli taction! Bishop, pp. 4959; hiof$tH an* Dinford, pp. 68130; Ch. V; Gunntry, Ch. V; Manual, pp. iif-xat. Spading,

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