line on the clearest and calmest sea. If a hole the size of the head of
a pin be made in a piece of cardboard and the latter be held about a
foot and a half from the eye, the distant ship will just about fill the
hole.

The guns on the modern battleships are not "laid"; that is, they are not
aimed as were the cannon of past days or the rifle of to-day. It is set
toward its target by two factors. The first is known as "traverse,"
which means how far to the left or right it must be pointed in a
horizontal plane. The second factor is "elevation"--how far up or down
it must be pointed in a vertical plane. The latter factor determines how
far it will throw its projectile, and up to a certain point the higher
the gun is pointed the further will go the shell. A certain paradox
seems to enter here. It is a fact that a distant ship presents a target
more easily hit if its bow or stern is toward the gunner. If it presents
a broadside there is the danger that the shells will go either beyond
the ship or will fall short of it, for the greatest beam on a warship is
not much more than 90 feet. If the bow or stern is toward the gunner he
has a chance of landing a shell on any part of the 600 or more feet of
the ship's length. The first firing in a battle at a distance is known
as "straddling," by which is meant that a number of shots are sent
simultaneously, some falling short, some falling beyond the target, and
some hitting it.

[Illustration: The german cruiser "Bluecher" turning on her side as she
sank in the North Sea battle of January 24. 1915. The other vessels of
the German squadron escaped.]

The man who really "aims" the gun never sees what he is shooting at. At
some point of vantage on his ship one of the officers observes the enemy
and reports to the chief gunner the distance, the direction, and the
effect of the first shots. The gunnery officer then makes certain
calculations, taking into consideration the speed of his own ship and
the speed of the enemy ship. He knows that at a given moment his target
will be at a given point. He knows also just how fast his shells will
travel and makes calculations that enable him to place a shell at that
point at just the right second. In this battle the shells of the British
ship took about twenty seconds to go from the mouths of the guns to the
German hulls. And they made a curve at the highest point of which they
reached a distance of more than two miles; and most wonderful of all