§ Mr. MIDDLEMOREasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he has observed that in the gunlayers' tests of 1910 706 rounds were fired and 314 direct hits scored by 12-inch gnus, and that in 1911 742 rounds were fired for only 260 hits; and whether there is any satisfactory reason to account for this decline of hitting power?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe figures quoted in the question are incomplete, as they fail to include the results shown on the last pages of the 1910 and 1911 results of tests of gunlayers. The correct figures are:—
A falling off of 7.3 per cent, in direct hits, which, as stated in my answer on 29th February, is accounted for by the fact that the ships as a whole fired under less favourable weather conditions in 1911 than in 1910.
- 1910: 785 rounds and 311 direct hits.
- 1911: 847 rounds and 310 direct hits.