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June, 1942] THE NAVY'S USE OF MOTION PICTURES 503
sieges over hundreds of years, and were the impregnable homes of prominent lords and monarchs, now fell before booming artillery pieces. But as wars progressed and cannon opposed cannon, complications were introduced to improve the effectiveness of the opposing pieces; and thus the handling of these weapons gradually grew beyond the skill of the average untrained man.
In the early days of our Navy, the range of battle was virtually pointblank, and it took no tremendous skill to aim a gun. The principal skill in battle was that of the commanding officer, who, by maneuvering his ship, brought the other ship within range and exposed it to the deadliest concentration of fire. Today huge shells are sent crashing beyond the horizon, and the swift dive-bomber or high-altitude bomber is prepared to drop its deadly missiles within a few seconds after being sighted. Under circumstances like these, the humblest sailor must — if he is to justify his place aboard a modern vessel of war — be extremely skilled in some useful battle duty. Whether he mans a gun or whether in some high position he spots and helps to control the fire; whether down in the engine room he helps to deliver the essential speed and power; whether he ministers to the wounded, handles the communications, or takes care of the ammunition supply — whatever his battle station, he must perform it with the utmost efficiency, since the total result of the efficiencies of all the participants in battle is the efficiency of the vessel. Nothing less than maximum efficiency can be justified in battle, and such efficiency can not be attained when the personnel is not trained to do its utmost.
However, a modern ship of war, and even a modern warplane, spends a very small fraction of its life actually in battle. In fact it spends a minor fraction of its time even preparing specifically by practice for battle. A large part of the time is spent in maintenance, and in the pursuits that sustain the life and health of the members of the complement of the ship. The members of the gun crew, for instance, spend far more time at maintaining the guns and seeing to it that the equipment is in perfect condition, than they do in firing it. All machinery must be maintained and all the intricate equipment for the control and spotting of gunfire, for communication, for detection of aircraft and undersea vessels, and for navigation must be maintained.
In times of peace a new recruit was sent to a training station for several months of preparation for duty at sea. He was then placed