Percy Scott

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Percy Moreton Scott
July 10, 1853 – October 18, 1924 (aged 71)
Admiral Sir Percy Scott
Place of birth	Canonbury, Middlesex
Place of death	52, South Audley St, London
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1866–1913 1914–1916[1]
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	HMS Edinburgh, 1887 - 1890 HMS Scylla, 1896 - 1899 HMS Terrible, 1899 - 1902 HMS Excellent, 1903 - 1905 1st Cruiser Squadron, 1907 - 1909 LADA, 1915 - 1916
Battles/wars	Third Ashanti War, 1873 – 1874 Egyptian War, 1882 South African War, 1899 - 1900 China War, 1900 World War I, 1914 - 1918
Awards	1st Baronet of the United Kingdom Knight Grand Cross of the Bath Kgt Cdr of the Royal Victorian Order

Admiral Sir Percy Scott (July 10, 1853 – October 18, 1924) was a British admiral in the Royal Navy and a pioneer in modern naval gunnery.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Ideas into Practice 3 Gunnery Developments 4 Later career 5 References 6 Sources

[edit] Early years

Scott entered the navy as a midshipman in 1866, at the age of thirteen, and in 1868 received a post on HMS Forte, a 50-gun frigate. He was present at the 1882 British naval bombardment of Egyptian forts at Alexandria, and while witnessing how shockingly inaccurate the British gunners were, began to form his own ideas on the nature of naval gunfire. When promoted to second in command of HMS Edinburgh in 1886 Scott attempted to implement some of his ideas for gunnery improvement by holding more regular firing practices, but was eventually forced to focus most of his crew's energies on the traditional naval task of cleaning the ship.

[edit] Ideas into Practice

Scott was given his first full command in 1896, when promoted to captain of HMS Scylla, a 3400-ton cruiser in the British Mediterranean Fleet. There he was able to implement his theories on gunnery, scoring the unprecedented success of 80% during the 1897 gunnery trials. ^[2] His accomplishment was unbelievable for the time, and many thought that he had cheated in order to gain such a success. As a result of the turmoil caused the Lords of the Admiralty removed him from command of HMS Scylla and placed him on half-pay. With the intervention of Jackie Fisher, he was later moved to HMS Excellent, the navy base at Whale Island, Hampshire. The Excellent served as a training ground, especially for gunnery, and Scott was able to continue to refine his ideas. This included ways to increase artillery accuracy as well as improve the speed of loading the guns.

[edit] Gunnery Developments

Until the end of the nineteenth century the accepted range at which warships would open fire on an enemy was 2,000 yards. The development of the torpedo as a practical weapon forced a change in this policy, and it became necessary to engage an enemy at ranges outside torpedo range. This in turn meant that the old system whereby a gunlayer in each turret pointed and fired the turret guns independently could no longer be expected to achieve a significant hit rate on an opposing ship. Scott was instrumental in encouraging the development and installation, initially in Dreadnought Battleships and Battlecruisers, of Director Firing, a system whereby the guns were all pointed, elevated and fired from a single point, usually at the top of the foremast. By firing all the guns simultaneously it was possible to observe the simultaneous splashes produced and correct the aim visually. This system was only practical in ships having a uniform calibre main armament, which dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers had.

Shortly before the First World War, Captain Frederic Dreyer developed a system which enabled a target ship's range and bearing to be plotted continuously so that the proper range and deflection to hit it could then be calculated. These data were then relayed to the director, allowing a further improvement to accuracy.

[edit] Later career

In 1907 Scott was in command of the 1st Cruiser squadron of the Channel Fleet, under the command of Lord Charles Beresford. Because of a forthcoming fleet inspection by Kaiser Wilhelm II Beresford signalled all ships to abandon any exercises they were currently engaged in, to enable them to be painted and tidied. Scott's ships were in the middle of a gunnery exercise; he lost his temper and sent an insubordinate signal which resulted in a serious reprimand on board the fleet flaship.^[3]

The Kaiser arrived two hours late and did not have time to inspect the fleet.

In July 1908 came what is referred to as the second signalling incident. Beresford signalled to the two columns of the third division of the flet, which was under Scott's command, to turn inwards together. As the two columns were steaming on a parallel course with a separation of 1,200 yards (six cables distance) this would have caused the leading ships, the Good Hope and Argyll to collide. Scott ordered the Captain of the Good Hope to disobey the order, thus avoiding a repetition of the Victoria - Camperdown disaster. Beresford attempted to have Scott court-martialled, but the Admiralty refused.^[4] Scott was moved to a command outside Beresford's orbit, and allowed to fly his flag until February 1909, when he hauled it down and came ashore. During World War I Scott was recalled by the Admiralty in order to establish the London Air Defence Area to defend London from the increasing threat of air attack.

[edit] References

1. ^ Scott was recalled to the Admiralty shortly after the outbreak of World War I. Source ONDB
2. ^ Padfield, Peter. Aim Straight
3. ^ Carson MSS, the memoirs of Sir Edward Carson, MP
4. ^ Arthur J Marder From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow

[edit] Sources

• Massie, Robert K. Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War. New York: Random House, 1991. ISBN 0-394-52833-6
• Admiral Sir Percy Scott, The World War I Document Archive. Accessed June 6, 2006.
• Padfield, Peter. Aim Straight: A biography of SIR PERCY SCOTT, the father of modern naval gunnery. Hodder & Stoughton. London. 1966.