Fire and Clean

[Milner]

I was looking through the ships log of HMS Simoun at the NA last week and on almost every page there is a reference which just says "Fire and Clean" would this be testing a ships gun or something else?

Regrads

Phil

[joseph]

Phil,

Gunnery practice; load, fire and clean the beginnings of good gunnery.

Regards Charles

[historydavid]

The Simoom was fortunate, along with most of the Home Fleet, in being stationed at Scapa Flow. Plenty of sea-room to practice in.

The battle cruiser squadrons and their attendants, in the Firth of Forth, were not so lucky. This had an impact at Jutland.

After the war gunnery practice fell into disfavour because the discharge "dirtied" the ship, and some Admirals thought that a smart looking ship, at all times, was more important than being able to hit whatever was the target.

Best wishes

David

[Milner]

The Simoom was fortunate, along with most of the Home Fleet, in being stationed at Scapa Flow. Plenty of sea-room to practice in.

The battle cruiser squadrons and their attendants, in the Firth of Forth, were not so lucky. This had an impact at Jutland.

After the war gunnery practice fell into disfavour because the discharge "dirtied" the ship, and some Admirals thought that a smart looking ship, at all times, was more important than being able to hit whatever was the target.

Best wishes

David

Thanks for your updates, this HMS Simoun (sunk Jan 1917) was based at Ramsgate (HMS Ceto). My grandfather who I never met served on the Simoun.

Regards Phil