Percy Scott

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Admiral Sir Percy Scott was a British admiral in the Royal Navy and a pioneer in modern naval gunnery.

[edit] Early years

Scott entered the navy as a midshipman in 1866 and in 1868 received a post on HMS Forte, a 50-gun frigate. He was present at the 1881 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. 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] References

• 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.