and firing mechanism in a separate bl10y called a " contact buoy ...

PRACTICAL NAVAL GUNNERY 43 I
(c) The executive ability to handle a crew of men, make them
perform every detail of the drill, and maintain their parts of the
gun and mount in excellent condition.
Gun Pointers.
25. Tp,e Gun-Pointer Group consists of the first and second
pointer, and the sight setter, and each of these men must be carefully
trained to acquire skill in accuracy and rapidity of pointing.
A gun pointer must remember that he has a most important position.
A ship is built for the purpose of using her guns, and therefore
the pointer is a man of vital importance to the ship. A ship
may never be engaged in action more than' a few minutes during
her whole career, and if in this few minutes a pointer, through
over confidence or neglect of any of the details of training, fails
to fire accurately or as quickly as possible after the gun is loaded,
he fails in his duty to his ship 1n that he has occupied one of her
important. positions of offense without doing the enemy the greatest
possible inj my.
26. Pointers must not, however, misunderstand their duties.
It is a pointers duty to fire the gun as soon after it is loaded as he
can get his crosswires, or his line of sight, to bear accurately on
the middle of the target, or on the portion of the enemy that may
be designated as the point of aim. He has nothing to do with
the correction of his sights; that is done by the sight setter under
the orders of the divisional officer. In all cases the pointer must
aim exactly as he is directed, otherwise nothing can be determined
from the fall of the shot, and corrections made by the divisional
officer, based thereon, will be erroneous.
27. The firing pointer must control the pointing of the gun.
The training pointer will keep his sight set roughly for the range,
but exactly for the lateral compensation ordered, and, unless otherwise
directed by the firing pointer, will keep the gun trained continuously
on the center of the target. If in the opinion of the
firing pointer, the gun is not trained exactly "on," he will give
the orders " right," "left," or in the case of an apparently moving
target, "a little faster" or "a little slower," and the training
pointer must obey the command even though he thereby throws
his own sight off. Both pointers will, at all times, keep their