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(C.)

ON THE FORMATION OF A NEW CODE OF NAVAL TACTICS. A COMMITTEE of the most scientific and experienced Naval officers, with the aid of some officers of the Artillery and Engineers, well versed in tactical science, and in the arts of military attack and defence, should be appointed, in order to make a selection of formations adapted to fleets composed exclusively of steamers; and to decide upon the evolutions to be performed by such fleets previously to, and during the continuance of, an action at sea. A measure of this kind is now become one of paramount importance, and even of absolute necessity; since, as has been already stated in this work (Arts. 40, 97, 102, 112, 113), the motive powers of steam and wind cannot be made to act together without entirely nullifying, through the limitations imposed by the wind, and the complexity of the operations, the advantages which are to be derived from the application of steam being made with equal facility in all the various conditions of naval warfare.

In the presence of an enemy at sea, all sails must be furled, and the Regulations relating to warfare under sail must be disregarded. Others of a different character must be prepared; and even a vocabulary of terms must be provided, in accordance with the new system of tactics, as substitutes for the technicalities relating to the movements, and the working of sailing ships; these will have no place in the tactics of steam fleets, and ought, in consequence, to become obsolete. In a steam ship there will be no starboard or larboard tack; the more simple terms right or left will suffice: there will be no luffing up or wearing round; and the order to turn ship in an assigned direction, communicated by signal or otherwise, may be given in their stead; and the like may be said of many other nautical phrases, which, henceforth, should be considered as antiquated, and should give place to others more in accordance with ordinary language. The circumstances of armies in the field have their analogues in naval warfare; therefore, military terms might with advantage be introduced in nautical science; and thus the inconvenience of employing different terms to designate similar actions or objects would be avoided.

It appears to the author that a committee of the most scientific and experienced officers of the Royal, and Royal Marine Artillery, that can be obtained, should also be appointed to revise the Regulations which now exist respecting the armament of the British line-of-battle steam ships, with a view of adapting the armament to the volumes of the ships, and keeping it in harmony with the

great tactical principle of reciprocal defence. In carrying out this principle, the gunnery powers of the different ships require to be combined with each other in such a manner as to give the greatest military strength to the whole fleet, by enabling each ship to give to, and receive from, the neighbouring ships, that support which constitutes the main strength of a defensive system, instead of, as in times past, leaving each ship to rely on its own isolated strength.

When a special code of Regulations for the evolutions of steam fleets shall have been completed, a new code of signals, by which the regulations for executing those evolutions may be most effectually carried into effect, should also be drawn up. The same distinctive signal flags as are at present in use, may be employed; but they should be displayed in a different manner. Flags droop in calm weather, which is the most propitious time for an engagement between steam fleets, and then they become useless; even when they flutter in the breeze they are not easily made out, if the wind should be in the direction in which the signal is to be made. Every signal flag should therefore be bent to two small yards, one above and the other below, an expedient often put in practice during the late wars, but which should now be invariably adopted the flags should be connected together in the prescribed combination; hoisted to the most conspicuous part of the rigging, their planes perpendicular to the direction in which the signal is to be passed.

INDEX.

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Action, direct, inconveniences of, on the axes of paddle-

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wheels and screws

Alecto and Rattler, experimental trials by the

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Alignment of a fleet, manner of reversing the

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Archimedes and Widgeon, experimental trials by the
Assaults by boarding will hereafter be frequent
Atmospherical steam-engine, nature of the
Attack, success in, depends on the relative speed of the)
fleets ..

should be made by bringing up a superior force)
to the point attacked

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of a fleet in line ahead may be made in two
parallel divisions coming up from the rear..

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Barricades, loopholed, should be placed across decks to
resist boarders

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Basilisk and Niger, experimental trials by the

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Bee, remarkable experiment made with the steamer
Blade or feather of a screw should be less in breadth)
than a complete turn of a spiral ..

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Boarding may occasionally occur in naval actions

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Bow and stern batteries, strength of, in a two-decked)

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Calm, disadvantages of a perfect, in naval actions under)

steam..

Centre of pressure in paddle-boards..

Coal can be carried in steamers only for a few days

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Columns, double, should make with each other an angle)
of 90 degrees

Cranks are means of converting a reciprocating into a
rotatory motion

Cross attacks, the nature of

Cylinders, oscillatory, used with direct action on shafts
of wheel and screw propellers

D.

Defence, reciprocal, may be applied to naval as well as
to military tactics

reciprocal, may be obtained by ranging the ships
parallel to one another in a line oblique to that of the

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between ships in line en échelon

on an enemy's line, manner of, with sailing ships
Driver, H.M.S., made the circuit of the earth in 1842-5
Dynamometer, description of the

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Doubling on a line of ships, modes of resisting the)
attempt at..

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E.

Echelon formation allows a reciprocal defence from
the stern and broadside guns..

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formation advantageous for an attack at either
extremity of a fleet in line ahead

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formation advantageous in respect of the cross-

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ing fires of the ships

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Echiquier, manner of disposing two lines of ships en
Enfiladed, or raked, necessity of avoiding being
Enfilading or raking fire, effective only when near the
enemy

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Erecsson, Capt., exhibited on the Thames a steam-vessel

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7

with screw-propeller in 1836

Expansion principle explained..

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Enfiladed, ships liable to be, when bearing down directly)

111

137

on an enemy

F.

Feather of a screw less than a complete turn of the spiral
in breadth..

Feathering of paddle-boards objectionable for ships of

war

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Mr. Galloway's invention for

Fleets may be moved in divisions, as armies on land are
moved in columns

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