THE 



ENGLISH CYCLOPEDIA. 



ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



TACTICS, MILITARY. 



TACTICS, NAVAL. 



TACTICS, MILITARY (rcucructs), properly signifies the art of 

 forming the troops of an army in order of battle, and of making 

 changes in the dispositions of the troops according as circumstances 

 may require : that is to say, the science which guides the formations 

 when the armies come into presence of one another ; while, on the other 

 hand, STKATK..Y is that division of the science of war which considers 

 all previous operations and combinations. These two subjects will 

 therefore be considered together under the article WAR, SCIENCE OP 



TACTICS, NAVAL. This branch of the art of war U in some 

 respects similar to that by which the operations of armies on land are 

 regulated ; and it is desirable that the order preserved in sailing 

 should resemble that used in moving the battalions of an army on 

 shore. But at sea the motive power is not always to be depended on, 

 and many a well-arranged plan of attack becomes useless from the' 

 failure of wind, change of wind, or other causes. There are, however, 

 accepted fundamental rules by which the navies of European nations' 

 are guiiled in the disposition of a fleet for attack, defence, chase, or 

 retreat ; and we first notice those applicable to sailing-ships principally. 



The ancients, previously to the commencement of a naval action, 

 drew up the ships in each fleet abreast of each other, and in that order 

 one of the fleets moved on, or waited for the attack ; for each ship 

 being propelled by oars, and armed with a beak of iron or brass pro- 

 jecting before the bows, efforts were generally made to direct it so as 

 by an oblique impulse to destroy the oars on one side of a ship of the 

 enemy, and thus render it unmanageable, or so as with the beak to 

 pierce a side, and thus sink the ship; and hence, in the ancient 

 manoeuvres, each commander always endeavoured to keep the prow of 

 his ship presented to the ship which was opposed to him. But since 

 the employment of gunpowder in naval warfare, each ship in two 

 hostile fleets is manoeuvred so as to bring one of its sides to bear 

 gainst the bows or against a side of its opponent, in order that it may 

 have the power of pouring into the Litter the greatest quantity of fire ; 

 and since it is the object of both commanders to avoid being raked, a 

 general action can take place only when the hostile fleets are drawn up 

 in two linen parallel to each other, the keels of the ships in each being 

 in the direction of the line. In the treatise of Pore 1'Hoste on naval 

 evolutions, this mode of engaging is said to have been first employed 

 at the battle of the Texel (I65), when James II., then duke of York, 

 commanded the English fleet. Paul 1'Hoste, who was a professor of 

 mathematics at Toulon, and died at a comparatively early age in 1700 

 had personal experience in many of the battles he describes, and his' 

 remarks continue to be quoted ; therefore he may be fairly considered 

 to be the founder of the present system of naval tactics. 



The order of sailing for a fleet should obviously be such that the 

 reveral ships may be as near together as possible, both for the sake of 

 1 support and that the signals which may be made by the 

 admiral may be distinctly seen : it depends also necessarily on the 

 order of battle, since it is of importance that the fleet should be 

 enabled, with the utmost facility, to pass from either of these states to 

 the other. 



Writers on naval tactics distinguish five different orders of sailing 

 the wind continuing to blow in one direction, and the keels of the' 

 ships remaining constantly parallel to one another ; in other words all 

 the ships steering the same course. The first order is that in which all 

 the ships are abreast of each other in a line perpendicular to the 

 rtion of the wind ; and the second is that in which the ships are 

 arranged so that a line joining all their main-masts is oblique to that 

 direction ; but in this order the line may have two different positions 



AUT8 AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VIII. 



with respect to the wind, for each ship may be on the starboard (the 

 right hand) side, or on the port (left hand) side of that which is to 

 leeward of it. As in either of these two dispositions each ship in the 

 line has that which is next to it on one side, opposite to one of its 

 bows, and that which is next to it on the other side, opposite one of 

 its quarters, this order of sailing is 'frequently called the bow and 

 quarter line. In the first and second orders, if the ships are numerous, 

 the line is inconveniently extended. 

 The third order of sailing is that in which, all the sails being close- 



\ 



\ 



fie. I. 



\ 



hauled, the ships are formed in two lines making with each other an 

 angle of about 12 pointi, or 135; the admiral's ship being in the 

 centre. 



i.B. By the expression close-hauled is to be understood such a 

 imposition of the sails that the ship may advance as nearly as possible 



wards the part of the horizon from whence the wind blows. In 

 general, the line of direction of the wind makes then, on the side next 

 to the ship's head, an angle of about 6 points, or 67 30'. 



The fourth order is that in which the ships, steering with the wind 

 on one and the same quarter, are formed in several lines, divisions or 

 squadrons, and as much concentrated as possible. The ships of the 

 commanders are ahead of the several divisions, and a line joining the 

 mainmasts of all the ships in each is supposed to be in the direction of 

 the wind. This order is very convenient for a convoy, but it presents 

 great difficulties to the formation of the line of battle. In the fifth 

 order, the fleet, if not very numerous, is divided into three squadrons, 



the ships of which sail in as many parallel lines : if numerous, each 

 squadron may be divided into two or more parts, so that the whole 



