392 
COMMENDED ESSAY, 1893 . 
metal and rapidity of fire. As far as heavy guns are concerned, this 
case is obsolete, for modern ships carry but few guns, and well-designed 
modern fortresses consist of dispersed guns commanding large arcs. 
The ships, however, of the present day will be found much better 
armed than the fortress as regards quick-firing and machine guns, 
the former being in every way much more formidable than the old 
broadside guns. 
Against a fortress, consisting of well-designed and dispersed bar¬ 
bettes, with good cover for the detachments, the effect of fire of a 
modern ship will, in some respects, actually diminish as she approaches, 
for the projectiles will have little angle of descent and searching 
power and the effect of shrapnel will be lessened. 
Indirect fire can, of course, be attained to a certain extent by using 
reduced charges with modern low-trajectory guns. Howitzers would 
be the best weapon for the attack of fortresses, but useless for that 
purpose for which ships were designed—the attack of other ships— 
and even in calm weather difficult to use with accuracy. At Shoe- 
buryness, in 1866, H.M.S. Hercules , anchored in smooth water, was 
unable at a range of 1500 yards with an 8-inch howitzer to plant a 
shell within 20 yards of a conspicuous target flag ; two rounds fired 
with same elevation and charge giving a difference of 370 yards. 
It is improbable that ordinary sea-going ironclads will be armed 
with howitzers, though special vessels might possibly be constructed 
for them. 
Ships .are heavily handicapped for the following reasons :— 
(1.) They are not designed to fight fortresses, but to fight other 
ships. 
(2.) Good shooting from a ship depends on the state of the sea, 
whereas the shore gun has a stable platform. 
(3.) They cannot carry the enormous quantity of ammunition 
requisite to silence a modern fortress. 
(4.) No satisfactory method of range-finding exists afloat, that 
on shore being perfect. 
(5.) It is difficult to locate guns on shore, and many rounds, 
correctly laid, are thrown away. 
(6.) The comparative targets of a single ship and a single gun 
(and if the shore guns be properly dispersed it is single 
guns at which the ships’ fire must be directed) are enor¬ 
mously against the former. 
Some of the best authorities hold that serious bombardment of a 
fortress is most unlikely to be attempted owing to the above disadvan¬ 
tages under which the ships labour. Still it must not be forgotten 
that fortresses have always been the masters of ships, and as this form 
of attack has been occasionally attempted, and even carried out suc¬ 
cessfully, in the past, so it may be again. 
We, therefore, part of whose duties consist in defending coast 
fortresses, must not lull ourselves into a sense of false security by 
making up our minds that these fortresses will never be attacked. 
Serious bombardment, however, will never bo attempted without an 
enormous superiority of guns on the part of the ships. 
