COMMENDED ESSAY, 1893 . 
403 
net. It lias been recently decided that the best protection consists in 
having special vessels of 800 tons armed with numerous light guns, 
and nets will probably be discarded in the immediate future. 
PART IY. 
Details of the Attack.—Naval Attack. 
The general conditions of an attack on a coast fortress by a fleet are 
as follows :— 
(1.) The ships will not have much choice as to point of attack. 
(2.) The ships, provided they retain their mobility, can choose 
the moment for commencing and ceasing the attack. 
(3.) The locality will be well known to the defence, and prepared 
with obstacles, &c. 
(4.) Before making a decisive attack the ships will have to spend 
some time in clearing obstacles. 
(5.) The clearing of these obstacles will point out to the defence 
the intended path of attack. 
(6.) The obstacles will compel the ships to advance with caution. 
(7.) The ships will have to economise their ammunition. 
(8.) The fortress need not do so (unless invested on the laud 
side).. 
(9.) The fortress can only repulse the attack, it cannot pursue or 
capture ships. 
(10.) Once the fire of the fortress has been subdued, part of the 
fleet can hold it in check whilst the remaining ships carry 
out what is wanted. 
(11.) The accuracy of fire of the fortress depends solely on per¬ 
sonnel and materiel , whereas that of the fleet depends also 
on the state of the sea. 
In Part II. we came to the conclusion that there are three forms of 
feasible naval attack, viz.:—(1) Ravaging attack by small craft for 
the purpose of cutting out ships, &c. ; (2) forcing a channel; (3) 
bombardment. We will examine these in order. 
(1.) Ravaging attack by small craft .—This form of attack will be 
best carried out by torpedo boats at night. The conditions for success 
are (1) darkness; (2) careless defence. The electric light, machine 
and Q.P. guns are great obstacles. The boats, gear, and also the 
men ; s faces should be coloured dull black. Should guard-boats be 
found patrolling the harbour, fire from the shore need not be much 
feared as it would be equally dangerous to friend and foe. 
(2.) Forcing a Channel .—In this case the aim of the ships will be 
to keep themselves as intact as possible and reserve their ammunition 
for the attack of some objective beyond the fortress. Hence they 
will try to get past as quickly as possible, 
