COAST DEFENCE. 
183 
correct, then, for National Defence, and for all purposes where joint 
action is necessary, the Navy and Army are as one. They stand or fall 
together. It is only necessary to remember that their individual 
duties are different. 
Since I wrote the above I am pleased to find the same idea has been 
expressed by an abler voice than mine. 1 But in this connection let me 
beseech you not to think or do or say anything that may tend to create 
or foster a spirit of jealous rivalry between the two services. There is 
no tug of war between the Navy and the Army; we are both on the 
same side of the rope. You who are so skilled at shifting ordnance 
know the value of the word of command, “ Taut, together heave,” and 
in any apparent difference in naval and military opinion remember 
we must all “ heave together.” 
GIrrison Artillery Drill is not Unnecessarily Complicated. 
It is frequently said that coast artillery drill is too complicated. 
Those who, for the first time, take up the subject of coast artillery are 
often unnecessarily alarmed by the various figures and formulae that 
confront them. Objections are raised to the following effect: That to 
comprehend the various calculations a man must be an advanced 
mathematician, and that, even when able to grapple with complicated 
sums and tables, he could not be expected to do so in the heat of 
action. In short, the complete coast artilleryman is often, by a process 
of unnecessary exaggeration, likened to a creature such as Shakespeare 
must have had in his mind when he wrote, “ A braggart, a rogue, a 
villain that fights by the book of arithmetic.” 2 No one expects sums 
to be worked out in action. The object of all you read in your Drill 
Book is in order to accustom and train your mind at drill, and at peace 
practice to what time of flight and a moving target really mean. Thus 
when the day of action comes you will instinctively know what is 
required to be done in order that your projectile and target may meet. 
It is wonderful how soon our range-finding specialists acquire the 
power of accurately estimating the speed of a ship from constant 
practice in measuring it. Similarly, coast artillery officers, and 
especially those who will have to act as battery commanders, should, 
by constant practice and application of the rules and tables furnished 
to assist them, be able instinctively to arrive at accurate data for suc¬ 
cessful shooting. 
Tables and formulae are poor substitutes for the experience of much 
practice, but until we get a larger allowance of ammunition to fire, 
and even if that allowance could be made sufficient to our wants, 
they are of undoubted assistance, and should be carefully used 
accordingly. 
The reason for the apparent complication in fire discipline of coast 
artillery is that for service practice we have abolished standing targets, 
sighting shots, and signalling errors by a range party, as useless in 
1 Admiral Colomb. 
2 Borneo and Juliet, Act III. Sc. 1. 
