COMMENDED ESSAY, 1897 . 
347 
In carrying out this preliminary practice it is most essential that not 
only the major of a company but the other officers a]so should have 
ample opportunities of commanding. Most modern forts are constructed 
for only two or three guns, and subalterns will often find themselves in 
time of war no longer “group commanders” but “battery commanders,” 
and even where there are many guns in a fort there will probably be 
groups which must be worked independently ; whilst at any time a 
major or captain may be placed hors de combat and a subaltern would 
have to take his place. 
By the present regulations each company is allowed, for company prac¬ 
tice, 140 rounds of 64 pr. ammunition or its equivalent in value. For 
the preliminary practice mentioned above each officer should fire two 
or three series of six to eight rounds each, including shrapnel shell in 
one of them ; say twenty rounds for each officer, or 100 rounds for a 
company. In order to be able to fire so many rounds 64 pr. guns must 
be used, and where they are not available in the armament of a fortress 
practice batteries must be made. Slight alterations must also be made 
in the ordinary mountings of such guns so that traversing may be 
carried out as with heavier guns, and quadrant elevation be given. 
Traversing arcs must also be laid. 
The rest of the annual practice of a company should be carried out 
entirely from the guns which it mans in time of war. If money were 
no object there would undoubtedly be advantages in taking companies 
from fort to fort and giving them a general training in the use of as 
many guns and forts as possible, but every penny that can be obtained 
in present circumstances should be devoted to the far more important 
work of training companies for their actual duties in war. The per¬ 
sonnel of a company changes now-a-days so rapidly that there is no 
opportunity of giving a company, as a unit, a general education in 
gunnery as well as a special training with its own guns ; individuals 
however will still have a great variety of training, since they frequently 
change their stations either with their company or as drafts for com¬ 
panies abroad. 
Our present schools of instruction, though they have undoubtedly 
done much good, act directly against the principle of training companies 
for war. It is manifest that a company told off to a Spithead fort would 
be better prepared to fight if its annual practice were carried out from 
its own fort instead of taking place at the Needles. Practice at the 
Needles is no doubt of great use, but it cannot compare for the require¬ 
ments of actual warfare with practice from the Spithead fort. It may 
be urged that more rounds could be fired from the guns at the Needles 
for a given money value ; but a quarter of this number, if fired from 
the Spithead fort, would be a better training for war, provided that the 
preliminary practice mentioned above had taken place. The only case 
when a company should practice elsewhere than at its own fort is when 
a clear range cannot be obtained in front of it, but if companies were 
allotted as urged above this would very rarely occur, for the “ important ” 
forts must almost always form part of the outer defences, except those 
armed with quick-firing guns for defence against torpedo boats, which 
will often command the inner waters. Where such cases occur the best 
arrangements possible must be made locally, and a fort as similar as 
possible to that to which the company is allotted must be selected for 
the practice. 
There is too great a tendency in our present arrangements towards 
