550 
LAYING WITH A CLINOMETER. 
Now it is at once obvious, that if No. 1 gun is laid correctly with 2° 
58' elevation, and No. 6 gun is given the same elevation, the shell from 
No. 6 gun will pass 20 feet above the heads of the enemy at C. At 2000 
yards, the slope of descent is 1 in 13. Therefore the shell from No. 6 
would go 260 feet or 87 yards over the target. Similarly at 1500 yards 
No. 6 would shoot 133 yards over, and at 2500 yards; 60 yards over. 
Let us follow for example the case when the battery commander 
omits to give the “necessary correction,” and assume the true range to 
be 1550 yards. 
Shot. 
Gun. 
Elevation. 
Range. 
Result. 
Observation. 
1st- 
No. 1 
1500 
1500 
_ 
Correct. 
2nd. 
„ 2 
1600 
1626 
+ 
Correct. 
3rd. 
„ 3 
1550 
1603 
+ 
Wrong. 
4th. 
„ 4 
1525 
1604 
4- 
Wrong. 
5th. 
„ 5 
J5 
1630 
+ 
7 Here no doubt, the B. C. would either doubt 
6th. 
„ 6 
1500 
1633 
+ 
) his senses, or abuse (mentally) his layers. 
7th. 
„ 1 
1500 
1500 
— 
Correct. 
8th. 
„ 2 
,, 
1526 
— 
9th. 
„ 3 
1553 
t 
Here perhaps he would consider 1500 yards the correct range, and 
go on accordingly. If ever he found his fuze, which is doubtful, his 
right section would be firing low but still doing a little effect, his 
centre section a little over but with good effect, and his left section 
would shoot about 70 yards over the target with little or no effect. 
Having demonstrated how “ necessary 33 the “ correction 33 is, let us 
see what it should be. 
To return to fig. 1. We see No. 6 gun with the same elevation 
as that necessary for No. 1 would shoot 87 yards over the target. At 
2000 yards five minutes depression reduces the range 38 yards, so the 
“ necessary correction 33 would be about 11J minutes, say 12. Similarly 
No. 5 gun would want | X 12 minutes, or 10 nearly of depression. 
Now the difference between the average corrections necessary for the 
right and left sections respectively would be the same as between 
No. 1 and No. 5 guns. Therefore, if we take the correction for No. 5 
gun as the correction for the left section, and half that for the centre, 
we shall get uniform shooting. Nos. 1, 3 and 5 will shoot a few yards 
short and Nos. 2, 4 and 6 a few yards beyond the target. These cor¬ 
rections would be given on the clinometer before ranging began. 
Nos. 1 and 2 would be set at zero, 3 and 4 at 5 minutes depression and 
5 and 6 at 10 minutes. I only point out the corrections by sections, 
because the drill-book orders such (see quotation above), but it would 
be quite as simple to give corrections for each gun beforehand, and the 
table suggested below could be made up for that system as well as for 
the present regulation system. 
But before a battery commander can order these corrections he must 
estimate the differences in height of his right and left guns, and also 
of the right and left of the target. He must then calculate the cor¬ 
rections. The first of these operations can only be done by eye after 
a good deal of practice. The second can be simplified by a table, 
which should form part of the range table for every field gun, if laying 
