554 
KIGHTINC BOOKS. 
The u Garrison Artillery Drill/* Yol. I., indicates the lines on which 
such systems of fighting forts are to be based, but, so far as I know, 
no complete specimen of a “ Fighting Book” has yet been published. 
I venture, therefore, to suggest the following form of “ Fighting 
Book ** as containing sufficient information in a concise form to enable 
a coast fort to be fought to the best advantage. In order to carry out 
the principle that when actually fighting his fort the B.C. should not 
be burdened with any matter not dealing directly with the best method 
of inflicting the greatest amount of damage, in the shortest possible 
space of time, on the hostile vessel opposed to him, the book has been 
divided into two parts. 
Part I. contains a summary of useful information regarding the 
fighting powers of the fort. This part will necessarily vary consider¬ 
ably according to local circumstances, that given in the specimen book 
being only intended as a guide. 
Part II. deals with the fort “ in action.** In this part it will be 
noticed that each form of attack—with its corresponding <e detail of 
projectiles**—is dealt with on one double page, so that a B.C. has all 
his information before him at once. 
Parts I. and II. should be bound together in the form of a book for 
easy reference. 
With regard to Part I., it may be objected that the information con¬ 
tained therein should form part of the “ Fort Kecord Book** (a) —and so it 
should—but by embodying it also in a “ Fighting Book,** which is being 
constantly consulted at drill, there is less likelihood of it being over¬ 
looked. 
The only point in the “ Fighting Book,** which requires any special 
explanation here is the system of classification adopted for indicating 
the class of ship approaching the fort, as it may appear, at first sight, 
to differ from that contained in the drill-book. The divergence is, 
however, more from the letter than from the spirit of the authorized 
system, as the following will show. 
All navies, from the point of view of a coast fort, naturally fall into 
the following five classes, viz.:— 
I.—Heavy ironclads ... ... ... Signal one. 
II. —Medium ironclads... ... ... Signal two. 
III. —Light ironclads (including gun-boats) Signal three. 
IY. —Cruisers... ... ... ... Signal four. 
Y. —Torpedo boats and light craft ... Signal five. 
Simplification for any individual fort can therefore be obtained by 
arranging locally the classes of ships noted in the identification sheets 
under the above-named groups according to the power of the guns 
with which the fort is armed in the following manner :— 
(«) Ships carrying belt armour beyond the power of the heaviest 
guns mounted at ranges over 500 yards being classed as 
“ Heavv.** 
a Gr.A.D* (1895), Yol. I., p. 452. 
