22 COAST DEFENCE AGAINST TORPEDO-BOAT ATTACK. 
Trained to rely on himself, for the most part the naval officer knows 
very little and believes less in the powerful aid shore batteries can 
render him, yet on the very few occasions in which the Navy and 
Coast Artillery have been enabled to work together, though he 
exhibits contempt for the system which cripples the shore artillery, by 
making them entirely dependent for their efficiency on a variety of 
departments working independently of them, and also in the numerical 
weakness of their armament, his views as to the part they could 
undertake in keeping him free from attack, if they were properly 
practiced and given the free hand he himself gets, undergo a con¬ 
siderable modification. Accustomed to fire from guns on a low level 
the naval officer credits the striking power of all guns high or low as 
about equal, but he now sees the very much greater certainty with 
which shells can be made to strike small moving objects when fired 
from guns on a high site ; the advantages they would possess if auto- 
sighted over his own low sited guns, and the enormously better field 
of view which they obtain at night over the sea. The gain in having 
the electric light on a steady platform and the possibility of placing 
it at the best height for the guns to act commends itself to him. The 
height of his own lights, like that of his guns, being limited. 
Garrison Torpedo-boats can, in themselves, do no harm to shore 
Artillery defences. Perhaps, as a consequence. Garrison 
defence. Artillery are apt to treat that part of their work 
which deals with resistance to their raids as a matter of comparatively 
light importance. In reality it is a difficult and by no means light 
duty ; one which, at a great number of stations, would be the first 
called into play in the event of war and a task which requires the very 
greatest efficiency, both of personnel and materiel , to be of any use 
whatever on most nights in the year. Yet, given reasonably placed 
Q.IYs and facilities for using them such as modern artillery science 
can readily provide, it should be a disgrace to them if they allow a 
boat to slip in and do damage on any fairly clear night. A heavy 
armament appeals much more strongly to the imagination both of 
gunners and the public, but, as far as regards attack by ships, if heavy 
guns are at all well sited and mounted, they can only be effectively 
engaged by day, when they have a large easily seen target, much 
more vulnerable than themselves and one which they can batter with 
every advantage on their side except choice of time. The enormous 
amount of ammunition expended by the American fleet in Cuba 
against a feeble armament, chiefly mounted on heights in improvised 
defences, without any corresponding result is sufficient to show the 
advantages shore defences possess. 
Siting of guns siting of light Q.F. guns and that of electric 
and lights lights in any given fortress so as to oppose the greatest 
possible difficulties to the safe approach of torpedo- 
boats is, owing to the many unexpected complications which crop up, 
a very difficult problem when attempted from an office desk. General 
rules have been sought from trials here and there but, generally from 
too limited an experience, these frequently break down when applied 
