93 
NATAL ATTACK OF FORTIFICATIONS. 
BY 
CAPTAIN H. J. MAY, R.N. 
(Lecture delivered, at the School of Gunnery, Shoeburyness). 
PART I. 
Gentlemen, —I am afraid I have nothing very new to tell you this 
afternoon. This subject has been very thoroughly dealt with by more 
competent men than myself. From a shore point of view, I dare say 
you have read what Major Lewis, Major Clarke, and many others, 
perhaps more able, have written; and from a naval point of view, all 
I wish to say this afternoon has, I think, been better said by Captain 
Jackson before the Royal Engineers, his paper being printed in their 
“ Proceedings” in the year 1889. But still I saw the other day in the 
newspaper something about “ the vexed question of ships versus for¬ 
tifications;” so I suppose there are still some people who have not 
quite made up their minds upon the subject. 
If you will allow me, I will wander for a minute or two into the 
domains of strategy. One of the vexed questions I believe is, What 
does a ship want to do ? What we want to do, in a very few words, is 
to obtain command of the sea. That is the main objective of all the 
fighting force afloat. By that we mean, not that we shall sweep the 
seas completely clean of every foreign ship, but that no hostile ship 
shall be able to remain at sea without being encountered by a superior 
force, and destroyed or driven into port; and that a hostile expedition 
runs its greatest risk whilst at sea, and is sure to be overwhelmed if it 
is delayed by only a moderate amount of resistance on the coast long 
enough for the superior fleet to come up. If we obtain the command 
of the sea, we shall want, I think, little more. 
Still, fortifications exist, and you will say, Are the fortifications no 
good? I think the fortifications are of decided use, because, supposing 
that we do completely sweep the sea, then comes the question, Where 
do we sweep the sea to ? Well, those ships which have fled from us 
at sea will escape into fortified harbours. From the experience of old 
wars, I believe we shall find that those ships will remain in those 
harbours, and that we shall not be able to get at them ; and because 
there are fortifications they will be able to come out in twos and threes, 
and very much annoy our commerce. So that I do not think that any 
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