262 
FIELD ARTILLERY FIRE. 
Disadvantages of Drench System. 
a. The French take a small bracket of Jth of a turn of the 
elevating screw, which at different ranges has a varying 
value :— 
At 1000 metres its value is 35 metres. 
» 5000 „ „ „ „ 12 „ 
Thus at the longer ranges the bracket is less than the 50 per 
cent, rectangle of the gun. 
b. This method is exclusively employed, whatever the range, 
during the whole of the ranging. The turns and fractions of 
turns having a varying influence on the range, it is necessary 
to translate them into millimetres of sight and not into metres 
of range; consequently the sight must be graduated in milli¬ 
metres, which is inconvenient. 
e. Only the gun next about to fire takes the correction ordered, 
so that, if the observation of a round is doubtful, it cannot be 
repeated without further alteration, which, however, can be 
made so rapidly that this can hardly be reckoned a disadvan¬ 
tage. 
d. It is really only the round that forms the lower elevation of the 
short bracket that is properly verified, and the only one that 
the O.O. can be absolutely certain of, as all the rest have been 
fired after a correction by elevating screw, which is inexact. 
The disadvantage of the inexactness of the amount of elevation 
given by a turn or a fraction of a turn of the elevating* screw has 
been met by the Italians who have placed a small indicator on their 
carriage which shows the exact amount of elevation added or taken 
off by each movement. In our service during the past two years 
experiments have been carried out with several kinds of indicators and 
good results have been obtained. 
It is hoped that we may soon have some form of indicator for the 
12-pr., especially for those batteries employed with the cavalry 
brigades, where rapidity of ranging is of such great importance. The 
saving of time is about 10 seconds per round, i.e. } to take out, reset 
and replace a tangent scale, and correct the laying, takes on the 
average 12 seconds; to correct the laying by means of an indicator on 
the elevating gear takes on the average two seconds. 
There are two other systems which claim our attention; although 
they find no present exponents on the Continent, yet they have both 
been tried and have been for some time adopted before being aban¬ 
doned. 
They are known as the echelle de distances or u ladder of ranges,” 
and the echelon de distances or the “ echelon of ranges.” 
The ladder system is of great interest, as it is the first attempt at 
a definite system of fire-discipline, and is the invention of the German 
Artillery. 
The Battery Commander estimated the range and ordered an initial 
elevation considerably less in order to ensure the first round falling 
