QUICK-FIRING GUNS IN HARBOUR DEFENCE. 
295 
in their charge. It will be for them, in concert with the Engineers, 
to decide how to dispose them to the best advantage ; to evolve for 
them schemes of organisation and tactical employment; and to so train 
themselves in the service of the new guns that they may be ready 
when the time comes to use their great powers to the full. For from 
their nature these guns will require a special scheme for their work¬ 
ing, differing somewhat from those that may already have been drawn 
up for the present armament, as I hope to show later on : though 
being a scheme for auxiliary armament only, in most cases, it should 
not, of course, in any way interfere with that already in existence for 
the general tactical working of the fortress. 
Present ideas on the position of guns on a sea-front are embodied Disposition, 
in the words “ dispersion ” and “ concealment.” Groups of well- 
dispersed and well-concealed emplacements—the guns mounted on 
disappearing mountings for low sites, and en barbette with bullet-proof 
breech shields when at a moderate height—with an infantry redoubt 
here and there to keep off landing-parties; such emplacements are to 
take the place of conspicuous works, crowded with guns cramped 
behind armour or exposing their detachments to machine-gun fire. 
Quick-firing guns cannot, of course, be placed on disappearing mount¬ 
ings, 1 but lend themselves perfectly to the barbette form. One of 
these guns thus mounted can practically only be put out of action by 
a direct hit either on the gun itself or on the crest of the front of the 
emplacement : and, if properly concealed, would even on a low site be 
so difficult to distinguish, and present such a small target when seen 
that it would seem, judging from the few direct hits obtained by the 
fleet at Alexandria, almost impossible for a ship’s gun to do it any 
damage. The difficulty of ranging the machine guns of the ships at 
Alexandria, and the results of the Inchkeith experiments would make 
it appear that the gun detachment, protected by a bullet-proof shield, 
have not much to fear from machine-gun and shrapnel bullets. 
Where, as in most coast fortresses, forts already exist, it is impor¬ 
tant for many reasons, such as noise, smoke, &c., that quick-firing 
guns be kept outside these works at some little distance. In some 
cases, however, as in the Spit Forts, it is impossible to do this ; but 
these are exceptional. The present organisation for quick-firing guns 
lays down that they shall be under the control of the Fort Commander 
through a Sub-Commander. As it is in the highest degree essential 
that every gun of the fortress shall, for purposes of concentration and 
direction of fire, &c., be under the control of some officer exercising, 
under the Section C.R.A., the duties of Fork Commander, it would 
seem inadvisable to place the new guns too far away from the existing 
work ; unless they be made to form the armament of a new Fort 
Commander’s command. This would hardly be done if they are to be 
considered merely as auxiliary armament. 
Combining the considerations of necessity for dispersion of guns “Dispersed” 
and necessity for control of their fire, it appears that these guns will Groups * 
most probably be found disposed in groups of not more than three of 
1 The “ balance pillar ” mounting can hardly be called disappearing, for the gun is exposed the 
whole time it is in action. 
