296 
QUICK-FIRING GUNS IN HARBOUR DEFENCE. 
Method of 
Working 
Proposed for 
6-prs. in 
Forts. 
Methods of 
Fighting 
“Dispersed” 
Group 
against mov. 
ing Objec¬ 
tive. 
the heavy or four of the lighter natures, the guns in each group being 
placed some 30 or 40 yards apart, or if traverses are placed between 
the guns about 20 yards apart. Local circumstances, of course, will 
determine many points of detail. The work of loading the 6-inch 
and 4*7-inch quick-firing guns in rapid firing is very heavy, so that 
the loading numbers require to be frequently relieved ; cover for the 
reliefs must therefore be provided close at hand. It would also be 
advisable to provide communication, screened from fire and observa¬ 
tion, between the guns, and from them to observing stations on the 
flanks. For it may be taken for granted that the man who lays a 
quick-firing gun will, in rapid firing, be too much occupied with the 
laying of the next round to be able to observe where his last round 
went: and it is not necessary that he should, so long as the officer in 
charge of the group of quick-firing guns is able to observe the fire of 
his group. As his duties differ somewhat from those of the present 
“ Group Officer,” I would term this officer a “ Group Commander.” 
As one man lays both for direction and elevation, and generally 
superintends the working of the gun, thus combining the duties of 
gun-layer and gun-captain, he may be conveniently designated by the 
old term of “No. 1.” 
I am not aware of the method that has been devised of working for 
the exceptional cases, as above, where 6-pr. quick-firing guns have to 
be mounted alternately with the heavy guns in the fort. But it 
appears hardly possible to control the fire of these pieces in groups, 
so that these seem to be the only cases where fire-control must be left 
to the Nos. 1. I imagine each of these might do best by working as 
follows :—Keeping under cover till the ranges passed down show that 
the objective is nearly within his effective fire, he would then go to 
the nearest heavy gun on his right hand, say, and, by looking along 
the gun when laid, find out the group objective; by then firing at 
this objective as fast as he can, only stopping to alter his tangent-sight 
according to the ranges passed down to the heavy guns ; having pre¬ 
viously been informed what correction he must make for the “ error of 
the day” of the quick-firing guns in the heavy gun group, which 
would then all be firing at the same objective under much the same 
conditions of elevation, &c.; and an observer stationed at a central 
port, or at the position-finder, or other observing station, might 
perhaps to a certain extent correct their fire. 
Returning to the “ dispersed ” groups described above, away from 
the fort, there seem to be two methods of fighting them when engaging* 
a moving ship—the only sort of objective likely to be presented to 
them. In both cases, except at close quarters, the Fort Commander 
would point out the objective to the “ Group Commander,” with whom 
he must be in communication; also the “ Group Commander ” must 
have some means, whether by electric or visual dials, of communicating 
angles of training, when he wishes to give his Nos. 1 their objective ; 
and of passing to them the various elevations and amounts of deflec¬ 
tion at which he may wish them to set their tangent-sights. In each 
case, moreover, the “ Group Commander ” will require some means of 
giving special signals to his Nos. 1, such as when to commence or 
