ARTILLERY IN COAST DEFENCE. 
409 
vessels, it would not be well to entirely neglect tbe others, since it is 
always advisable to draw tbe fire of ships, and cause them to exhaust 
their limited supply of ammunition. 
Should the forts be successful in checking the advance, the fire 
should then be distributed on the fleet, with a view to doing as much 
damage to the armament and inflicting as heavy losses as possible 
on the crews during the time that they remain under the fire of the 
forts; any vessel absolutely stopped, might safely be left to be dealt 
with by the high-angle guns, if there are any. 
The choice of the objective on which fire is to be opened by forts, 
rests with the Section (or Sub-section) Commander, who will indicate 
to each Fire Commander the vessel he wishes him to attack, and in 
some cases will also give orders as to the effect which he wishes the 
Fire Commanders to produce viz.: whether the ship is to be stopped 
or the armament to be attacked, &c. Fire Commanders should how¬ 
ever be prepared to act independently should circumstances require it; 
such as for instance, a break-down in the means of communication with 
the Section Commander. Therefore Fire Commanders must have a 
thorough knowledge of the general scheme of defence as far as the 
action of their own fort is concerned. 
As an action progresses, if the enemy’s fleet is partially successful, 
and the attack pushed home, the tactical control will tend more and 
more to fall into the hands of subordinate commanders, and eventually 
into the hands of Group officers; these officers must therefore be pre¬ 
pared to undertake the responsibility. At this stage of an action there 
would not be much opportunity of choosing the objective, and they 
would have to fight their guns at any object they could see; a thorough 
knowledge of the water area covered by their group and of the proper 
projectiles to use against various objectives is therefore essential. 
The control must never be allowed to pass out of the hands of Group 
officers into those of the Gun Captains. Good effect can only be pro¬ 
duced by concentration of effort, and the longer the control can be 
kept in the hands of the commanders of the larger units the better the 
effect will be; if allowed to fall into the hands of Gun Captains all 
power of concentration is lost and it is only by chance that any good 
effect can be produced. 
The question, “ at what ship shall we fire ?” having been decided, the 
next consideration is what damage shall we attempt to inflict on her ? 
in other words, what part of the ship shall we try to hit and what pro¬ 
jectile shall we use ? In order to decide the answer to these questions 
some knowledge of the construction of warships is necessary. 
In the first place we may note that it is of no use studying the 
vessels of our own navy, since we shall not have to engage them; nor 
is it necessary to consider the navies of the lesser naval powers, since 
they are unlikely to be brought against our fortresses, nor do they pre¬ 
sent any great peculiarities; the only navies which it is necessary to 
consider as affording distinct types are the French, Italian, and Russian; 
and this much reduces the difficulty of the task. 
It is as well clearly to understand that as a general rule ships are 
built, not to attack coast defences, but to fight other ships. Their 
