410 
ARTILLERY IN COAST DEFENCE. 
weapons are guns, torpedoes and tlie ram, of which the two latter are 
useless against coast defences. The armament is divided, much as 
coast armament is, into primary armament, consisting of a few heavy 
armour-piercing guns, the secondary battery, serving the same purpose 
as our secondary armament, and the auxiliary armament of light 
quick-firing and machine guns, roughly corresponding to our movable 
armament. 
It is, of course, essential that a ship should be able to float, steer and 
steam throughout an engagement, therefore her “ vitals,” that is her 
engines and boilers and her power of flotation are protected by side 
(vertical) armour or by a protective deck at or near the water-line 
(horizontal armour) or by a combination of the two. It is also desir¬ 
able that her armament and crew should be protected, but this is not 
so essential as the protection of her “ vitals,” since even if her guns 
are silenced, provided she can steam at speed, and her stability and 
steering gear are intact, she can hope to defeat her enemy with the ram 
or torpedo. 
In the earliest ironclads we find that complete protection was afforded 
to the “ vitals ” and the armament by casing the whole hull in armour, 
but as the power of guns increased, it was no longer possible for ships 
to carry the enormous weight of armour necessary to thoroughly pro¬ 
tect the whole hull; we therefore find that certain parts of the ship are 
left unprotected, the armour being concentrated on the water-line and 
on a central citadel containing the most important part of the arma¬ 
ment. 
Further increase in the power of guns, and consequently of the 
weight of armour to be carried, rendered the abandonment of the 
citadel necessary; so that in general, we may say that, in modern 
foreign ships, the vitals are always protected; the primary armament 
is either completely protected, by being mounted in turrets, or partially 
so in barbettes; while most usually the secondary armament is com¬ 
pletely unprotected. The auxiliary armament has only the protection 
of bullet-proof shields, and is generally mounted on the upper deck 
and in military tops. Breech-hoods are sometimes added as a protec¬ 
tion to the crews of B.L. guns, mounted en barbette, and in some few 
cases guns have been mounted on disappearing carriages. 
There are several points which it is desirable to know as regards 
ships, such as their speed, draught (which limits the positions on the 
water area in which they can place themselves), length and breadth 
(which define the size of the target offered), appearance, and the 
nature and disposition of the armament; but the all-important con¬ 
siderations with regard to the question we are now considering are : 
what is the nature of the target offered? how far is it vulnerable to our 
fire? and what is the most advantageous portion to attack? and these 
questions can be answered when we know the thickness and disposition 
of the armour. 
From this point of view the battleships, coast defence vessels and 
gunboats of the French navy can be grouped into three main divisions 
depending on the disposition of the armour; all of them have complete 
water-line protection by side armour, and some have in addition ar¬ 
moured decks. 
