465 
NOTES OF LECTURES 
ON 
ARTILLERY IN COAST DEFENCE. 
BY 
MAJOR A. C. HANSARD, R.A. 
(Instructor of Gunnery ). 
PART III. 
Fire Control. 
Under the head of “ Fire Tactics ” we considered the questions what 
object to fire at, and what projectiles to use. We now have to con¬ 
sider the means by which we can ensure that those projectiles shall hit 
the object. 
A foreign writer has said that the object of a good system of “ Fire 
Control” (or control of the trajectory), should be to enable the Com¬ 
mander to hold, as it were, the mean trajectory of his guns in his hand, 
and direct a stream of projectiles on to any spot he may wish; with 
the same facility with which a gardener, holding a hose, can direct a 
stream of water-drops on to first one plant and then another. 
There are three methods in use, by which this object is attained more 
or less completely; the method used depending on the availability of 
instruments to find the range, or position of the object; or the absence 
of any such aids. 
We will take the last case first, namely, that in which we have no 
instrumental means of finding the range. The best way to make the 
method clear is, perhaps, to take an example. We will therefore sup¬ 
pose that an object is approaching us, and is now at a range estimated 
to be 2000 yards. We first of all fire a shot, at an elevation short of 
2000 yards, to make sure that the distance of the object has not been 
over-estimated; for this first shot an elevation should be selected, so 
much shorter than that at which the object is believed to be, as will 
allow plenty of time to load and lay the remainder of the guns. We 
may suppose that the object is advancing at a rate of about four miles 
an hour; at this rate it will take about a minute and-a-half to cover 
200 yards; we, therefore, fix on 1800 yards as the elevation at which 
to fire our first shot. The burst of the shell (or with heavy guns, the 
splash of the projectile) will show us whether this shot fell beyond the 
object, or between us and the object; and if the latter, we can judge " 
9. VOL. XIX. 
