480 
ARTILLERY IN COAST DEFENCE. 
depression range-finder, the guns being fired by order of Group 
Officers and Gun-Captains. 
Note.—I t lias been proposed to arrange the training arcs so that the lines of 
fire should converge at 2000 yards ; it should be borne in mind that the angle 
necessary to converge these lines varies not only with the range, but with the 
angle of training; therefore this plan would only converge the fire for one 
position of the enemy. A better plan would be that a dial for each gun should 
show the correct training for that gun. A difficulty arises in laying guns for 
direction by training arc, when there are no actual pivots, due to the play 
between the trucks and racers; the line of fire will vary slightly in direction, 
though the pointer reads the same, according as the last motion in training was 
trail right or trail left; the last motion should, therefore, be always in the same 
direction, in the same manner that the last motion of the elevating gear should 
always be one of depression. 
PART IY. 
Fire Discipline. 
The object of fire discipline is to ensure uniformity in the shooting 
of the guns. 
Without good fire discipline no effective fire control is possible, and 
the best tactical scheme of defence will be rendered useless. The 
whole value of Artillery in Coast Defence may, therefore, be said to 
depend on the efficiency of Group Commanders, Group Officers, 
Gun-Captains, and Gun-Layers, who are responsible for maintaining 
fire discipline; and this fact cannot be too often or too strongly im¬ 
pressed on those officers and N.-C. officers. 
This is especially necessary under modern conditions of fighting 
guns, since the Fire Commander is usually at some distance from the 
guns, and errors of shooting, due to bad fire discipline, are less easily 
detected by him ; thus misleading him (or the operator in the position¬ 
finding system) as to the result of his fire. He will naturally suppose 
that an error in the shot was due to his calculations, and will correct 
accordingly, when, if the cause of the error at the guns is no longer 
in operation, his next shot will probably have an equal error in the 
opposite direction. 
Good fire discipline simply consists in rapid and correct drill under 
all possible circumstances, in correct loading with the ammunition 
ordered, in accurate laying at the proper objective, in the correct 
application of any corrections which have to be made at the group, as, 
for instance, that for group difference, and in firing the guns neither 
too soon nor too late. 
Time is an essential point in firing at moving objects, and all drills 
are drawn up with the object of ensuring that the various operations 
shall be performed as safely and quickly as possible. It must be 
remembered that haste is not speed, and that rapidity of fire can only 
be ensured by each number doing his own work, and only his own 
work, quickly but without hurry. 
Many details of loading are of the utmost importance; for instance, 
