July 17, 1915. 
LAND AND WATER 
On the Dogger Bank, so far from the 
Germans having been outranged, they succeeded 
in winging the Lion disastrously and in hitting 
Tiger several times. The Blucher succumbed 
because she came under the fire successively of 
three broadsides of 13.5's and two broadsides of 
12-inch guns. I do not mean to say that with 
her 8-inch guns she could have been expected to 
hit at the opening ranges of this engagement, 
which, if I remember right, was about 18,000 
yards. It is, indeed, the one case where the word 
-'-' outranged " may possibly be used rightly, 
although it is exceedingly doubtful if many hits 
were made, even by the 13.5's, until the range had 
been considerably reduced. 
None of these engagements have — so far as 
the details are known — revealed any principles 
entirely new to gunnery. It had been for years 
contended that if a squadron armed with lighter 
guns is compelled to engage one armed with guns 
of a markedly superior nature, the only conceiv- 
able right tactic is to close at full speed so as to 
compel the enemy to fight in conditions in which 
the smaller pieces will, first, find it easier to hit; 
next, be sure of doing serious damage when they 
do hit; and, finally, gain the advantage of their 
more rapid fire. It is interesting that in the 
engagement between Sydney and the Emden and 
the Carnania and Cap Trafalgar, the German 
ship in each case adopted this tactic at the outset 
of the action. But in neither instance v»-as she 
able to continue closing. The truth is that if one 
ship closes another at full speed, there must be set 
up so rapid a change of range (and, if the enemy 
changes course, so canjing a change of range) as 
completely to baffle the systems of fire control 
generally in use. 
The only way in vrhich a ship can be said to 
be outranged is when it is desired to use its guns at 
ranges which require an elevation too great for the 
mountings. It was, for instance, currently said that 
one of the reasons why Queen Elizabeth was sent to 
the Dardanelles was that her 15-inch guns could 
bombard forts by indirect fire, that could not be 
reached by the old-fashioned ships. I would hazard 
a guess that the old Mark 8 and ]\Iark 9 12-inch 
guns could have reached to any target actually 
engaged by Queen Elizabeth, had those guns been 
so mounted that the requisite elevation could have 
been got. But for many years it was a fixed idea 
in British naval circles that ships would never 
engage forts again, and ships' guns, consequently, 
were never mounted so that extreme elevations 
were possible. 
My correspondent's second subject for debate 
is the problem of defending ships against torpedo 
attacks and submarines— a subject I postpone to 
next week. 
SEEN AT THE FRONT. 
III.— OUR BILLETS. 
By An Officer. 
THE morning liglu came fihering in I'l rough 
the closed shutters. And Walter, in the 
next room, was heard saying to his confeder- 
ate Smith; "We'd better waUe them up, 'adn't 
we? " and Smith was heard to reply, " Yus, 
or there'll be trouble." Now, Smith was a rough, burly 
fellow, who had a habit of violently jogging one's elbow 
when half-asleep and whispering in his hoarse way, 
" Time to get up, Sir." The usual reply to which was, 
" For Heaven's sake, go and kill yourself." Walter, 
on the other hand — he had been a valet — was the sort 
of man who goes quietly about his business and 
announces it is time to bestir just three minutes before 
the hour for parade. Good fellows as they were — and, 
as servants, none better — they contrived to do some 
e.xtraordinary things. There was a night in the 
trenches when, in the early hours, I had to transfer to 
a new dug-out at the further end of the line. Smith 
and Waller found me. Through the bright moonlight 
they came, an unmistakable mark for the German 
bullets, plodding happily along together, Walter 
carrying his pots and pan and cooking apparatus, 
Smith burdened with several newspapers, a brown- 
paper parcel, a cake, a bottle of gin, a blanket, and 
a ride. So they had been wandering about, jumping 
ditches, climbing fences, and struggling through 
trenches, at imminent risk to life and limb, until — as 
usual — they found their destination in the end. 
But now let mc introduce you to Captain Jim. 
Captain Jim is my kennel companion — for only so can 
one describe it — and at the present moment he is wash- 
ing himself in a little canvas pail. He is naked to the 
w^aist, his skin being very white, like a woman's, and 
he has a childish, pink face. His braces hang loose by 
his sides. He is swearing quietly to himself because 
it is very cold — and no one has a mightier vocabularj'. 
A peculiarly urbane and agreeable young man, there 
is none more gallant or more capable. He does not 
"tell people off"; he does not fuss; but he geta 
things done. Which is the highest tribute one can pay 
to a soldier. 
Presently together^if you can imagine it to be 
a'oout 8.30 in the morning — we eat fried bacon and 
eggs and bread-and-butter — plenty of it — at an incon- 
viently square table. Tlien we go out to the company 
parade, which happens in an orchard. It is a lovely 
morning. The brilliant sunshine makes even this sad 
land look fair and almost attractive. Not a sound 
comes from the direction of the trenches, though an 
aeroplane — one of our own — is slowly buzzing its way 
across the sky. The singing of innumerable larks is 
the only other sound. We go round the billets and 
walk about for a time, feeling more like exceptionally 
peaceable farmers than soldiers on active service. The 
court)'ard of this French farm presents a scene suffi- 
ciently typical of the war in the West, 
The British soldier is lounging about with all his 
accustomed niglig^, the stump of a cigarette in his 
moulii ; cocks and hens (with crested heads) and 
one or two fat black pigs are scratching and bur- 
rowing in the somewhat pungent and very plentiful 
manure of the farmyard. Madame, wizened and 
old, with two rubicond daughters, is heavily com- 
mitted in die matter of washing linen outside Uie 
kitchen door. Monsieur le p^re, who has an imperial 
and a short wliite pipe which he never ceases to smoke,^ 
leans contemplatively on the door of a cowhouse 
regarding the unwonted scene. Who would Uiink Uiat 
tlie opposing lines of trenches, locked together in; 
the grim death struggle, are scarcely a mile away?, 
Yet hardly has tlie thought occurred when in the middle 
distance a gun booms ominously. 
After transacting certain business with the com- 
pany sergeant-major, a square, thick-set man with a 
non-committal manner and a gruff voice, we proceed to 
battalion headquarters, first, however, inspectmg the 
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