518 THE AMMUNITION SERVICE OF A FORT. 
saves trouble at inspections and examinations, if there are only one or © 
two groups ina cartridge store. Consequently it is no unusual thing to 
find the following arrangement :—A group of three guns served from 
two stores, having, say, five ammunition groups composed of 100, 75, 
15, 20, and 90 cartridges. One store holds 100 cylinders; the Master- 
Gunner therefore puts the first group init. Is this right ? Not unless 
ene store is made the expense one for the whole gun group, which in 
some cases would lessen the speed of supply too much. If the guns 
are fought with separate P.I’.’s it would not much matter, unless the 
P.F.’s were used as D.R.F.’s when the Battery Commander would make 
the corrections. If the gun group is fought by one range instrument, 
P.F. or D.R.F., and both stores are used as expense, as will generally 
be the case, then it is decidedly wrong, because the difference in the 
charge of the third gun will upset all the ranging. One of the stores 
in this example should have one-third and the other two-thirds of each 
of the five ammunition groups. 
Another example of the same error may be found where, say, two 
gun groups fought by one range instrument are supplied with cartridges 
from the same magazine, particularly when the supply is by different 
hatches. Here instead of the supply of both gun groups being from 
one cartridge group it will be found that groups of cartridges have 
been placed near one hatch, which are different to those near the 
other. 
This leads to my first proposition, which is, that the range-finding 
arrangements of a fort should govern the distribution of the cartridges. 
Let me give an example. 
I was in charge of a fort consisting of four detached batteries on a 
triangular island (see diagram) A, three guns; B, two guns; C, one 
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Y 
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gun; D, three guns; all of same calibre. A, B, and C commanded 
the North Channel worked by D.R.F. at X. D and C the South 
Channel with D.R.F. at Y. Here it was clearly desirable that 4 and 
B should have uniformity of charge, and that C should have it with 
both A and Band with D. I therefore divided the cartridge groups 
into two batches, one of 550 and the other of 850 cartridges. Hach 
group of the larger batch was divided into 11 parts, of which A had 
six, B four, and C one. D had six and C one part of each group of 
1 Groups of cartridges, or of shell, or of tubes, &c., are now all called ammunition groups, but it 
would be simpler and clearer to call them cartridge groups, &c., and to only use the term ammu- 
niticn group for fixed ammunition. 
