The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-26
SOME COMMON WAR TERMS
Things That the Present Generation
Knows Little Of.

who could not give deIlnlIlOn IOT OF
binary military terms. Uniformed men
formed part of nearly every gather
ing. and children were able to tell the
rank of an officer by his shoulder
straps. But with the disarmament of
the volunteer army and the resumption
of peaceful occupations, interest IN
military matters became less, ana the
generation which witnesses the present
conduct of active warfare has little
| knowledge as to the meaning of mill
! tary terms. This fact was demonstrated
recently by a correspondent, who
asked:
What is an army corps? What is a
division? What is a brigade? What IS
a regiment? What is battalion?
What is a company? What is troop!
What is a platoon? What are lieuten-
What is a fleet? What is a squadron?
What is a fiotilla? What is battle
ship? What is a cruiser? What is an
auxiliary cruiser? What is a monitor
| What is torpedo-boat? What is q
torpedo-cateher?"
An army corps is made up OF num-
Der of divisions of infantry with
proper proportion of artillery and cav
| airy. An army corps is commanded by
a major general and is in all respects
a complete army, being the largest or
the subdivisions of the military forces
During times of peace there could be
no army corps in the United States-
because the 2S,900 men were scattered
| all over the country, and concentration
was impracticable and almost impos-
sible An army corps is divided into
| divisions which term is applied to the
next tactical unit below an army corps.
BRIGADE" A FLEXIBLE TERM.
Brigades are to divisions what divi-
sions are to army corps. A division
! differs from a corps in so far that While
the larger body includes every arm OF
| the service, a division may be COM
posed of only one of these arms. Thus
there may be a cavalry, artillery CT
! infantry division, or there may be a
division which includes all these. The
number of men for a division depends
upon circumstances. Three brigadeS
may be formed into a division, but
there is nothing to prevent its being
twice as large. A division is COM
manded by major general.
A brigade, commanded by brigadier
| general, is COMPOSED of three four or
five regiments and may be made up
from one arm of the service, or it may
| include regiments of infantry and cav
| airy and batteries of artillery, together
with engineer and signal corps.
A regiment is commanded by a col
onel and is a permanent tactical unit.
! Will Ills ON II l1ulNluudSlly. Ill
| fantry regiments according to the new
regulations, have three battalions, and
! each battalion has four companies. The
| second officer in a regiment is the lieu
| tenant colonel who, in the absence of
the commanding officer takes COM
mand. The battalion commanders are
| of the rank of major.
The platoon is to the company what
| the battalion is to the regiment. and as
! the major is in command of a battalion
! under the colonel, so are the first and
! second lieutenants in command of their
respective platoonS under the captain.
| LOWEST COMMISSIONED OFFICER
First lieutenants have been describ-
! ed as holding the places of vice cap
! tains. The title is purely French. When
company formation is made, the first
platoon is commanded by the first lieu
tenant. Each company also has a first
| sergeant, a quartermaSter sergeant,
! four sergeantS, six corporals, two mu-
sicians, one artificer, one engraver and
! 65 privates In the cavalry arm of the
service, companies are known as troops
and IN the artillery as batteries.
Other commissioned officers in a
regiment are one sergeant major, one
| quartermaster sergeant one chief mu-
| stefan. two principal musicians and
| three hospital stewards.
The terms fleet" squadron" and
''fiotilla" are elastic in their nature.
They each designate number of YES
| sells under a single commander, but
| fleet" is a term superior to squad
rom and squadron" stands for more
| than "f1otilla." The term fleet" may
| be properly applied to an aggregation
of canal boats, and it is not unusual to
! hear of an aggregation of oyster boats
| or racing yachts. But at this time one
couples the terms with the navy and,
according to established usage, the
word fleet" means a large number Of
vessels under the command of an adj
miral or other high naval officer. While
| it is believed by some authorities that
| fleet must contain at least six ships,
others believe that smaller number
of vessels may, under certain circum-
stances, be termed a fleet. There are
countries whose whole navy consists
! of only four or five ships, but these
could be spoken of as a fleet with all
propriety. Technically a fleet has
been described as composed of 13 YES
sels-two squadrons of six ships each,
and a flagship. But this technicality
seems to be entirely disregarded in
practice.
SQUADRON AND COMMANDER.
A squadron is a division of a fleet,
detachment of war vessels employed
upon a particular service or station,
and is always under the command OF
flag officer. A flag officer is one who
has the privilege to display flag de-
noting his rank-an admiral, vice ad-
miral, rear admiral or commodore.
A flotilla is a term applied either to
fleet of small vessels or to a small fleet
of larger craft.
The difference between a battleship
and an armored cruiser is technical,
and experts have stumbled over the
matter. A battleship is supposed to
have heavier guns and armor and to
be better fitted to withstand hard
knocks from an opposing force. But
this does not always hold good, as may
be seen in the case of the Maine as
compared with the Brooknlyn. The
Maine was a battleship, but she was
not so large nor so heavily armored as
the armored cruiser Brooklyn. On one
point there seems to be no dispute, and
that is the fact that the cruisers are
faster than the battleships, and it is
conceded also that in most instances
the battleships are better protected.
Auxiliary cruisers are vessels which
were built for the merchant service,
but with a view to being armed in case
of need When the vessels were built
the government had an understanding
with the constructors and owners by
which provisions for arming were
made. A similar agreement-exists be-
tween the English government and the
owners of the large ocean liners which
sail under her flag The cruisers st.
Paul, st. Louis, New York and Paris
would not be recognized by the people
who Travelled across the ocean on them
when they were luxuriously appointed
passenger boats Superfiuous furniture