The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-03

! approach homogeneousness throughout
the fleet. and so promote action in concert,
the acceptance of a mean type was essen
! tiaf. To carry three decks of guns, a ship
had to expose above water a side dispro-
portionately high relatively to her length,
her depth, and her hold upon the water.
She consequently drifted rapidly when her
side was turned to the wind; while. il her
/ length was increased and so her hold on
| the water, she needed more time and room
TO tack and to wear-that is. to turn
around Ships Of this class also were gem
erally-though not necessarily-slow.
! ADVANTAGES OF THE rs.
The two-deeked ship superior In
| speed and in hardness, and for that rea-
son. even when acting singly she could
/ put forth such power as she possessed
more quickly and more certainly. But
these qualities were most conspicuously
valuable when ship had to act with ship
] The great secret of military success. con-
/ certed action In masses. was In the hands
of the two-decked ship. because In her
were united to the highest point individual
power and facility for combined action.
And this true not only of two-deckers
/ in general, but of the particular species
known as the 74-gun ship. Ships below
that rate lacked individual fighting power
Ships above it, the so and 81, lost maneu-
wiring power because of their greaterlength
and weight Under the conditions of sail
fleet of 74s could get out the whole pow
er of the force more surely and more rap
idly than the equivalent number of guns In
ships of any other kind. Thus offensive
power dictated its survival. To our own
day it reads the lesson that offensive pow
er, the sine qua non of a military organi-
zation. lies not merely in the greatest
strength of the single ships, but in the
uniformity of their action and rapidity of
their movements, as conducive to the
quick putting forth of the strength of the
whole body at once and i'm mutual sup
port
It may be asked naturally, why. then,
were there any ships bigger or smaller
than this favored type? For smaller. the
answer is that short ships of lighter
draft are best suited for shoal or in
tricate navigation. The shoals OF Holland
forbade heavy ships to the Dutch navy,
materially reducing its fighting strength
Before France entered our revolutionary
struggle the British sent only els to OPP
crate upon our comparatively shallow
coasts and bars. AS regards bigger ships,
they were useful exceptionally. as were
4i-gun frigates. and for the following rea-
son: Every line of battle has three partic-
ularly dangerous points-the centre. be-
cause there the line. II pierced, divides
into the two smaller fragments; and the
TANKS. or ends, because the extremitles are
supported less easily by the rest of the
force than tho centre is. one extremity be-
ing farther from the other than the GEN.
tire IS from either. Such local weakness
could not be remedie6 by the use of two
ships. for. If the line were properly closed,
one of them could fire at the enemy only
through or over the other. The sole way
of giving the strength there required was
by concentrating IT into individual ships,
either by putting on the additional bat
terry, which gives a three-decker, or by
making the "A heavier. resulting in an so
gun ship on two decks. These stronger
vessels were therefore stationed in the
GENRE or on the TANKS Of a line Of battle.
BATTERIES sEyENTY-FIyE YEARS AGO.
The particular functions the raison
d etre. of the three leading classes of ships
OF war-the sloop, the frigate, and the ship
of the lIne-have now been stated. 1t re-
mains to give an account OF the chief fea
lures of the armament carried ON their
broadsides, as described.
When the century began the batteries OF
ships were composed of two principal
classes Of guns; the long gun and the short
gun. or carronade. The difference between
these lay in the way the weight Of metal
allowed for each was utilized The long
gun. as its name implies. was compare
lively long and thick. and threw small
ball with a heavy charge of powder. The
ball, therefore, few swiftly. and had a
long range. A carbonate of the same
weight was short and comparatively thin.
could use only a small charge of powder.
lest It burst. and threw large ball. Its
shot therefore, moved slowly and had
short range. Fired at a target-a ships
side-within range of both guns, the shot
from the long gun penetrated quickly, the
wood had not time to splinter badly. and
clean hole was the result. The CARO- !
nade's shot. on the contrary. being both !
larger and slower. penetrated with diff
Guilty all the surrounding wood felt the !
strain and broke up into splinters. leaving !
a large jagged hole, If the shot got
through These effects We're called respec- |
lively piercing and smashing and are re-
produced. in measure. upon targets repre-
senting the side OF a modern ironclad. !
They have been Hkened Familiarity to the |
effect of a pistol ball and of a stone upon
window pane; the one goes through |
clean the other crashes.
The smashing of the carronades when !
fully realized, was worse than penetration, |
and was greatly dreaded; but on the other /
hand, ship which feared them in an OPP +
poncnt might keep out of their range. |
This expedient was so effective that car I
which did great damage until ,
their tactics were understood, gradually !
fell into disfavor Nevertheless. they re- /
NAMED in use till after the peace of 1915. |
In 1914 the battery of the L. s. S. Essex |
was chiefly carronades, and their made |
Guate range was a large factor In her de- |
feat.
At the period in question guns of all /
sorts fired only non-explosive projectiles, |
solid or hollow shot. The destructive shell |
of the present day was used only By pieces |
called mortars, In vertical firing which |
will be spoken of further on. Such were /
not mounted on the ships of the fleet gen
orally, nor used against shipping. except /
when packed in a small Iarbor They did .
not enter into naval warfare proper. The
ram and the torpedo of present warfare
were unknown. On the other hand, there |
was practiced a form of fighting which is
thought now to. have disappeared forever,
namely, boarding and fighting hand to