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

| play the vessel had to swing round nearly
at right angles to the direction of pursuit
! This, of course lost both time and ground
| Brnadside fire-the distribution of guns ii
| broadside-rests. however, upon an I'M
changeable condition. which controls now
| as it did century ago. Ships then were
| from three to four times as long as they
/ were broad: the proportion now is, length
from four to six times the breadth-or
beam, as it is technically called. There
fore. except in small vessels. where the
concentration of the whole weight that
can be carried in battery gave but one
piece effective against probable target,
a full development of fire required the
utilization of the long side of The ship
rather than of its short cross section. This
/ is precisely analogous to the necessity that
| an army has of deploying into line, from
/ any order of march, in order to develop
! its full musketry fire. The mechanical at
! tainment of the last century did not per-
nit the construction of single guns that
would contain the weight of the whole
/ battery of a big ship; but even had it,
| guns are not wanted bigger than will PEN
citrate their target most effectively. When
less to fire a pound The limit of penetra-
ton once reached. it is numbers. not size,
that tell, and numbers could be had only
by utilizing the broadside. This condition
remains operative now; hut as modern
battleships present two or more kinds or
tarret-the heavy armored and that which
is light armored. or unprotected-the appli-
cation of the principle in practice becomes
more complicated Batteries now are
necessarily less homogeneous than they
once were. because targets vary more
DISAPPEARANCE OF BOW FIRE
The adoption of broadside batteries fol-
lowed. therefore. necessarily upon increase
of size and consequent length. but not
upon that only II is instructive to OBJ
serve that the sailing fighting ship was
derived in part at least, from the galley,
and its resemblance in form to the latter
is traceable for at least a century after
the general disuse of the oar. As the gal
ley, however was snail. it could concen-
trate its fire advantaseously in one or two
pieces, for which small number the cross
section offered a sufficient line of empace-
rnent and as when It could move at all.
II could move in any direction, there was
a further advantage in being able te fire
in the direction of its motion. Hence, bow
fire prevailed in galleys TO the end, al
though the great galIeasses of Lepanto
and the Armada had accepted broadside
batteries in great part; and whenever the
galley type has REQUIRED, as on Lake
Champlain during our Revolutionary War.
bow fire has predominated. The sailing
ship. on the contrary, was limited as to
the direction in which she could move.
Taking her as the centre of circle, she
could not steer directly for much more
than half the points on the circumference.
Bow fire consequently was much less
beneficial to her. and, further, it was
found that. for reasons not necessary to
particularize, her sailing. steering. and
maneuvring were greatly benefited by the
leverage of sails carried on the bowsprit
and its booms. projecting forward of the
bow. where they interfered decisively with
right-ahead fire.
For all these reasons. bow fire disap-
peared and broadside fire prevailed; but
the fundamental one to be remembered is
the greater development Of fire conferred
by greater length. All ships-except the
tiers. and gunboats-were broadside YES
sells. moved by canvas which was carried
commonly on two or three masts: but into
the particulars OF the sails it is presumed
readers will not care to enter Being thus
homogeneous in general characteristics.
the ships of this era were divided com
monty into three principal classes. each Of
which had subdivisions: but IL was recog-
nized then, as it is now in theory. though
too little in practice. that such multiplied
tion of species is harmful and our fore
runners. by process Of gradual eIimina-
ton. had settled down upon certain clear
ly defined medium types.
The smallest of the three principal
classes of fighting ships were called
sioops of war or corvettes. These had
sometimes two masts, sometimes three;
but the particular feature that differen-
tiated them was that they had but one
row Of guns IN broadside. on an uncovered
deck. The offices discharged by this class
Of vessel were various but in the appre-
hension OF the writer they may be consld-
cred rightly as being above all the pro-
tectors or destroyers of commerce in
transit All ships Of war. of course, con-
tributed to this end; but the direct preying
upon commerce, upon merchant ships,
whose resisting power was small, was
done most economically by small vessels
Of relatively small power. Having a given
amount of tonnage to devote to commerce
destroying, many small vessels are more
effective than a few big ones of unneces-
sary force. Such being the nature Of the
attack. the resistance must be similar in
kind. That is, a flock of merchant ships
being liable to attack by many small ad-
versaries. several small protectors would
be more efficient than one or two large
ones. SIoops of war served also as de-
spatch vessels, and lookouts Of a fleet. but
were less well adapted to this service than
the frgatc was.
THE FRIGATE AND HER GUNS.
This latter celebrated and fayorite class
of ship stood next in order of power above
the corvette, with which it might almost
be said to have blended, for although in
the frigate class there were two, or at the
most three. rates that predominatcd vast
~ in numbers over all the rest, yet the
name covered many differing degrees Of
force The distinguishing feature of the
frigate was that it carried one complete
row OF guns upon a covered deck-upon
deck, that is which had another deck
over it. On this upper or spar deck there
were also guns-more or fewer-but lighter
In weight than those on the covered deck,
usually styled the main deck. The two
principal classes of frigates at the begin
ming of this century were the 32-gun and
the ss-gun. That is. they carried nOmi-