Artillery battery In military organization s , an artillery battery is a unit of guns , mortar s , rocket s or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control , as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems . The term is also used in a naval context to describe groups of guns on warship s . Land usage . Historically the term ' battery ' referred to a group of ordnance systems ( commonly cannon ) in action , used as field artillery or in a siege of a fortress or a city . Such batteries could be a mixture of cannon , howitzer , or mortar types . A siege could involve many batteries . The term also came to be used for a group of cannon in a fixed fortification , for coastal or frontier defence , and for the placement of artillery in a temporary field position during a battle . During the 18th century ' battery ' began to be used as an organizational term for a permanent unit of artillery in peace and war , usually organised with between six and twelve ordnance pieces , often including cannon and howitzers . By the late 19th century this use had become normal and mostly replaced earlier terms for artillery units such as company or troop . In the 20th century the term was generally used for the company level sub - unit of an artillery branch including field , air - defence , anti - tank and position ( coastal and frontier defences ) . Artillery operated target acquisition emerged during World War 1 and were also grouped into batteries and have subsequently expanded to include the complete intelligence , surveillance , target acquisition and reconnaissance ( ISTAR ) spectrum . Twentieth - century firing batteries have been equipped with mortars , guns , howitzers , rockets and missiles . Mobile batteries . During the Napoleonic Wars some armies started grouping their batteries into larger administrative and field units . Administratively batteries were usually grouped in battalion s or squadrons , which were further grouped into regiment s , simply ' group ' or brigade s , that may be wholly composed of artillery units or combined arms in composition . Groups of batteries combined for field combat employment became known as the Grand Batteries . To further concentrate fire of individual batteries , from World War I they were grouped into ' artillery divisions ' . Coastal artillery sometimes had completely different organizational terms based on shore defence sector areas . Batteries also have sub - divisions which vary across armies and periods , but often translate into the English ' platoon ' or ' troop ' with individual ordnance systems called a ' section ' , or ' sub - section ' where a section comprises two artillery pieces . The rank of a battery commander has also varied , but is usually a lieutenant , captain or major . The number of guns , howitzers , mortars or launchers in an organizational battery has also varied , with the calibre of guns usually being an important consideration . In the 19th century 4 to 12 pieces guns was usual as the optimum number to maneuver into the gun line . By late 19th century the mountain artillery battery was divided into a gun line and an ammunition line . The gun line consisted of six guns ( five mules to a gun ) and 12 ammunition mules . During the American Civil War , artillery batteries often consisted of six field pieces for the Union Army and four for the Confederate States Army , although this varied . Batteries were divided into sections of two guns apiece , each section normally under the command of a lieutenant . The full battery was typically commanded by a captain . Often , particularly as the war progressed , individual batteries were grouped into battalions under a major or colonel of artillery . " See Field Artillery in the American Civil War . " In the 20th century it varied between four and twelve for field artillery ( even 16 if mortars ) , or even two pieces for very heavy pieces . Other types of artillery such as anti - tank or anti - aircraft have sometimes been larger . Some batteries have been ' dual - equipped ' with two different types of gun or mortar , and taking whichever was most appropriate when they deployed for operations . Fixed battery . Fixed artillery refers to guns or howitzers on mounts that were either anchored in one spot ( though capable of being moved for purposes of traverse and elevation ) , or on carriages intended to be moved only for the purposes of aiming , and not for tactical repositioning . These were in distinction from field artillery guns positioned within forts . Such mounts were typically used in forts , or permanent defensive batteries , such as coastal artillery . By the end of the 19th Century , batteries of this sort were equipped with much larger guns than field artillery units could utilise , and the gun emplacement was only one part of an extensive installation that included magazines and systems to deliver ammunition from the magazines to the guns . Although such batteries were useful where permanent defences were required , especially with artillery capable of firing at long ranges , they became increasingly vulnerable to naval fire as the size and range of naval artillery outstripped that of coastal artillery , and to air attack with the advent of powered flight . Naval usage . The term ' battery ' has also been used in association with warships . Early warships that mounted guns , such as the ship of the line , mounted dozens of cannons , carronade s , and other guns in broadsides , sometimes on several decks . This remained the standard layout for centuries , until new designs , such as the revolving turret , made it obsolete . One of the first rotating turrets was designed by John Ericsson , for use on the American ironclad . Other designs used open barbette s to house their main batteries on rotating mounts . Both designs allowed naval engineers to dramatically reduce the number of guns present in the battery , by giving a handful of guns the ability to concentrate on either side of the ship . A revolution in ship armament occurred in 1906 , with the completion of . In previous battleship designs , the primary battery often consisted of four large caliber guns in two turrets , one in the front of the ship , and one aft . The ships also had a mixed secondary battery of smaller guns , but were also intended to be used offensively . The differences in gun calibers and ranges made it difficult to accurately judge shell splashes , and thus to fire the guns accurately , which led to decreased effectiveness of the ships . " Dreadnought ' s " design did away with the offensive secondary battery , and replaced it with ten heavy caliber guns , and a smaller secondary battery to be used for self - defense . This leap in armament made all other battleships obsolete . Often , ships have a primary battery for offensive purposes , and a secondary and sometimes even a tertiary battery for self - defense . An example of this was the German battleship , which carried a primary battery of eight 15 inch ( 380mm ) guns , along with a secondary battery of twelve 5 . 9 inch ( 150mm ) guns for defense against destroyers and torpedo boats , as well as a tertiary battery of various anti - aircraft guns ranging in caliber from 4 . 1 inch ( 105mm ) to 20mm guns . Many later ships used dual - purpose guns to combine the secondary battery and the heavier guns of the tertiary batteries , in order to simplify the design . Most modern vessels have largely done away with conventional artillery , instead using cruise and guided missiles for most offensive and defensive purposes , respectively . Guns are retained for niche roles , such as the Phalanx CIWS , a multi - barrel rotary cannon used for point defense , the Mark 45 5 inch , or the Otobreda 76 mm which is used for close defense against surface combatants and shore bombardment . Modern battery organization . In modern battery organization , the military unit typically has 6 to 8 howitzer s or 6 to 9 rocket launchers and 100 to 200 personnel and is the equivalent of a company in terms of organisation level . In the U . S . Army , generally a towed howitzer battery has 6 guns , where a self - propelled battery ( such as an M 109 battery ) contains 8 . They are subdivided into : The battery is typically commanded by a captain in U . S . forces and is equivalent to an infantry company . In United Kingdom and Commonwealth forces a battery commander , or " BC " is a Major ( like his infantry company commander counterpart ) . However , in these armies the battery commander leads the ' tactical group ' and is usually located with the headquarters of the infantry or amoured unit the battery is supporting . The battery position is commanded by the BC ' s second - in - command , the Battery Captain ( BK ) . Increasingly these direct support battery commanders are responsible for the orchestration of all forms of fire support ( mortars , attack helicopters , other aircraft and naval gunfire ) as well as artillery . General support battery commanders are likely to be at brigade or higher headquarters . A US battery is divided into the following units : Other armies can be significantly different , however . For example : the basic field organization being the ' gun group ' and the ' tactical group ' . The former being reconnaissance and survey , guns , command posts , logistic and equipment support elements , the latter being the battery commander and observation teams that deploy with the supported arm . In these armies the guns may be split into several fire units , which may deploy dispersed over an extended area or be concentrated into a single position . It some cases batteries have operationally deployed as 6 totally separate guns , although sections ( pairs ) are more usual . During the Cold War NATO batteries that were dedicated to a nuclear role generally operated as ' sections ' comprising a single gun or launcher . Groupings of mortars , when they are not operated by artillery , are usually referred to as platoon s .