in two lines of bearing forming with each other an angle of 135°, is too extended, states that the wings should be brought closer together: this observation is just, and may be acted on with a fleet of steamers. With a sailing fleet it would be impossible without abandoning the principle on which the order of retreat is founded; an adherence to which is indispensable for a sailing fleet, in order, as has been said, that the ships in either wing may form line of battle ahead, simply by hauling-up on the starboard or port-tack, as the case may be.

In a fleet of steamers, it were better that the angle between the two lines of bearing should be not greater than one of 90°; it might even be less, except for that case in which a convoy is to be protected between the wings, as in Van Tromp's retreat above referred to.

116. Sailing ships are so liable to be dismantled in their rigging and sails; and such is the difficulty of regulating their speed when sailing free, by bracing by or other complicated manipulations of the sail, that these nice and delicate formations could not be precisely executed, and therefore were rarely attempted.

The ships of a fleet sailing in line of bearing will, with great difficulty, maintain their positions with respect to each other, and will be very likely thrown into confusion; but this order may be preserved with the utmost precision by steam fleets moving on lines of bearing; and, with great facility, the courses may be changed into directions perpendicular or oblique to

a Few instances can be found in the naval history of the war arising out of the great French Revolution, in which the formation of a fleet in line of bearing was practised in presence of the enemy, on account of the difficulty of manoeuvring the sailing ships. On the 31st May, 1794, Lord Howe, having made the signal for the ships of his fleet to come to the wind together on the larboard tack, soon afterwards made the signal to form the larboard line of bearing; and in this order he edged down towards the enemy for the purpose of engaging his van, centre, and rear at the same time; but many of the British ships, being slow sailers, fell so far astern that, although a general action might have been brought on that evening had there been no slow ships, the British Admiral was obliged to postpone the battle to the next day.

Paul Hoste, 'Naval Tactics,' translated by Captain Boswall, R.N., ch. 8.

such lines. Steam fleets and squadrons of evolution should be often exercised in these movements, since such will undoubtedly be of frequent occurrence, and will have to be executed with the utmost precision, in the event of a war taking place; and the subject deserves, therefore, the attentive consideration of the naval administration in this country. The large fleets that were employed in the Baltic, and in the Black Sea during the late war, being engaged in particular services, which were rather of a military than of a naval character, it was impossible for them to practise steam evolutions, even if the fleets had been entirely composed of steam ships, which was far from being the case.

117. The defensive order of sailing in double échelon, which, in the tactics of sailing fleets, could only be used to cover the retreat of a fleet sailing free, or before the wind, may, with a steam fleet, be converted into an offensive formation resembling the work called a redan in field fortifications; and such a disposition of the ships may be applied in advance of a naval line of battle with great advantage.

118. In land formations a simple redan is extremely defective; without flanks the sectoral space before its salient angle is undefended, and its faces are unprotected by collateral fires. But the formation in a double échelon, consisting of 3, 5, or any other uneven number of ships, like a redan with parapets en cremaillère, has, on the contrary, great strength. The space before the salient angle A (figs. 13 and 14, p. 98) is defended by the fire of the powerful bow-guns of all the ships in the formation, whilst both broadsides of the ship at A, together with the outside broadside batteries of the ships in both wings, defend the heads of the ships next astern.

When this angular formation is applied in front of, and to strengthen the positions of fleets, as redans are,

a

"Cet ordre (en échelon) est difficile à observer, mais il est utile de le rendre familier aux vaisseaux d'une flotte à vapeur, lesquels seront appelées à le pratiquer dans les évolutions navales."-(Bouet de Willaumetz, Batailles de Mer.)

in military defences, to strengthen other works, the salient angle need not be greater than 60°, or a little

more than 5 points of the compass, as in fig. 13. But when applied to the formation of double columns in the movements of fleets, as shown in fig. 8, p. 92, the salient angle should contain 8 points (a right angle), as in fig. 14, the better to provide for the military strength of that order of steaming, by the flanked and flanking branches of the double columns (as the right of n and the left of p, fig. 8) being perpendicular to each other.

119. The French are good theoretical tacticians and skilful practitioners of the modern science of war; and if Guibert's essay on the Tactics of Armies be denominated the best commentary that has appeared on the tactics of land armies, it may with equal truth be said that Paul Hoste's treatise of Naval Warfare is the root from which all subsequent writings on that subject have sprung. Now the celerity and precision with which steam fleets may execute any evolutions whatever will, hereafter, allow the principles of tactics on land to be applied to the movements of ships on the ocean, with this advantage on the side of the naval operations, that the inequalities of ground, which so seriously embarrass the manoeuvres of troops, do not exist at sea. The author, therefore, proposes to establish the analogy between the tactics of armies in the field, and those of steam fleets on the ocean, with the

view of drawing from that analogy such lessons as may be found useful in naval warfare.

120. An eminent military tactician has well said that the art of fortification and that of field tactics are intimately connected with each other (Guibert, vol. ii., p. 194); and that the latter derives many of its principles from the art of constructing permanent fortresses. In both, the important object is to dispose the parts, whether works or bodies of troops, so that they may mutually protect each other; and he infers that, to be a good tactician in the field, a knowledge of military engineering is necessary. Of a good naval tactician it may be said, in like manner, that he should so dispose the ships of a fleet that they may mutually protect one another.

Reciprocal defence is obtained in the construction of military works by breaking the line of front into angular formations, so as to permit some of the parts to defend others by lines of fire parallel, or nearly so, to these last, and reciprocally to be defended in a similar manner by the others. There is no difficulty in applying this principle to naval formations, since, whatever be the order of steaming, the ships must always be parallel to each other; and it is only necessary, therefore, to place some of the ships en échelon on each flank, as shown at C D and EF, fig. 15.

Ranged in this order, a powerful defence is obtained by the broadside fire of the ships en échelon on either wing, and by the crossing fire from the bows of the ships in line abreast. When the enemy approaches near the fleet, the order of the main body, E D, should

be changed into line ahead, a movement analogous to the deployment of columns of troops into line of battle: the ships in this order may then use their broadside batteries, as the deployed line of troops would use its direct fire; while the body of the fleet will be powerfully protected by the crossing fires from the bow and stern batteries of the ships in the wings, as the line of troops would be protected by the batteries on its flanks.

121. As the formation of the line of battle en échelon, offensive or defensive, may appear at first sight difficult of execution, and even to be not admissible, it is proposed here to examine minutely the conditions of the case; and the author trusts that he shall be able to show that the manœuvre is easy with a fleet of steam ships, and that it has great advantages over the formation in line ahead.

1. Steam ships may preserve the échelon order with great facility and precision, since the manoeuvre will depend only on keeping, by the compass, all the ships on the same line of bearing and on the same course; and this can be done even at night, or when the ships are enveloped in smoke: the lofty masts of the adjacent ships will always be guides by which to keep in the échelon position.

2. Ships so ranged are in no danger of being fired into by those on their right or left. For let the four ships A, B, C, D, fig. 16, be considered as a portion of a

a As the compasses in the different ships may differ from one another on account of the variable action of the iron in the ship on the needle, or from other causes, it is evident that the compasses in the ships should be often compared together by signal, and, if necessary, corrected.