Scientific American Supplement, No. 664, September 22,1888

Excerpt

GUN PRACTICE IN THE FRENCH NAVY.

The gunners of the French fleet are possessed of a skill which is recognized by all the maritime powers, and these picked men proved this at the siege of Paris, where they made themselves illustrious, not only by their courage and their coolness, but also by the accuracy of their firing.

Nothing is neglected, moreover, to keep up the precision of hand and eye that distinguishes them, and which has become so much the more necessary in that it is no longer a question of firing a broadside at the enemy and reckoning on one ball being more fortunate than another in damaging the enemy's ship. At present, the most powerful ironclad has four, and sometimes six or eight, guns of large caliber, which are of from 30 to 100 tons. Every shot represents not only an enormous sum, but also a prodigious force expended, and so powder must not be used too lavishly, since the shot should be in relation with the colossal power that it represents, and the shell adopted in the navy is accompanied with so disastrous effects that a single one, well directed, is capable of reducing the enemy's ship to impotence. So exercises in firing are becoming more and more frequent, and they have a right to be multiplied, inasmuch as the present guns are complicated affairs, the maneuvering of which requires constant practice.

Our engraving represents one of these exercises performed by the Squadron of the North, which is of recent organization, and which consists of the three ironclads Marengo, Suffren, and Ocean, and three coast guards Furieux, Fulminant, and Tonnerre. Each of the ironclads is provided with four 27 cm. guns and four 24 cm. ones, not counting the revolving guns, which constitute the small artillery reserved for fighting torpedo boats. The Furieux has two 34 cm. guns, and the Tonnerre and Fulminant each two 37 cm. ones.

An endeavor is made, as far as possible, to practice firing such as is done in a naval action, that is, at moving targets. To this effect, the dispatch boat Epervier tows a rectangular float about two meters in length, upon which are arranged two canvas balloons kept taut by a wooden framework. One of these balloons is white and the other is black. Each is a meter in diameter, and is supported by a rod which is usually a meter in height. The vessels of the squadron successively fire their large guns at this target, which moves at a definite velocity. The shell, on dropping into the water, raises an immense jet, which entirely hides the balloons when the projectile falls in a line with and sufficiently near the target.

The smoke that envelops the ships, the thunder that echoes in the calm of the sea, and the jet that rises in the air produce a thrilling effect and give an idea of the power of man carried to the last expression.—L'Illustration.

By Col. R. S. Liddell.

I feel that some apology is due from me for coming down to Aldershot and giving my opinions before so many officers whose daily experience renders them much more capable than I am of bringing this subject forward, and it was with some hesitation that I yielded to the flattering invitation of the Military Society of Aldershot to read a paper here to-day on cavalry. At the same time, if it is thought that anything I can say can increase the success that this society has already met with, I can only add that I render my services most willingly. It seems to me one of the many advantages that these meetings possess is the bringing together of the different branches of the service, and the mutual information they afford of each other's arm. When we look back only a few years, we have much to be thankful for in the disappearance of a vast amount of prejudice that used to exist between the different branches. Each arm thought that theirs, and theirs only, was worth studying. Infantry officers sometimes said, as long as their arm was sufficiently numerous and well equipped, that, with the exception of a few scouts and orderlies, cavalry might be dispensed with. Artillery might think that unless guns were largely used, no infantry could ever make an attack at all; while cavalry officers, who were perhaps the most conservative of all, would point to the past, and show how every battle that had ever been fought was won by cavalry, and ever would be.

Confidence in one's own arm is most desirable, and should be fostered, if at the same time we can learn how to work with others, remembering that while cavalry gives the information to and hides the movements of the army, while artillery shakes and disperses the enemy's formation, and prepares the way for attack, it is the infantry alone who can assault and hold the position, and it is for their advance and to bring them up to the point that determines the battle in the condition most favorable to insure success that all the efforts of the other two arms must be devoted. I have made these preliminary remarks, as from my paper being entirely given to the actions of cavalry, it might appear that I am claiming more for that arm in the battle field than is reasonable; but I wish it clearly understood that whatever I may say is only in an auxiliary sense to the action of infantry, and I trust that I shall not be thought underestimating other arms, while showing unbounded confidence in my own.

The necessary rest required by Europe after the exhaustion of the wars of Napoleon resulted in the long peace which succeeded the campaign of 1815. This, and the improvement that took place in fire arms in the next forty years, gave room for speculation as to whether cavalry would play as important a part in the future as it had done in the past, under Marlborough, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, and Wellington. The Crimean war helped to confirm the opinion that the days of cavalry had gone by....