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VOL. 36. CLEVELAND, DECEMBER 5, 1907. NEW YORK No. 23 ' NAVAL ARCHITECTS AND MARINE ENGINEERS THE Marine REVIEW in its issue of Nov. 28, carried the proceedings of the fifteenth general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Ma- rine Engineers to the conclusion of the discussion upon, Prof. H. C. Sad- ler's paper entitled "Some Experi- ments upon the Effect of Longitudi- nal Distribution of Displacement." Immediately following this dis- cussion Commander A. P. Niblack read his paper upon the subject "Fur- ther Tactical Considerations of War- ship Design" as follows: In Volume III, pages 149-158 of the Tran- sactions of the Society, is printed a paper on "Tactical Considerations Involved in Warship Desi-n." Although 12 years have elapsed since this paper was read, the further consid- erations are more of a reiteration or restate- ment, than a shedding of new light on the question. This is because, in spite of the enormous Strides in gunnery, ordnance, armor, torpedoes, ship design, marine engines and boilers, our tactical ideas are still dormant, or groping for definite expression. : To properly handle a fleet in the approach to the attack and in action, there is certain information which it is. important to easily and quickly ascertain, and certain orders or information which must be transmitted to the other ships, or to other persons in each in- dividual ship. In the original paper these were considered under three heads, viz.: (1) Interior Communication; (2) Extetior Com- munication (Signaling); and (3) Tactics. The same heads will serve our 'present purposes. The information which it is necessary to ascer- tain, to transmit or to know, from time to time is: J. INTERIOR COMMUNICATION--(1) The com- pass course. (2) The speed. (3) The sight bar ranges. (4) The lateral compensgtion for sights. (5) The readiness of each division of the battery to fire. (6) The readiness of each torpedo tube to fire. (7) The helm angle. (8) The target ship. (9) The intactness of the hull. (10) The degree of heel of the ship. II. EXTERIOR COMMUNICATION--(1) The dis- tance and bearing of the guide or of the ship next ahead in the formation. (2) The exact distance of the enemy (target). (3) The course the enemy is steering. (4) The ,speed of the enemy. (5) The formation and line of bear- ing of the enemy in relation to your own. (6) The import of' signals displayed. III. tacrics--(1) The plan of battle or the general tactical methods which are to be em- ployed. : One of the least understood tactical con- siderations is the use of the compass. As a matter of fact, what counts in a fleet action is the angular difference between the courses or lines of bearing of the opposing fleets, from 0 degrees when the two formations are parallel, to 90 degrees when at right angles and one fleet is "capping" the other. The consideration of the compass course steered is lost sight of in the all-important necessity of keeping all of your guns bearing on the enemy all the time, and yet actual compass bearings and compass readings are necessary as aids to handling fleets and individual ships. A helmsman, steering a ship, normally uses a definite compass course to steer by, but battle conditions require the captain to vary the heading of the shin either to obey a signal or to maintain position in relation to other ships in the formation (incidentally any changes of course disturb the accuracy of gun fire and the ideal condition is a fixed course, but the most we can hope for tactical- ly is as few changes of course or disturbances of the helm as possible). As it is practically impossible to use a compass in a conning- tower, owing to the great mass of armor form- ing it, the only visual guide the helmsman has to steady him on a course is either the ship next ahead seen through a slit, or, better still, the enemy's target ship seen on one hand or the other through a slit. The conning tower gives protection, but is so de- fective for seeing that few commanding of- ficers will consent to. remain boxed up in them. As all ships are fitted with conning towers it is idle to talk of their disadvantages. The requirement is to make them work. : This may be accomplished as follows: Let tus assume that the captain is outside of the conning tower, but that an officer, or trained petty officer with several assistants, is inside as a sort of a "'central" for transmitting orders (the helmsman is also in the conning- tower). On the bridge above the conning- tower is the navigator at the standard com- pass with one or more assistants. He wears a head telephone, connected by wires with a head telephone worn by the officer in the conning tower. The standard compass is fit- ted with its azimuth circle and attached to the metallic compass stand is a light wire frame carrying a light high-powered telescope over the center of the compass bowl. . Attached to the telescope, which can revolve in azimuth, is a pointer whose center is over the center of the compass bowl, and whose point reaches to about 'the "'lubber's point." The angle which the pointer makes with the line of sight of the telescope may be varied and clamped at will. : The duties of the navigator are as follows: On the approach to the attack he takes the bearing of the head and rear of the enemy's formation. The range finding officer gives him the distance of the enemy's head and rear ship. He then plots to scale, on special plot- ting sheets, the course and formation of his own fleet and the distance and bearing of the head and rear of the enemy's formation. This gives a good idea of the line of bearing of the enemy's formation in relation to his own. This is very important to know, and the eye cannot judge it, but to check it he counts the number of ships of the enemy and divides the plotted length of the enemy's formation by the number of ships less one. He _ knows that 350 to 400 yards is the least distance they can be apart, so he can judge by the result whether the formation of the enemy is nearly parallel to his own or whether consider- ably converging. In other words, he can check the plotted results. Repeating the plot- ting at intervals, he can judge the relations of the enemy's course to that of his own. This gives data for setting the change of range instruments based on relative courses and speeds. As the fleet approaches battle range and the target ship is indicated, the navigator points the telescope at the target ship, and sets the pointer at the "lubber's point"? when the ship is on the course being steered. From time to time he checks this up. Meanwhile, when signals are received by the signal staff on the upper bridge, he transmits them by telephone to the conning tower. "Cen- tral' informs the captain. The navigator also gives 'central'? all tactical information as to distance by range finder, formation of enemy's fleet, target ship, etc. He also, through "cen- tral,' steadies the helmsman on the course and tries to keep her so in order to insure accu- rate firing. This in no way deprives the cap- tain of the power to visually sighal with his hand from outside the conning tower to "'cen- tral'? in the conning tower to direct any nec- essary change of course or correction of course to keep position in formation. In other words, the navigators' function is advisory as far as it. does not conflict with the captain's directions. 'Central'? hears the navigator, but sees the captain. What the helmsman hears is what "'central"? tells him and what he sees is the ship next ahead of the enemy to enable him to steer steadily as he has no compass to go by. "Central' keeps the navigator posted as to change of course made by the captain. The firé-control system should provide for the corrections to data obtained as regards. sight bar ranges, lateral compensation, etc. The cap- tain gives the order to commence firing and cease firing, keeps position, and interprets sig- nals. He can, through "central," regulate the speed and course, and get any information from him by means of the system of interior communication provided in the conning tower, or which the navigator obtains by methods of exterior communication. This is the' broad outline of the problem of handling ship in action, but there are many questions of detail on which few agree. It is merely suggested as one method of doing it. , J. INTERIOR COMMUNICATION--The fitting of ships with the means of interior communica- tion is largely a commercial question. Money can buy mechanical devices which will accom- plish almost anything. The progress which has been made in the last 12 years is satis- factory, except that' with change of ideas, many instruments have been installed, in con- nection with fire control and battery indica- tors, which 'have been replaced by others to meet new theories. The inherent difficulties of interior communication are not nearly so great as those of exterior communication, par- ticularly in signaling between ships. II. EXTERIOR COMMUNICATION (SIGNALING)-- Under this head, besides signaling, is grouped range finding and the ascertaining of tactical data with regard to the enemy (distance, speed, course and formation). This was discussed under the duties of the navigator, but there '