TACTICS, We regret that our limits will not permit us to do justice to this very important subject, associa ted as it is with all that is glorious in our beloved eountry,—with the most illustrious names of mo dern times; and calling up in glowing colours the victories of St. Vincent, of the Nile and Trafalgar. Our continental rivals have long denominated us the giant of the seas. Our fleets have covered ev ery ocean—the thunder of our floating bulwarks has resounded from every quarter of the sphere;— our gallant admirals have exemplified by a brilliant and continued practice, all that the most enlighten ed theories can teach; and there is hardly a page of our Naval History but is filled with achieve ments which have crowned our naval heroes with immortal honor and renown.
Naval tactics consist of such evolutions of a fleet, as shall at once insure its own safety, and under every possible condition, annoy and conquer the enemy. The writers on Naval Tactics have com monly laid down five orders of sailing, one order of battle, and one order of retreat. Of the five orders of sailing it may be remarked, that that is the best in which the course of the fleet is least impeded, and from which the desired order of battle can be the most readily and quickly formed, and as experience has proved the fifth to be the best, we shall introduce it to the reader's notice in Fig. I, in which the fleet is divided into three columns, each of which is ranged in a line parallel to the close-hauled line upon which they are to form the order of battle. Generally the van-guard forms the weather column, commanded by the vice-admiral; the centre divi sion commanded by the admiral, forms the centre column; and the rear guard commanded by the rear admiral constitutes the lee column. This arrange ment, however, is sometimes altered for particular purposes. The genius of a Nelson cannot be cramped by arbitrary rules.
Order of Sailing.
It is obvious, that whatever order of sailing be determined on, in any case, the most rigid atten tion to its execution should be observed. The columns and the vessels, for this purpose, should preserve their proper distances. The commanders
of each division, and each succeeding ship should keep themselves reciprocally abreast of each other; every vessel occupying, with respect to its imme diate leader, the distance originally laid down by the admiral. It may be remarked, that the dis tance between the columns will be correct, if the first of' any column, and the last ship of the next column form an angle of two points with the line on which they are moving. This order of sailing is preferred, because it unites all the advantages of the others, without their defects. The whole fleet is rendered more compact by it, signals can be bet ter observed, and the order of battle can be more readily accomplished from it. It may be added, that in case of a very numerous fleet, the separate divisions may be formed into two or three columns, each chief being placed a little in advance of the middle of his own proper division. This arrange ment is represented in Fig. 2.
It is an important object in this order of sailing, to regulate the distance of its columns. To deter mine this distance indeed, their length must be pre viously known. In Fig. 3, let the perpendicular CG be raised to the column CF, and equal to it in length. Join FG, and make FH equal to FC. Then will GH be the proper distance of the co lumns. This will be apparent, when we consider the van C, and the rear E to be equally to wind ward, and that EC is at right angles to the direc tion of the wind. The angle BFC being also 22° CO', is the half of CFG; and, therefore, the trian gles BHF and BCF are equal and similar; and BC equal to the intervals of the columns, is equal to BH or GH, according to the construction.
The same result may also he obtained by a nu merical computation, by the following rule: From the square root of double the square of the length of the column, substract the length of the same column, and the remainder will be the interval between the columns. Or, as an approximate rule, the follow ing is sometimes applied: Take Alla of the length of the column, and the result will be nearly the dis tance of the columns. These rules are illustrated in the following example.