LANDING FORCE, or LANDING PARTY, a permanently organized force com posed of infantry and artillery, attached to each ship of a squadron. The service required of a landing force varies from that of police duty in cases where anarchy or revolution may exist, and where there are no other forces at hand, to the hardest kind of offensive war fare on shore. The force is usually com prised of marines, although they may be sup ported by blue jackets; the landing of marines is a recognized procedure in the way of maintaining order where necessary without bringing up a question of war or invasion such as would arise from sending an army force into a country.
The men are landed in ship's boats and the flotilla is commanded by an officer acting as beach master, who has a sufficient number of armed men to protect the boats in the absence of the landing party, although the boats M return to the ships if they are near at The warships furnish a base• of supplies and communication for the landing force and the warships must always be kept open.
A section of a landing force is a unit con sisting of one officer, three petty officers and 24 men. Two such sections form a company and two or more companies (not exceeding six) form a battalion. Two or more battalions form a regiment, and two or more regiments form a brigade. In the boats the men are seated in squads, ready to deploy the instant the beach is reached. There are six special details of a landing force, consisting of pioneers, signalmen, messmen, ammunition and ordnance party, guncotton party and ambulance party. The officers are armed with pistols, the men with rifles, and each battalion has two machine, guns and one three-inch field piece. Each battleship carries a guard of marines consisting of two officers and about 70 men. In case a larger landing force. is required a body of 5,000 marines can be started at 24 hours' notice. They would be carried on their own transports or upon war ships.