As to the distance at which artillery ought to be deployed, it being recognized that the nature of the ground and the construction and armament of the hostile works will be quite different in different sectors, a broad initiative is left to sector commandants, in order to per mit them from the very commencement of operations the better to take advantage of favorable circumstances in advancing their siege batteries as near as possible to the for tress. The removal of vegetation from the field of fire, the capture by surprise of some advanced post of the defense, inferior condi tions of observation or of fire of the defenders' batteries, may permit more progress in one zone than in another. But the possibility of such progress rarely appears at the beginning of operations, when the general plan for the artillery is decided on; it only becomes ap parent as the siege progresses, and then the in tervention of the commander-in-chief may em barrass and retard the prompt seizing at op portune moments of advantageous points which the local situation may permit.
There is no doubt that a large part of the losses sustained in siege warfare occur during short range fighting, in which the fire from small arms, machine guns and rapid-fire guns may become annihilating when the enemy is held under their fire for but a very few moments by some simple obstacles. Wire en tanglements, ditches temporarily impassable, a wall which the artillery has previously failed to destroy or at least breach, all may cause main mous losses to the attacker, who unexpectedly finds his progress stopped by such obstacles. However, one of the lessons of the present war has been that no permanent fortification, no matter how strong it may be, can hold out against the heavy artillery fire of the besiegers, and that earthworks, with dugouts far beneath the surface of the ground, which can be re paired with relative ease under hostile fire, furnish the only type of fortification which can resist the power of modern arms. The result of this has been that at present we have a use of artillery which renders it neither strictly field artillery nor strictly siege artillery, but a third kind partaking of the nature of both and primarily adapted to the warfare of positions.
Seacoast Artillery.— With few exceptions, the characteristics of the 8-inch, 10-inch and 12-inch rifles are essentially the same. The 12-inch is the gun intended to cope with capi tal ships carrying the heaviest guns and armor. The 14-inch gun, advocated by the United States Ordnance Department, was later de signed to provide a weapon that would take the place of the 12-inch gun. The length of
the gun (34 calibres) was limited so that it could, if found desirable, be used in emplace ments already provided for 12-inch guns. The muzzle velocity was established at 2,150 feet per second to secure a penetration at 8,000 yards, ap proximately equal to that of the 12-inch 2,500 f.s. gun, while securing an accuracy life which has proved to be approximately four times as long. While the danger space is somewhat less than that of the 12-inch, 2,500 f.s. gun, the striking energy is materially greater at all ranges, and the bursting charge is approxi mately 50 per cent greater. Not only for coast fortifications but for the battleships as well, all countries and technical students of the subject have now committed themselves to large cali bres, and at present in no situation would it be desired to have the 9.5-inch piece the weapon of maximum size and strength. It has been fully demonstrated that fire against modern armor must be perforating fire with large cali bres and explosive charges of from 3.5 to 4.5 per cent of the weight of the projectile; but if at some future time, on account of an al teration in naval construction or for any other cause, the semi-perforating shell with a 10 per cent explosive charge is considered advanta geous, then at that time the major calibres will still have a very great superiority. In the first place, they are able to keep the battleships at distances of from 20 to 25 km., as compared with 13 or 14 km. in the case of 240-mm. (9.5 in.) guns; moreover, a battery of two 381-mm. (15-in.), 40-calibre guns, for example, firing 1.2 shots per minute (which is the rate of fire given in tables computed by the Vickers com pany) will he able to hurl at the enemy 182.4 kg. of explosive in place of 240 kg., which can he thrown by a battery of four 240-mm. (9.5-in.) guns in the same length of time, while the pro jectiles of the former, piercing the armor be fore bursting, and exploding a great quantity of powder (76 kg. each time), will have a much greater effect than those of the latter, which will cause, in most cases, an inoffensive ex plosion against the exterior of the armor, at the same time that those which do happen to penetrate, since they carry a relatively small charge (20 kg.), will not have a very great ex plosive effect Major calibres are also able to utilize a short cap for this type of shell in the attack of decks of battleships thereby causing an enormous amount of damage.