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the attention of the enemy. This will not be so easy in the future as in the last Russo-Turkish war, although it is true that in that war, boats of a speed of from six to eight knots were used, while the new boats will make their attack at speed of thirteen knots.

It is difficult to give any positive opinion as to whether it is best to make an attack in broad day light. In very dark, stormy nights, the enemy will generally be more watchful. A single ship can scarcely be defended effectually, even in the day time, against a flotilla of torpedo. boats. Our present experience scarcely enables us to say whether the attacks in the day, or those in the night, have the best chance of success, even assuming there may be a greater loss of life in the former. It may happen that you find an enemy who, having observed a division of torpedo boats coming down upon him, has made every preparation to repel their attack; but it does not follow that he may be able to make an effective defence. Here it would seem that the chances of success are greater in a daylight attack. A ship attacked in the night can make use of the electric light; the assailant should endeavor as long as possible to keep out of sight, and therefore the torpedo boats should be painted of such a color as to be the least conspicuous under the electric light. The usual dark grey colors are conspicuous, inasmuch as they appear much lighter, and indeed become a pure white when seen by the electric light. Experiments in the Black Sea showed that a light brown or chocolate was the least conspicuous color.

It is to be remarked that no special code of signals has yet been devised for torpedo boats. In the absence of these two boats belonging to the same fleet may possibly attack one another. The equipment of the torpedo boats with machine guns deserves very careful consideration; it is still difficult to pronounce an opinion as to their suitability. In making an attack it will be impossible to open fire with these weapons; they can be employed with effect only against boats, or to cover a retreat. The pyroxyline rockets may be found more useful: they have been supplied to torpedo boats; they do not load them too deeply, take up little room, and can be used with equal advantage for signaling purposes both in advancing to the attack and in retiring. The explosion of these rockets on board the ship which is attacked would create no small confusion.

The general conclusions to which we have been led by the foregoing observations on attacks by torpedo boats may be summed up as follows:

1. Attacks by single boats are only to be attempted as a last resource

2. The attack must be made according to a carefully considered plan. 3. The torpedo boats are to be equipped with either the Whitehead or the spar torpedo.

4. A squadron of torpedo boats must be divided into groups; the pioneer group, the assaulting group, and the reserve group.

5. The torpedo should be fired automatically, and only when this plan fails should the electrical firing apparatus be employed.

6. Thespar should be sunk as soon as the boat is reduced to half speed or stopped. At full speed the spar should be triced up clear of the

water.

7. The attack should be made, at a signal from the commander, simultaneously from several points,

8. The speed of the torpedo boats before the attack, until they reach. the positions which have been assigned to them, should be regulated according to the speed of the slowest boat.

9. The commander of the division should remain in the rear, with the boats of the reserve group.

10. The torpedo must be brought in contact with the bottom of the unarmored ends of the ships.

In order to be able to apply all these rules effectively in war, it is necessary in time of peace to train every torpedo division to apply them as far as possible, under the conditions which would arise in actual warfare. This would be easily effected if the manœuvres of an attack were intelligently put in practice according to a predetermined plan, against a fleet at anchor and under way, with dummy torpedoes. At the end of the course of instruction, an attack might be made as a test of the efficiency which had been attained with loaded torpedoes against a raft or pontoon towed.

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It is only after considerable practice that success can be obtained in this new method of warfare. Trials with single boats can only be regarded as a preliminary to manoeuvres with a complete division of boats. They in no way ensure success when a boat is for the first time attached to a division, without having been exercised in making attacks of a similar nature in time of peace.

Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, No. CVII.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTICES.

COLBURN'S UNITED SERVICE MAGAZINE, OCT. 1880. (Naval Articles). Jean de Vienne. The French galleys of the eighteenth century by Med. Dir. E. Shippen. Progress of torpedo warfare, by Lt. Comd'r. F. M. Barber.

NOVEMBER.

Curiosities of naval literature. The naval war of 1812,

with the U. S. DECEMBER. Capt. Bedford Pim, R. N. and Sir E. J. Reed, K. C. B. The Naval war of 1812, with the U. S. (concl'd.) French field artillery. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION, NO. CVII. (Naval articles). Discussion on the naval prize essay, subject, "Naval Tactics on the Open Sea, with the existing Types of Vessels and Weapons." Torpedo boat tactics. see p. 400, present number proceedings. OCCASIONAL PAPERS. Modern field artillery. The question of repeating rifles. REVIEWS. Die tachymetrie. Le navisphere, instrument nautique.

MITTHEILUNGEN AUS DEM GEBIETE DES SEEWESENS.

VOL.

VIII. NO. X. The durability of boilers. The maneuvers in Portsmouth harbor. The Russian Yacht Livadia and her type for international communication. New patents. Austro-Hungarian Merchant marine, Jan. 1, 1880. The new English breech loading cannon. A new explosive for shells. Gun carriage experiments on board the Neptune. Fluid state of pressed steel. Torpedo boats for the Russian Navy. The Portuguese torpedo boat Fulminante. The steamer Anthracite. The Russian cruiser Jaroslaw. New gunboat for the Norwegian Navy. An hydromotor ship. The Hock motor. The Destruction of the Loa. Literary notices. Bibliography. Hydrographic notices.

Nos. XI. AND XII. Competitive trials of 28 c.m. Steel shell of Hirschwang, Krupp, Newberg, Mariazell, and Innerberg, at Pola, Sept. 1880. A resumé of the "Elements de Tacticue Navale" of Vice-Admiral Penhoat. The Italia. The chronometer, researches from actual observations. The Belleville boiler. The latest naval and coast-defense guns of Krupp. Trial of a 25 m. m. Palmkrantz, (Nordenfelt) mitrailleuses in Spain. The construction of magazines on board of British men-of-war. Hopfgartner's apparatus to determine the course of an approaching vessel. The latest type of electric machine (Gramme's system). Literary notices. Hydrographic notices.

Recent development of the
The rule of the road at sea.

THE NAUTICAL MAGAZINE, OCT. 1880.
Chinese Marine. Compasses in iron ships.
The port of Chittagong. The circumnavigation of S. America. Liquid
fuel for steamers, Darien Canal. Marine Inventions, etc. etc.

NOVEMBER. Submarine telegraph cables. The question of the load-line.
The "Anthracite". Compasses in iron ships (con'td). Coal and dock ac-
commodations in New Zealand. Glasgow to Rangoon. Marine inven-
tions, etc.
DECEMBER. British trade in the Pacific. Torpedo vessels. Compass es in
iron ships (concl'd.) Trinity House buoy marking system. Notes from
consular reports. Nautical assessors. Marine Inventions, etc.
REVISTA GENERAL DE MARINA, OCT. 1880. Notes on electricity
(cont'd).-Laying the cable between Hong Kong and the Philippines,
(cont'd). The Sulu Archipelago, (cont'd). The late earthquake in the
Philippines. Voyage of the "Marques del Duero" to Siam and Annam.
Naval operations on shore (cont'd). Flexible steel cables. NOTICES.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. ORDERS.

NOVEMBER. Notes on electricity (cont'd). The Sulu Archipelago (cont'd).
Voyage of the "Marques del Duero" to Siam and Annam (cont'd). Na-
val operations on shore (concl'd). The law of storms. The "Almirante
Brown". NOTICES. BIBLIOGRAPHY. ORDERS.
DECEMBER. Notes on electricity (cont'd). The Sulu Archipelago (cont'd).
New torpedo boats. Voyage of the "Marques del Duero" to Siam and
Annam (cont'd). Relative importance of broadside and fore-and-aft fire,
in naval tactics. The frigate Sagunto. NOTICES. GENERAL INDEX. OR-

DERS.

REVUE MARITIME ET COLONIALE. VOL. 66. The mouths of the Mississippi and Capt. Eads' jetties. The merchant marine of England (contd). Discussion in the Italian Chamber of Deputies upon the naval appropriation bill for 1880. Note on stability. The penal, agricultural colony of St. Laurent, in 1878. The port of Cette. The Academy Royal of Marine, from 1771 to 1774. Lorient arsenal-royal (1698-1703). Nossibé Island. CHRONICLE. The new Swedish men-of-war. The personnel of the Italian navy. The German naval appropriation bill for 1880-1. The war fleet of Japan in 1880. The Cunard steamship Gallia. New mode of boiler construction. REVIEWS. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

The English Colonies. The naval war between Peru and Chili. Lorient arsenal royal, (1698-1703) cont'd. Chapter in the history of Martinique, 1814 to 1818. China and Japan. The latest improvements in naval engines and boilers. Account of the fight off Angamos. REVIEWS. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

China and Japan, cont'd. The English Colonies, cont'd. The grounding and rescue of the "Rhine". Docking facilities in the extreme East. The scientific corps of the ancient navy (cont'd). Improvements in the steering compass. Cotemporary naval history (1815-53). REVIEWS. BIBLIO

GRAPHY.

RIVISTA MARITTIMA. OCTOBER, 1880. Our urgent need of vessels. The Italia and her construction. Rig for cruising vessels. Nordenskiölà's Arctic Expedition, report made to the Minister of Marine, by Sub-Lieut. G. Bove, hydrographer of the expedition. Engines for ships of war. The Italian fisheries. The Yarrow torpedo boat, purchased for the Italian Na

vy. Report of Chevalier R. Angley, Italian Consul at Rangoon, on Italian commerce. Heraldry of the sea, translated from the English of J. K. Laughton, Naval Instructor at Greenwich. A ship of the Vikings. CHRONICLE. The Board of Admiralty and the Council of Naval Construction in England. The Atlanta. New determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat. Torpedo boats of different nations. Fleet attached to the revenue service of Russia. The new magazine guns; Nordenfelt, Hotchkiss. Neumayer's indicator of compass-deviations. Colombian Navy. Italian commerce at Callao, in 1879. Importance of coal depots in Italian ports. New voyage of Exploration of Nordenskiöld. Bibliography. Various Publications. Ships in commission. NOVEMBER.—The tactical weapon in future fleet engagements. Military ports; Surabaya. Report of the Commission upon the bursting of the Duilio's gun. The Italian fisheries. The use of ocean steamers in war, translated from the Jour. R. N. Service Institution. Proceedings of the Congress of Italian ship-owners at Camogli. New form of log. Naval promotion. Heraldry of the Sea. CHRONICLE.-The Russian fleet in the Pacific. Chinese fleet. Conclusions of the Commission on the experiments upon the 38-ton gun of the Thunderer. Experiments in Holland with perforating projectiles. Torpedo boats. Italian commerce with Egypt. BULLETIN OF THE HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE. BIBLIOGRAPHY. VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS. TRANSFERS OF OFFICERS. SHIPS IN COM

MISSION.

DECEMBER. The question of vessels. Cruise in the corvette Vettor Pisani, by H. R. H. Prince Tomaso of Savoy, commanding. The new constructions in the Italian navy. Cruise in the transport Europa. The need of the study of political and social science among officers of the Navy. Military ports; Bocehe di Cattaro. Ventilation of ships. The Italian fisheries. The War in South America. Decay of the Italian Merchant marine, and its remedy; Resolutions of the Chamber of Commerce of Palermo. The Livadia. Firing at elevated points on the sea coast (trans. from the Mittheilungen a. d. Gebiete d. Seewesens). Antonio Pigofetta, and the first circumnavigation of the globe. Vice-Adm. Jurien de la Gravière's "Marine des Anciens," a critical essay. CHRONICLE. The question of a Merchant Marine. The Austrian Naval estimates. Navies of Greece and of Turkey. Argentine Navy, the Almirante Brown. Proposed strength of the Danish fleet. The Baden, German corvette. German armored gunboats. Launch of the Tonnant. New French iron-clads. Armament of the Colossus. Russian torpedo boat Launch of the Danish torpedo-boat Wordenskiold. Portuguese torpedo-boat Fulminante. Trial of the Anthracite. Experiments on board the Serapis. The self-moving torpedo-boat of Col. Coda-Canati. Torpedoes in Germany. Dangers in the use of the electric light. Krupp machine gun. Nordenfeldt gun. The English 100-ton guns. Experiments at Portsmouth. Shoes used in the German Navy. German Naval Stations. Dassori's method of loading grain ships. Italian vessels in the port of New York. The tidal-wave and earthquake. The Jeannette expedition.

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