TACTICS, MILITARY.

TACTICS, MILITARY (TAKTIKós), properly signifies the art of forming the troops of an army in order of battle, and of making changes in the dispositions of the troops according as circumstances may require that is to say, the science which guides the formations when the armies come into presence of one another; while, on the other hand, STRATEGY is that division of the science of war which considers all previous operations and combinations. These two subjects will therefore be considered together under the article WAR, SCIENCE Of.

TACTICS, NAVAL. This branch of the art of war is in some respects similar to that by which the operations of armies on land are regulated; and it is desirable that the order preserved in sailing should resemble that used in moving the battalions of an army on shore. But at sea the motive power is not always to be depended on, and many a well-arranged plan of attack becomes useless from the failure of wind, change of wind, or other causes. There are, however, accepted fundamental rules by which the navies of European nations are guided in the disposition of a fleet for attack, defence, chase, or retreat; and we first notice those applicable to sailing-ships principally. The ancients, previously to the commencement of a naval action, drew up the ships in each fleet abreast of each other, and in that order one of the fleets moved on, or waited for the attack; for each ship being propelled by oars, and armed with a beak of iron or brass projecting before the bows, efforts were generally made to direct it so as by an oblique impulse to destroy the oars on one side of a ship of the enemy, and thus render it unmanageable, or so as with the beak to pierce a side, and thus sink the ship; and hence, in the ancient manoeuvres, each commander always endeavoured to keep the prow of his ship presented to the ship which was opposed to him. But since the employment of gunpowder in naval warfare, each ship in two hostile fleets is manoeuvred so as to bring one of its sides to bear against the bows or against a side of its opponent, in order that it may have the power of pouring into the latter the greatest quantity of fire; and since it is the object of both commanders to avoid being raked, a general action can take place only when the hostile fleets are drawn up in two lines parallel to each other, the keels of the ships in each being in the direction of the line. In the treatise of Père l'Hoste on naval evolutions, this mode of engaging is said to have been first employed at the battle of the Texel (1665), when James II., then duke of York, commanded the English fleet. Paul l'Hoste, who was a professor of mathematics at Toulon, and died at a comparatively early age in 1700, had personal experience in many of the battles he describes, and his remarks continue to be quoted; therefore he may be fairly considered to be the founder of the present system of naval tactics.

The order of sailing for a fleet should obviously be such that the several ships may be as near together as possible, both for the sake of mutual support and that the signals which may be made by the admiral may be distinctly seen it depends also necessarily on the order of battle, since it is of importance that the fleet should be enabled, with the utmost facility, to pass from either of these states to the other.

Writers on naval tactics distinguish five different orders of sailing, the wind continuing to blow in one direction, and the keels of the ships remaining constantly parallel to one another; in other words, all the ships steering the same course. The first order is that in which all the ships are abreast of each other in a line perpendicular to the direction of the wind; and the second is that in which the ships are arranged so that a line joining all their main-masts is oblique to that direction; but in this order the line may have two different positions

ARTS AND SOL. DIV. VOL. VIII.

TACTICS, NAVAL.

with respect to the wind, for each ship may be on the starboard (the right hand) side, or on the port (left hand) side of that which is to leeward of it. As in either of these two dispositions each ship in the line has that which is next to it on one side, opposite to one of its bows, and that which is next to it on the other side, opposite one of its quarters, this order of sailing is frequently called the bow and quarter line. In the first and second orders, if the ships are numerous, the line is inconveniently extended.

The third order of sailing is that in which, all the sails being close

Fig. 1.

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hauled, the ships are formed in two lines making with each other an angle of about 12 points, or 135°; the admiral's ship being in the centre.

N.B. By the expression close-hauled is to be understood such a disposition of the sails that the ship may advance as nearly as possible towards the part of the horizon from whence the wind blows. In general, the line of direction of the wind makes then, on the side next to the ship's head, an angle of about 6 points, or 67° 30'.

The fourth order is that in which the ships, steering with the wind on one and the same quarter, are formed in several lines, divisions, or squadrons, and as much concentrated as possible. The ships of the commanders are ahead of the several divisions, and a line joining the mainmasts of all the ships in each is supposed to be in the direction of the wind. This order is very convenient for a convoy, but it presents great difficulties to the formation of the line of battle. In the fifth order, the fleet, if not very numerous, is divided into three squadrons