The Organisation of the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers Explained

by Earl Thomas Brassey Brassey

Longmans, Green, And Co.

1874

Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers.

It has been thought desirable to publish the following statement, for the purpose of giving some explanation of the services, duties, privileges, and general organisation of the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers.

How to be recruited.

In inviting persons to enrol themselves in the corps, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty desire to extend the volunteer movement, so successfully established as an auxiliary to the land forces, to the defence of this country by sea. The proposal is novel and unprecedented in its character. In any other country than our own, it would, in all probability, be visionary. In England, however, we possess a guarantee for the success of such an undertaking, which cannot be found elsewhere. A taste for maritime pursuits pervades this insular nation, and the hope may therefore be confidently entertained that the appeal, now made to the patriotism of the nautical and aquatic sections of the community, will not be urged in vain.

Naval opinions in favour of such a force.

Eminent naval authorities have, for many years past, recommended the formation of a corps, for the purposes of coast defence, composed of persons who, while not possessing the wider experience of the seaman, are accustomed to the management of boats, and in the constant habit of going afloat. The Act for the Royal Navy Artillery Volunteers, passed in the last session at the instance of the Admiralty, and the regulations recently issued under that Act, afford the most convincing proof that, in the estimation of those who are actually responsible for the efficiency of the naval service, such a force is desirable. The concurrence of the naval members of the late administration in the various steps which have been taken, may likewise be quoted, in order to show that there is a general desire, among those to whom the welfare of the navy is an especial object of solicitude, for the success of the movement, which it is the object of the present writer to explain.

The harbour defence only.

It has been already stated that coast defence, and not service at sea, constitutes the especial sphere proposed for the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers. The term coast defence is perhaps, in a certain sense, a misnomer. The defence of the most important of our commercial harbours against an attack from the sea could not be effectually conducted by a force composed exclusively of men trained for the land service alone. The approach to all the great ports of the United Kingdom from the sea involves the navigation of extensive estuaries, where floating batteries, and armed rafts, and the use of torpedoes, are essential to a complete defence, and would in point of fact effectually prevent the nearer approach of a hostile fleet. In the laying out of torpedoes on an extensive scale, a flotilla of boats would be required; and in furnishing crews for such boats, the well-trained oarsmen, who, it is hoped, will be found willing to enroll themselves in the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers, would be enabled to render valuable service. In all probability, by their co-operation in the hour of danger, they would release an equal number of highly trained seamen, who would form the crews of sea-going cruisers. All our greatest ports, London, Hull, Newcastle, Leith and Granton, ports for Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bristol, Southampton, Belfast, Dublin, Cork, are situated at the head of an extensive estuary, or at some distance from the mouth of a navigable river. The mere enumeration of these names is sufficient to show how large a sphere there might be, in the event of a threatened invasion, for the employment, in the important and essential task of harbour defence, of an auxiliary force composed, not of trained seamen, but of persons who may be described generally as aquatics.