We may now summarize the anti-torpedo boat defences. These are, first, an outpost or look-out line of electric search-lights, then a main lighted area composed of fixed lights with which there are a considerable number of 12-pounder or 4-in. Q.F. guns fitted with auto-sights, and behind all this, usually at the narrowest part of the entrance, the boom.
Once coast defences are designed and installed, little change is possible during an attack, so that the operation of fighting a system of defence, such as we have considered above, is mainly a matter of peace training of gun-crews, electric light men and look-outs, coupled with careful organization. To facilitate the transmission of order and intelligence, a considerable system of telephonic and other electrical communication has been established. This may be considered under the three heads of (1) orders, (2) intelligence, (3) administration.
The communication of orders follows the organization adopted for the whole fortress. Each fortress is commanded by a fortress commander, who has a suitable staff. This officer sends orders to commanders of artillery, engineers, and infantry. The artillery officer in charge of a group of batteries is called a “fire commander”; his command is generally confined to such batteries as fire over the same area of water and can mutually support one another. Thus there may be several fire commanders at a defended port. Anti-torpedo boat batteries are not in a fire command, and are connected to the telephone system for intelligence only and not for orders. The engineers require orders for the control of electric lights or Brennan torpedo. The officer in charge of a group of lights or of a torpedo station is called a director. Though receiving orders direct from the fortress commander, he has also to co-operate with the nearest artillery commander. The infantry are posted on the flanks of the fixed defences, or on the land front. They are divided into suitable groups, each under a commanding officer, who communicates with the fortress commander. In large fortresses the area is divided into sections, each including some portion of the artillery, engineers, and infantry defence. In such cases the section commanders receive orders from the fortress commander and pass them on to their subordinates.
The intelligence system includes communication with the naval signal stations in the vicinity, one of which is specially selected for each port as the warning station and is directly connected to some part of the defences. Another part of the intelligence system deals with the arrangements for examining all ships entering a harbour. This is usually effected by posting in each entrance examination vessels, which are in communication by signal with a battery or selected post on shore. Any points on shore which can see the approaches are connected by a special alarm circuit, mainly for use in case of torpedo boat attack.
The administrative system of telephones is used for daily routine messages. These usually take the form of telephone lines radiating from a central exchange. In many stations the same lines may be used for command and administration, or intelligence and command, but at the larger stations each class of line is kept distinct.
(W. B. B.)
COASTGUARD, a naval force maintained in Great Britain and Ireland to suppress smuggling, aid shipwrecked vessels and serve as a reserve to the navy. The coastguard was originally designed to prevent smuggling. Before 1816 this duty was entrusted to the revenue cutters, and to a body of “riding officers,” mounted men who were frequently supported by detachments of dragoons. The crews of the cutters and the riding officers were under the authority of the custom house in London, and were appointed by the treasury. On the conclusion of the war with Napoleon in 1815 it was resolved to take stricter precautions against smuggling. A “coast blockade” was established in Kent and Sussex. The “Ramillies” (74) was stationed in the Downs and the “Hyperion” (42) at Newhaven. A number of half-pay naval lieutenants were appointed to these vessels, but were stationed with detachments of men and boats at the Martello towers erected along the coast as a defence against French invasion. They were known as the “preventive water guard” or the “preventive service.” The crews of the boats were partly drawn from the revenue cutters, and partly hired from among men of all trades. The “coast blockade” was extended to all parts of the coast. The revenue cutters and the riding officers continued to be employed, and the whole force was under the direction of the custom house. The whole was divided into districts under the command of naval officers. In 1822 the elements of which the preventive water guard was composed were consolidated, and in 1829 it was ordered that only sailors or fishermen should be engaged as boatmen. In 1830 the whole service consisted of 50 revenue cutters, fine vessels of 150 and 200 tons, of the “preventive boats,” and the riding officers. In 1831, during the administration of Sir James Graham, the service was transferred to the admiralty, though the custom house flag was used till 1857. After 1840 the men were drilled “in the common formations,” mainly with a view to being employed for the maintenance of order and in support of the police, in case of Chartist or other agitations. But in 1845 the first steps were taken to utilize the coastguard as a reserve to the navy. The boatmen were required to sign an engagement to serve in the navy if called upon. In May 1857 the service was transferred entirely to the admiralty, and the coastguard became a part of the navy, using the navy flag. The districts were placed under captains of the navy, known as district captains, in command of ships stationed at points round the coast. Since that year the coastguard has been recruited from the navy, and has been required to do regular periods of drill at sea, on terms laid down by the admiralty from time to time. It has, in fact, been a form of naval reserve.
The rise and early history of the coastguard are told in Smuggling Days and Smuggling Ways, by the Hon. Henry N. Shore, R.N., (London, 1892). Its later history must be traced in the Queen’s (and King’s) Regulations and Admiralty Instructions of successive years.
(D. H.)