Excerpt from The Edinburgh Review, Vol. 140: Or Critical Journal; For July, 1874 October, 1874, to Be Continued Quarterly We called attention to the well-attested fact, that as tactical knowledge advanced amongst the officers of the British navy, as true tactical principles came to be understood and appreciated by them, so the victories of our fleets became the more decisive and the more glorious. We lamented that, in the present age, so little had been done to construct a new system of tactics which should meet the requirements of a fleet so abundantly furnished as our own with the ingenious inventions of modern science. And we ventured to express the hope, that naval officers might be induced to apply themselves to the task of considering how to conduct the future battles of the British navy on a plan which should promise results commensurate with its enormous power, and worthy of its old renown. That hope has been most agreeably fulfilled. Since the publication of our former article marked attention has been paid to the elucidation of the many questions connected with the management of our transformed fleets in action, questions which promised but a short time ago to almost defy solution. Great interest has been evinced by officers of various ranks in working out the difficult problems of modern tactics; and their labours have resulted in releasing the service from the surprising and scarcely creditable condition, in which it had so long appeared content to remain, of having devised no method of properly employing the wonderful machines which science had so bountifully placed at its disposal. It is now no longer necessary for those who essayed to convince naval officers that a new tactical system had to be established, to linger over explanations of the elementary bases and rudiments of the art, or - from fear of arousing disgust rather than of interest - to clothe with vague rhetoric appeals to the memory of former glories, or ideas of future acquirements which it was desired to bring into notice.

A real, and, we believe, a profitable tactical system has been developed, not too indefinite nor too rigidly precise, but suited to the weapons of the time and to the genius of English seamen. It is indeed pleasant to be able to assert, that - though availing themselves of what was useful in the labours of foreign students - the authors of this new tactical system, in its final shape, are officers of our own British navy. It is our intention in the present article to give some explanation of the new conditions under which a naval battle will probably be fought, and to lay before our readers a description of the various weapons with which the fleets of modern times are armed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy.

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