Naval Combat Tactics

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This page is for future SvSers who wish to learn more about naval combat before enlisting.

Early History: The invention of Broadsides
Naval combat dates back to ancient times. It was just as common as combat on land. It wasn't until 1501, that Gunports also known as broadsides, were officially established. According to military historians, the inventor of the broadside was a French shipwright called Descharges. The first official vessel to uses broadsides was the British Warship ''HMS Mary Rose. ''It could hold at least 200 sailors, 185 army soldiers, and 30 gunners. It had a total of 78-91 guns. It eventually was destroyed in the 1545 inconclusive Battle of the Solent. Initially, the gunports were used to mount heavy so-called stern chasers pointing aft, but soon gun ports migrated to the sides of ships. This made possible coordinated volleys from all the guns on one side of a ship, broadsides, for the first time in history, at least in theory. Guns in the 16th century were considered to be in fixed positions and were intended to be fired independently rather than in concerted volleys. It was not until the 1590s that the word "broadside" in English was commonly used to refer to gunfire from the side of a ship rather than the ship's side itself.

Line of Battle Tactic
By the mid 17th century, Naval men wanted a quicker and efficient way of fighting. In 1653, British Admiral of the fleet Robert Blake created the Line of Battle method. A Naval fleet would form an end to end line giving the opportunity for ships to fire close range without the fear of hitting their allies. However, this method did have advantages. When both allied and axis fleets were of similar size, naval actions using it made battles indecisive. The French Navy for example were known for their accurate gunning would generally take the windward position to enable their fleet and and retire downwind and use chain shots to take down the masts of their opponent's ships. There were times when so many ships were in a line, that it would damage either the stern or the bow of the vessel, forcing the crew to repair and the opponents to take less damage.

18th Century- Tactical Stagnation (Present Day)
During warfare between the British and the French in the 18th century, battle results between equal or approximately equal forces became largely inconclusive. The French, who had fewer ships than the British throughout the century, were anxious to fight at the least possible cost, their fleet should be worn out by severe action, leaving Britain with an unreachable numerical superiority. Therefore, they preferred to engage to windward, a position which left them free to retreat before the wind. They allowed the British fleet to get to windward, when it was parallel with them and bore up before the wind to attack, they moved onwards. The attacking fleet had then to advance, not directly before the wind with its ships moving along lines perpendicular to the line attacked, but in slanting or curving lines. The assailants would be thrown into "a bow and quarter line" – with the bow of the second level with the after part of the first and so on from end to end. In the case of a number of ships of various powers of sailing, it was a difficult formation to maintain.

The result was often that the ships of the attacking line which were steering to attack the enemy's centre came into action first and were liable to be crippled in the rigging. If the same formation was to be maintained, the others were now limited to the speed of the injured vessels, and the enemy to leeward slipped away. At all times a fleet advancing from windward was liable to injury in spars, even if the leeward fleet did not deliberately aim at them. The leeward ships would be leaning away from the wind, and their shot would always have a tendency to fly high. So long as the assailant remained to windward, the ships to leeward could always slip off.

Important Terms

 * The Bow: The very front of the ship. It is used to reduce the resistance of hull, cutting through strong waters as well as preventing as much water as possible from flowing onto the deck.
 * The Stern: The back of the ship.
 * Broadside: The sides of a ship where cannons are usually held.