already been published in the press; should it thus appear that the author has not taken full advantage of material already published elsewhere, it will be fair that he should be credited with an adequate reason. Certain digressions from the main subject have on the other hand been made, and here and there speculative incursions into the unknown have been ventured. The most important digression is without question that constituting the subject matter of Chapters V, and VI., involving the demonstration of the n-square law. The author believes that this law will, in due course, be recognised as fundamental even in relation to ordinary military operations where its application is commonly masked by conditions extraneous to the hypothesis. Still more readily will its importance be recognised in Naval warfare, as already exemplified by the Battle of Trafalgar.[1] The clearest and cleanest application of the law, however, will unquestionably be in connection with aerial warfare, here the author predicts that, other things being equal, it will be found to operate with almost mathematical precision.
§ 115. The n-square law as affected by the Technique of Gunnery. In the application of the principle of concentration and the n-square law to Naval warfare under modern conditions, a difficulty occurs which has not so far been adequately dealt with, and which is worthy of full discussion. This difficulty mainly concerns existent methods of range finding, and is to the effect that when the fire of more than one vessel is brought to bear on a single ship of the enemy, the same accuracy—as evidenced by the percentage of hits—is not attainable as in ship-to-ship combat.
It is to be understood that after the range has been found as accurately as possible by the, instrument known
- ↑ Chapter VI. §§ 40, 41 and 42.
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