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>I won't be home for a couple of days so I have to >reply temporarily from memory. I believe Douglas' >"innovation" required removing the knees between the >guns; these were L-shaped timbers attaching the beams >for the next higher deck to the frames. Removing them >would have weakened the structure of the ship. >Increasing the firing arc from 15° (7½° forward and >7½° abaft the beam) to 30° possibly provided an extra >shot from the forward or aftermost guns when ships or >lines of battle passed on opposite courses, as they >had done at the Battle of Ushant (1778) and also did >in the opening stage of the Battle of the Saintes. >However, this maneuver was rare and I do not recall >that it occurred again in a battle fought by the >British navy. When ships engaged yardarm-to-yardarm, >as at the Glorious First of June (1794) or Trafalgar >(1805), it was not necessary to train all the guns so >far forward or aft. Most officers might have found >that the innovation was more dangerous than >advantageous. > >Note, also, that the British navy might not have had a >substantial advantage in rate of fire over the highly >professional French navy of the War of American >Independence, but it certainly did over the poorly >trained and inexperienced French navy of the >Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Therefore, the >slight additional advantage of the Douglas system was >less valuable and necessary after 1793.

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