War Game

That the southern coast of New England could not be successfully invaded by troops landed from a hostile fleet was the conclusion reached after the completion of last week's War Game between the United States Fleet under Admiral Charles F. Hughes and defending land forces under Major General Preston Brown. Theoretically, the invading fleet, known as the Blacks, with transports bearing 75,000 troops, reduced coast defense forts and landed some 20,000 men. But the defending army, known as the Blues, concentrated superior forces against the Black landing troops, prevented them from advancing inshore, dominated the situation as the "war" ended.

In addition to the important fact that no one is killed, War Games differ from War in three important particulars. In the first place, each side is given a constructive strength far in excess of its real strength. For example, one destroyer may have a constructive strength of a destroyer division-- in which case, for the duration of the game, this destroyer is accepted as representing an entire division of its kind. In the same way, a company of infantry may have a constructive strength equal to a regiment. Thus the 75,000 troops with the Black fleet were largely constructive. In the second place, the results of an action are decided by umpires. In the New England game, for instance, the cruiser Concord was "sunk" by the battleship Pennsylvania. What happened was that the Concord, lightly armored, chanced to get in range of the Pennsylvania's 14-inch guns, remain in range for a time long enough (in the umpire's opinion) for the Pennsylvania to have sunk her in actual warfare. In the third place, the big guns are not actually fired. Every big turret gun has mounted upon it a small "subcalibre" gun. The gun crew goes through all the motions of loading, aiming, firing the big guns, but only the blank cartridges in the little gun actually go off. In the same way a submarine, popping up beside a battleship, need not actually discharge a torpedo but may merely indicate its presence with, for instance, a blue light. Firing even blanks from big guns and even dummy-head torpedoes would make War Games prohibitively expensive.