The sun., 1897-07-22


problem Of manning the feet has been COM
plotely solved, but It seems certain that the
British navy Is now better prepared for war
than 1t ever was before In time Of peace.
1t needs to DO; for at the beginning Of
the reign 1t was possible to build q
ship OF the line in three months; nay,
there are instances where the whole work
was done In eighty days. Then, too, It was
possible to take sailors from the merchant
service and convert them In o very short
time Into man.o'- wars men. To-day, with
tho utmost expedition, British shipbuild-
ers are not able to produce o modern bat
tleship In less than two years, though
three now building are promised in twenty
months. AT present, moreover, in the judg-
ment OF naval officers, It takes from three
to four years to train sailor. The raw re-
cruit, unless he were mechanic, would be
useless on board an ironclad or cruiser.
AS everybody knows, the Victorian age
has witnessed the supercession Of sails by
steam; the supplanting, however, has been
gradual. When steam was introduced it
was looked upon as nero auxiliary Of
sails, and was intended to be used only in
battle or in emergencies. Tho idea long
outlived the disappearance Of the three
decker and the advent of armor: the frat
mastless seagolng battleship was the Dew.
astation Of 1859; the last masted and
rugged battleship, tho Edinburgh, was
launched in 1882. In the newest battle
ships the mast Is only q survival used for
signalling and for military purposes. In
proportion as sails were discarded
the supply Of coal carried needed to
be much augmented; the Majestic and
Renown have twice the allowance of the
Edinburgh, and, though their engines
are more economical, can steam double
her distance. We note further that at
the beginning of the present reign the
typical battleship was still in all essen.
tials identical with the ships which had
fought at Trafalgar. An example Is the
st. Vincent, a 12O-gun ship, which was the
crack vessel Of the fleet in 1887 and which
still exists She had been launched as far
back as 1915, was 2O5 feet long, and dis
placed 4,673 tons by the modern method
Of measurement. Her battery was COM
posed Of 32-pounder smoothbores; the
weight OF her broadside was ! 1920 pounds
After her came the so.called "block-
ships which, when the success of the
screw was demonstrated, were cut down
from old line-of.battle ships, and fitted
with engines and propellers. AS they were
designed for sailing, they were very slow.
In 1852, however, two vessels were built
expressly to carry the screw, and developed
on trial speed of over ten knots. These
were the Duke of Wellington and the
Agamemnon. The former displaced 5000
tons, and carried 1,12O men and 131 guns;
she fired broadside of 2,426 pounds.
Being a wooden vessel, however. she
proved unable in the Crimean war
to withstand the hot shot of the Cronstadt
batteries. Presently. however, eight
armored floating batteries" were built;
these were plated with four.inch rolled
iron, behind which armor they carried
fourteen or sixteen 6s.pounders. They
were virtually impregnable and unas-
sailable; their defects were want OF sea-
worthiness and of speed. These shortcom-
ings were soon remedied in the first real
armored battleship made for the British
navy, the Warrior, launched in 1850. She
was the first battleship in the world to be
constructed wholly of iron. She had
armor amidships only, her ends being
left quite unprotected. Her length
was only ten feet less than that of
the Majestic, and, like the latter ship, she
had numerous watertight compartments.
Her speed was very high for the time, be.
ing not less than fourteen knots. The Arm
strong 11O.pounder was ultimately en-
ployed in her armament. This gun would
just penetrate her fourand- a. half inch ar
NOR; 1t had less than one-third the power
nf ha i'll. ..
From the Warrior there was gradual
passage to the mastcss turret ships OF the
Devastation type, wherein were abandoned
the rigging and sails which had found a
place in the earlier ironclads. The Devas-
tation. though now in her twenty fourth
year. Is still capable Of rendering good SER
vice. She is exccllcntly protected and lies
very low in the water, so that she is a very
hard target to hit; on the other hand,
in heavy sea, she would find IL almost
impossible to work her guns. The gap be-
tween her and the Warrior is hridged by
the masted turret ship Monarch; between
the Devastation aid the Majestic by the
turret ships of the Nile class. In the ar.
rangement of the Majestic there is return
to the system of the Warrior, though the
haps three times as great the espeed is eigh-
teen knots instead of fourteen; the gun
armament Is incomparably heavier and
more powerful. The weight of her broad
side is 4, ii pounds against the Warriors
1,224; in size she is more than half as largo
again, yet she draws but little more water.
In the cruiser the changes have been much
the same as in the battleship, with the ex-
ception that upright armor has not been
largely applied in England to ships which
have to scout and to protect commerce.
The sailing frigate gave way in the fifties
and sixties to the wooden steam frigate,
this In turn to the iron steam frigate of the
lnconstant type. and this in turn to the
Protector, In which horizontal deck Of
steel armor covers and protects the boilers,
engines, and magazines. 1t Is uncertain
whether this type Of vessel will float under
fire, and conflict of unarmored cruisers
fans 10 To-, dos frt,ct lon