RAPID BATTLESHIP BUILDING. 



29 



Russian government for the construction of a battleship and a cruiser, 

 largely from the fact that the}' were able to guarantee delivery within 

 thirty-three months, whereas the French builders who made tenders 

 for the contract could not promise the completion of the vessels much 

 under five years. 



Some of the most remarkable records in the reduction of the time 

 between the laying of a keel and the launching of a vessel have been 

 made in British shipyards. Notable in this respect was the battleship 

 'Bulwark/ which was launched at the Davenport dockyard on October 

 18, 1899. This vessel was laid down on March 20, 1899, and had thus 

 been under construction less than seven months. During that time 



Fig. 1. The Battleship ' Hatsuse ' thkee months after the keel had been laid. 



5,450 tons of material had been built into her, and there is nothing to 

 controvert the assertions of the dockyard staff that the work created 

 records in both the time she had been under construction and the weight 

 attained for the period. In order to convey a better idea of the work 

 accomplished it may be noted in passing that the 'Bulwark' is 400 feet 

 in' length between perpendiculars, 75 feet beam, 27 feet draught and 

 15,000 tons displacement. 



The British builders have for some time past made rapidity of con- 

 struction a subject of study, and their more recent achievements have 

 been attained as the culmination of a series of performances only 

 slightly less creditable. Thus, but nine months and nine days inter- 



