NAVY 



421 



8J feet broad, extending three-fourths the length 

 of the ship, with a maximum thickness of 18 

 inches ; the belt is terminated by transverse 

 armoured bulkheads ; above it is a 3-inch steel 

 deck, while a strong under-water deck completes 

 the protection before and abaft the belt. The 

 broadside above the belt is protected to a height 

 of 9J feet above water over a considerable portion 

 of the length by 5-inch armour, screen bulkheads 

 similarly armoured enclosing the central battery. 

 The armour on the barbettes is 17 inches thick, 

 while the protection of the guns and crews of the 

 auxiliary armament has been carefully arranged in 

 view of the development of high explosives and 

 quick-firing guns. In eight of these ships the 

 main armament of 13i-inch 67-ton guns is carried 

 in barbettes 23 feet above the water ; in the re- 

 maining two they are mounted in turrets. The 

 auxiliary armament consists of ten 6-inch 5-ton 

 100-pounder quick-firing g^ins, sixteen 16-pounder, 

 and eight 3-pounder quick-firers, together with 

 seven torpedo-tubes, of which two are submerged. 

 Since 1880 a large number of fast cruisers have 



been built. Of these ten are protected by a belt of 

 10-inch steel armour two-thirds of the length of 

 the ship at the water-line, as well as by an 

 armoured deck ; all the remainder are known as 

 ' protected cruisers ' i.e. they have an armoured 

 turtle-backed deck which extends throughout the 

 length of the ship ; the thickness varies in the 

 different ships from 6 inches on the slope to 2 

 inches on the horizontal part. The top of the 

 deck rises to a maximum of about 18 inches above 

 the water-line, but on the side it curves down to 

 join the plating of the skin 6J feet below the 

 water. In the new cruisers, round the hatchways, 

 funnel casings, &c. protection is given by 5-inch 

 steel armour, while the guns also are protected by 

 casemates plated with 4-inch steel armour, and the 

 ammunition is passed up from the magazines to 

 the guns through armoured tubes. The speed of 

 these ships vanes from almut 16 knots in the 

 cruisers of 1880 to 19 knots in the more recent 

 ones, and two first-class cruisers, the Blake and 

 Blenheim, were intended to steam 22 knots. As 

 in the battle-ships, so in the modern cruisers 



Fig. 12. Sectiou of lurret, showing System of Mounting Heavy Guns, and Hydraulic Arrangement for Loading. 



H.M.S. Colottai. 



A, mlille on which the gun in fixed ; B, recoil press; 8, slide: C, pivot of slide: D, elevating cylinder; E, loading tmugh; 

 F, rammer; O. hydraulic arrangement for working breech-block; H, ram for raising rammer and shot; L, teak backing: 

 H, 18-inch armour; N, the gun (47-ton breech-loader). 



The projectile is placed in a trough (K) on the deck ; the tpni^h i raised .by a ram (H) until it Is in the required position (E'| for 

 loading; a rammer (K) then pawing up the trough forces the projectile into the gun; on the trough being lowered, the 

 cartridge is placed in it and rammed home in a similar manii' r 



for heavy armour ; while steel plates, from 6 inches 

 to 2 inches in thickness, are used for the armoured 

 decks and the shields for the protection of the 

 light guns ; and mild steel is now used instead of 

 iron for the hulls of all .ships. 



The heaviest guns in use in the royal navy are 

 the 111-ton breech-loaders, which throw* projectile 



of 180011)., with an initial velocity of 2300 feet, fr 



10 to 11 miles. The charge for this gun is 900 

 Ib. of brown prismatic powder. These gnus were 

 put in three ships, the Victoria (lost in 1893} and 

 SanUfOrtiL, in these being mounted in pairs 

 in a single turret forward, and the ISinlmn-, 

 which has one mounted in each of her barbettes 

 forward ami aft. The 67-ton gun proved most 

 successful, and was in 1889 adopted as the heavy 

 gun. The cost of the 110-ton gun is 19,600; 

 of the 67-ton gun, 13,600; of the 22-ton gun, 

 4816 ; while a 5-inch 36-cwt. gun costs 568. 

 In considering the question of guns it is essential 

 to keep in view that the endurance diminishes as 

 the calibre increases ; the life of the 110-ton gun is 

 considered to be 95 rounds ; that of the 67-ton gun, 

 127 rounds ; and that of the 45- ton gun, 150 rounds. 

 The 67-ton gun throws a projectile of 1250 Ib., with 

 a charge of 630 Ib. of brown prismatic powder, ;i 

 distance of 10 miles, and will pierce 30 inches of 

 armour ; but experience shows that armour of this 

 weight cannot l>e carried on ships of anything like, 

 a reasonable size. There is a strong opinion 

 among naval officers that a 12-inch gun of modern 

 design and about 50 tons in weight should possess 

 sufficient power; and in 1898 the Mqjettic't 12-inch 



and sails have been done away with ; 

 and while the battle-ships have what is called 

 a military mast fitted with two armoured tops in 

 which are carried one or more quick-firing guns, 

 the cruisers have only a couple of light poles 

 for signalling purposes. The armament of the 

 cruisers consists generally of two 9-iiich 22-ton 

 guns as bow- and stern-chasers, and a proportion 

 of 6-inch or 5-inch guns, according to the size of 

 the ship, with a due complement of ^nick-firing 

 guns anil four or six tulies for discharging White- 

 head torpedoes. In these ships which nave no 

 vertical armour a certain amount of protection is 

 afforded by the stowage of coal in bunkers above 

 the water-line. Battle-ships ami cruisers alike are 

 now lit by electricity, by means of which also the 

 guns are fired and torpedoes discharged ; they are 

 also provided with powerful electric search-light*, 

 which will illumine the sea for some 2 miles, while 

 nielli-signalling is now carried on also by electric 

 light. As a further defence against torpedoes, all 

 large ships are provided with torpedo-nets, which 

 Mif made of steel wire, with meshes of about 3 

 inches in diameter, and are rigged out all round 

 the ship by means of booms, which project aliout 

 30 feet from the ship's side a little aliove the water- 

 line ; these nets are about 18 feet deep, and when 

 not required for use are stowed inboard. 



Ships are further provided with countermines 

 for the purpose of destroying mine-fields defending 

 hostile harfxmrs. See TOWEDOB, MIKES. 



In England iron plates faced with steel (called 

 compound platen) have l>een definitively adopted 



