CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



gun, compared with the old 4i-inch armour in use 

 in its day, is the Same as that "of the Devastation's 



Stern view of the TJwnderer. 



35-ton gun, compared with the Thunderer's 

 14-inch armour. And the curious fact is, that 

 though the strength of our fighting iron-clad tur- 

 ret-ships has increased, we have not increased the 

 expense, as might have been anticipated. Ten 

 years ago, our strongest ships, such as the Mino- 

 taur, were 400 feet long, weighed 10,500 tons or 

 thereabouts, had armour 5$ inches thick, and cost 

 .480,000 each. The new type of fighting ship of 

 the Devastation class, with 14-inch armour, is not 

 to be more than 285 feet long, weighs under 

 10,000 tons, and costs 350,000, or .130,000 less 

 than ships of the old Minotaur class. Of the two 

 classes of iron-clads the old ones with guns 

 mounted on broadsides, e.g. the Warrior, and the 

 new ones with fewer guns mounted on revolving 

 turrets e.g. Devastation the government have 

 of late favoured the latter. 



The Devastation is a mastless, sail-less sea- 

 going monitor made to carry the heaviest pos- 

 sible guns and armour, and the largest possible 

 supply of coals. She is 285 feet long, and 62 

 feet 3 inches in her broadest part. Her draught 

 fonvard is 25 feet 9 inches, and aft 26 feet 6 inches. 

 She is 4406 tons burden, and carries four 35-ton 

 7oo-pounder guns in two revolving turrets, and is 

 clad in armour of 10, 12, and 14 inch thickness. 

 Her speed is 13 knots an hour. She is propelled 

 by twin screws, with two sets of engines and she 

 carries 1600 tons of coal enough to carry her 

 6000 miles. Her covering-in deck consists of 3- 

 inch iron plating, with two thicknesses of teak 

 planking. On this is built the elliptical breast- 

 work between the turrets, with heavy lo-inch 

 armour-plating, rising 24 feet above water, and 

 with superimposed hurricane-deck, to which open- 

 ings from the hold are carried with 2-inch iron 

 plating, with two thicknesses of teak planking 



over all. On it the boats are stowed. Rising 

 above this breastwork there are the two turrets or 

 revolving circular batteries, and here the chief 

 peculiarity of the ship is displayed. In the original 

 American turret-ships e.g. the Miantonomah, 

 and Monadrioc the turrets were mounted on a 

 metal base ring, laid on the ship's deck, and were 

 to be fought in these vessels with only two feet of 

 freeboard, very close to the water's edge ; so the 

 base of the turret itself, always the weakest part, 

 was freely exposed to the 'plunging' fire of an 

 enemy's frigate with broadside guns. In the 

 Devastation this defect is got over by the elliptical 

 breastwork, for it carries a second or hurricane- 

 deck, rising from the hull-deck proper, 24 feet 





The Devastation. 



above the water's edge ; and as this breastwork is 

 heavily clad with armour, it protects as well as 

 incloses the bases of the turrets. The turret-guns 

 are also in this way fought at as high an elevation 

 above the water-line as those of the best broadside 

 frigates, giving the Devastation an infinitely more 

 sweeping range than any of the old turret-ships 

 its turret-gun ports being 13 feet 6 inches 

 above the water-line. The two turrets are 24 

 feet 3 inches in internal diameter, and are 

 built of fine laininal iron plating and teak plank- 

 ing alternately: viz. (i) 2f-inch plates; (2), six- 

 inch horizontal teak planking, bearing (3) six- 

 inch armour-plates ; (4) nine-inch vertical teak 

 planking; and (5) an outside armour-skin of 

 eight-inch iron plating. Each turret carries two 

 Fraser muzzle-loading rifled guns, of 35 tons each. 



A still more formidable ship is the Inflexible, com- 

 pleted in 1881, 320 feet long, 75 feet in breadth at 

 the water-line, with a displacement or tonnage of 

 11,800. The central part of the ship is a citadel 

 12 feet high and no feet long, inclosing with its 

 rectangular wall the engines and boilers, the base 

 of the turrets, the loading gear, and the most vul- 

 nerable parts of the whole. Its walls are 41 inches 

 thick, consisting partly of armour-plates from 16 

 to 24 inches thick, partly of strong teak backing 

 between and behind the plates. The turrets are 

 also 12 feet high, each carrying two 8i-ton guns, 

 capable of firing I7oo-lb. shot with a charge of 

 450 Ibs. of powder. There are two iron masts 

 with brig-rigged sails. 



The navy may be divided into five classes: 

 (i) Twelve turret-ships and barbette ships for 

 great naval warfare at home and abroad, in 



