576 



NAVIES OF EUROPE. 



OF TURKEY. Turkey has 15 armored the-line, 5 frigates, 7 corvettes, 14 gunboats, 

 vessels besides 1 ironclad monitor and 3 river and 44 transports and smaller vessels. The 

 gunboats, and an unarmored fleet of 1 ship-of- following is a list of the armored ships : 



NAVY OF HOLLAND. The Dutch navy con- 

 tains 20 armored ships of war ranging from 

 1,500 to 5,200 tons displacement, besides six 

 lighter ironclad rams and gunboats, and an 

 unarmored fleet of 1 frigate, 31 corvettes, 31 



small gunboats, 13 side-wheel steamers, and 16 

 torpedo-boats. The following is a list and de- 

 scription of the heavier armored vessels of Hol- 

 land ; the unarmored fleet is composed of ves- 

 sels of her former navy: 



The speed of those of 2,000 tons and upward 

 is about 12 knots an hour, and of the lighter 

 vessels about 8 knots. 



NAVY OF DENMARK. Denmark possesses 7 



armored vessels and an unarmored fleet of 3 

 frigates, 9 corvettes, and 12 gunboats, which 

 is sufficient for immediate defense. The ar- 

 mored ships are the following : 



CONSTRUCTION OF GUNS : ENGLISH METHOD. 

 There has been for some years an almost con- 

 tinuous revolution going on in the construction 

 of heavy ordnance to be used on board ships 

 of war. It is now generally acknowledged 

 that the most effective type of gun for fleets 



and forts is a breech-loading rifled cannon of 

 steel, firing projectiles of moderate size with 

 great velocity. Twenty-live years ago the pre- 

 vailing type was the muzzle-loading, smooth- 

 bore, cast-iron weapon of enormous caliber. 

 The largest of these attained a diameter of bore 





