346 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



years j but inducements are offered for men to serve 

 two years longer with the colors, and arrange- 

 ments have been made for the retransfer of men 

 from the reserve to the colors. Deferred pay has 

 been abolished, and the men receive instead a 

 mess allowance and on their discharge a gratu- 

 ity. All soldiers except the short-service men 

 in the infantry receive an increase in their pay 

 of 3d. a day, and on their discharge a gratuity 

 of 1 for every year of service. The recruiting 

 of a Canadian regiment was begun in 1898. The 

 standard of height and age has been reduced in 

 the cavalry as well as in the infantry, with the 

 result that 40,729 recruits were raised for the 

 regular army in 1898. The effective strength of 

 the militia shrank from 105,531 on Jan. 1, 1898, 

 to 103,647 on Jan. 1, 1899. An addition of 7,900 

 men to the regular army was sanctioned in 1897, 

 which was swelled in 1898 to 25,000. Extraor- 

 dinary efforts were made to recruit the addi- 

 tional soldiers, and special recruits of a lower 

 standard than the service requires were admitted. 

 Even boys under fifteen were taken on their 

 declaration that they were eighteen years old. 

 Out of 40,000 recruited in 1898, giving a nu- 

 merical increase of less than 10,000, nearly 5,000, 

 or half the addition, joined from the reserves 

 and 1,180 were West Indian and West African 

 negroes. The increase of 25,000 men was needed 

 in order that the garrisons in India and South 

 Africa might be strengthened, and those in Egypt 

 and the new stations occupied under the imperial 

 scheme of defense be supplied. An expenditure 

 of 5,254,000 was sanctioned in the session of 

 1899 to build barracks, so as to make the service 

 more attractive at home, and defense works for 

 the new stations. This sum is to be raised, in 

 accordance with the policy now followed for rais- 

 ing money for imperial defense, by means of 

 loans repayable after a short term of years. 



The Navy. The effective strength of the Brit- 

 ish navy in the beginning of 1899 was 35 first- 

 class battle ships, 7 of the second, and 18 of the 

 third class, 14 coast-defense vessels, 9 armored 

 cruisers, 30 first-class, 53 second-class, and 42 

 third-class cruisers, 34 torpedo gunboats, 108 de- 

 stroyers, 45 torpedo boats of the first class, and 

 24 of the second and third classes. The ships 

 under construction were 12 first-class battle ships, 

 12 armored cruisers, 16 first-class cruisers, 6 

 second-class cruisers, 4 gunboats, and 41 torpedo- 

 boat destroyers. There were 164 war ships in 

 commission on Jan. 1, 1899, not including gun- 

 boats and vessels for coast and port defense. Of 

 that number 14 formed the Channel squadron, 

 38 were in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, 

 12 in North America and the West Indies, 9 in 

 the East Indies, 28 in China, 16 in the Cape of 

 Good Hope and West Africa, 7 in the Pacific, 

 12 in Australia, 4 on the southeast coast of 

 America, 11 on particular service, 9 on surveying 

 service, and 4 in the training squadron. The 

 naval estimates for 1899 provided for 72,009 offi- 

 cers and seamen for the fleet, 3,700 boys, 4,200 

 officers and men for the coast guard, 17,807 ma- 

 rines, 198 royal marines, 2,476 officers and sea- 

 men on the training ships and on special service, 

 and 6,000 boys in training; total, 106,390 men of 

 all ranks, an increase of 6,340 over 1898. 



The newer ships have been built in accord- 

 ance with the programme embodied in the naval- 

 defense act of 1889 and the programme announced 

 in 1892 and since extended. That act provided 

 for the construction of 70 ships of various classes 

 at a total cost originally estimated at 21,500,- 

 000 viz., 10 first-class battle ships, 9 first-class 

 cruisers, 29 second-class cruisers, 4 third-class 



cruisers, and 18 torpedo gunboats, all of which 

 have been completed. The battle ships are the 

 Royal Sovereign, Empress of India, Ramillies, 

 Repulse, Resolution, Revenge, Royal Oak, Hood, 

 Centurion, and Barfleur. The first eight, launched 

 in 1891 and 1892, comprising the Royal Sovereign 

 class, have a displacement of 14,500 tons, 18 

 inches of armor over the vital parts, engines of 

 13,000 horse power, giving a speed of 17 \ knots, 

 and an armament of 4 67-ton guns, with 10 6-inch, 

 10 6-pounder, and 16 3-pounder quick-firing guns 

 and 7 torpedo tubes. They were the latest de- 

 velopment of the Admiral class, heavier by 2,210 

 tons than the Trafalgar and Nile, the last built 

 and most powerful vessels of the navy before 

 them, with the same main armament as those 

 vessels, but having the heavy guns mounted in 

 barbette towers instead of in close turrets, ex- 

 cept the Hood, with a more complete auxiliary 

 armament, the extreme thickness of armor 2 

 inches less than in their predecessors, the engines 

 more powerful, and the speed four fifths of a knot 

 better. The Centurion and Barfieur were built 

 lighter, having a displacement of 10,500 tons, 

 12 inches of armor at the water line, and 4 29- 

 ton guns in the barbettes, but their engines were 

 made equally powerful, giving a speed of 18 

 knots, and the auxiliary armament, consisting of 

 10 4.7-inch, 8 6-pounder, and 12 3-pounder quick- 

 firing guns, was better disposed. The first ship 

 built under the programme of 1892 was an im- 

 proved Centurion, the Renown, having a displace- 

 ment of 12,350 tons, 10 inches of side armor, a 

 main battery of 4 29- ton, or 10-inch, breech-load- 

 ing guns mounted in two barbettes, an elaborate 

 and powerful secondary armament, consisting of 

 10 6-inch, 14 12-pounder, and 12 3-pounder quick- 

 firing guns, and engines of 10,000 horse power, 

 developing a speed of 18 knots. The main fea- 

 ture of the new programme was the construction 

 of 9 battle ships of greater size than any afloat, 

 excepting the two largest of the Italian fleet. 

 This is the Majestic class, comprising the Mag- 

 nificent, Majestic, Prince George, Victorious, 

 Jupiter, Caesar, Hannibal, Illustrious, and Mars, 

 of 14,900 tons displacement, with only 14 inches 

 of armor at the water line, carrying 4 12-inch, 

 or 40-ton, guns, with 12 6-inch, 16 12-pounder, 

 and 12 3-pounder quick-firing guns and 5 tor- 

 pedo tubes, and having engines of 12,000 horse 

 power, giving a speed of 16| knots with natural 

 draught and 17| knots with moderate forced 

 draught. The heavy guns are mounted in strong 

 armored barbettes, with fixed loading stations 

 and armored shields protecting the revolving 

 platform, and the 6-inch quick firers are pro- 

 tected by heavy armor. These vessels, launched 

 in 1895 and 1896, were followed in 1897 and 1898 

 by the Canopus class, comprising the Canopus, 

 Ocean, Goliath, Albion, Glory, and Vengeance, 

 of 12,950 tons, with 12 inches of Harvey armor 

 over the vital parts, but carrying also 4 12-inch 

 guns and 12 6-inch quick firers, with only 18 

 smaller ones, and having engines of 13,500 horse 

 power, so as to obtain a speed of 18f knots. The 

 Majestic class has been improved in the Formi- 

 dable, Irresistible, and Implacable, launched in 

 1898, to which the estimates of 1899 have added 

 the London, Venerable, and Bulwark. The ships 

 have a displacement of 14,700 tons, armor like 

 their predecessors, but of Harvey steel and more 

 powerful, armament the same, but containing the 

 new Vicker 6-inch gun, engines of 15,000 horse 

 power, with Belleville water-tube boilers, intended 

 to give a speed of 18 knots. Under a supple- 

 mental programme 4 battle ships of a modified 

 type are being built the Duncan, Exmouth, 





