122 Book of Steamships 



the Canopus would have joined those 

 unfortunate craft in their journey to the 

 bottom, because the speed and guns of 

 the German cruisers outranged that of 

 what was considered an obsolete class. 



I mention this detail to point the moral 

 of how quickly the battleship was growing 

 up, and how dangerous she may be to 

 her people if allowed to be overtaken by 

 middle age. 



Following the " Canopus " class we get 

 in quick succession the " Formidables ", 

 the " Duncans ", and the " King 

 Edwards ". Each class is called after the 

 pioneer vessel of the series, and each 

 marked improvements, which we have 

 not time to consider in detail. 



Then came what naval men considered 

 the last word in battleships this was the 

 Dreadnought , which, put into service in 

 1907, made every other battleship afloat 

 obsolete for all practical purposes. In this 

 fine vessel the speed went up to 21 knots, 

 mainly because the Admiralty recognised 



