WARSHIP 



6181 



WARSHIP 



The Pre-Dreadnaught. The pre-dreadnaught, 

 or battleship cruiser, differs from the dread- 

 naught, or battleship of the first class, in being 

 longer and in being protected with much lighter 

 armor plate. In these ships protection is sac- 

 rificed for speed, and the most efficient of them 

 have' a speed of forty miles an hour. Their 

 y armament consists of 14-inch guns, and 

 can deal effective blows. They are, how- 

 ever, easily sunk, and their safety in battle 

 lies in their ability to escape from the heavier 

 ships. The naval battles in the War of the Na- 

 tions proved the value of the pre-dreadnaught 

 as an auxiliary battleship, and it is rapidly re- 

 placing the armored cruisers in all navies. 



Other Ships. Coast-defense ships consist of 

 gunboats and ironclad vessels of the Monitor 

 type (see MONITOR AND MERRIMAC). They are 

 not seagoing ships, and they have only local 

 use. They would be utterly defenseless against 

 a modern battleship. The submarine and tor- 

 pedo boat are described under their respective 

 titles. The former was developed to a most 

 marvelous degree by the Germans in the War of 

 the Nations. 



The Submarine Chaser. The havoc wrought 

 by the submarine after the outbreak of the 

 War of the Nations set naval architects to de- 

 vising a boat that would destroy this menace 

 to shipping, and a number of types were con- 

 structed. The general name applied to all 

 craft of this type is submarine chaser. The es- 

 sentials of the submarine chaser are speed, light 

 draft and mobility. The boats vary in length 

 from forty-five to 125 feet, and the draft does 

 not exceed four feet six inches. Those of the 

 larger size have engines of 600 horse power, 

 and a speed of thirty-five to forty miles an 

 hour is attainable. The armament consists of 

 one or more 3-inch guns and from one to three 

 machine guns. Because of its light draft such 

 a boat cannot be struck by a torpedo, and its 

 3-inch gun throws a shot that will pierce the 

 shell of any submarine. Its speed and ability 

 to change direction quickly renders it compara- 

 tively safe from the guns of its enemy; conse- 

 quently, it is an antagonist that the submarine 

 does not care to encounter. In 1917 boats of 

 this type did effective work in assisting Great 

 Britain in fighting German submarines. 



History of Warships 



Early Period. Warships were in use cen- 

 turies before the invention of gunpowder. The 

 Egyptians had their war galleys, which were 

 merely large rowboats, whose oarsmen were 

 assisted by a sail when the wind was favorable. 

 The navy of the ancient Greeks consisted of 

 galleys similar to those formerly used by the 

 ptians, but they were larger and were pro- 

 pelled by a large number of oars arranged in 

 rows one above the other. The rowers sat on 

 benches or banks, and there were usually two 

 men to each oar. The largest of these ships 

 had three banks of oars and were called tri- 

 ' a. These galleys were good coast-defense 

 ships, but they were unseaworthy and prac- 

 tically useless for long voyages ; yet it was with 

 .-hips of this sort that the Greeks won the great 

 Battle of Salamis (see SALAMIS). 



largest Roman galleys had three masts, 

 to which sails were affixed when the wind was 

 forcible. The Romans improved their warehipa 

 until the Roman fleet drove from the Me<l 



ts of all* other nations. Shields 

 fastened together side by side, or strips of f It . 

 h'.-U'.s and leather const; protected ar- 



mor, and against the weapons of that day they 

 fully as effective as is the steel armor now 

 in use. Stones and other missiles thrown by 



the catapult (which see), darts, javelins and 

 fire were the weapons employed, and most of 

 the fighting consisted in hand-to-hand encoun- 

 ters between crews of hostile ships when they 

 were brought together. 



The peoples of Northern Europe the Sax- 

 ons, Angles, Danes and Northmen con>tn 

 ships of a different pattern and were able to 

 navigate the open sea. Though not so large as 

 the Roman galley, these Viking ships were 

 much more seaworthy. They employed both 

 oars and sails, but their seamen had no more 

 effective weapons of warfare than did the Ro- 

 man-. 



The Middle Period. The introduction of gun- 

 <ler and the use of cannon revolution- 

 iced the construction of warships. Larger and 

 stronger ships became necessary. During the 

 fifteenth century the Portuguese discovered 

 the water route to India and Columbus found 

 the New World. In this century the founda- 

 tions for the Spanish Armada and of tin- 

 British navy were laid. Henry VII lunlt the 

 :t Harry, the first large British warship, 

 and Henry VIII formed a fleet of such ships. 

 While they were an advance upon anything 

 before attempted, these ships were clunky af- 

 fairs and exceedingly top-heavy. In 1637 the 



