THE u INFLEXIBLE ” AND HER ARMAMENT. 
61 
but quite sufficiently to resist the guns afloat in foreign navies 
at the time. Her armour was only 44 inches thick, her heaviest 
guns were 68-pounders, weighing 95 cwt. Her immense length 
of 380 feet was exceeded by that of the Minotaur and her sister 
ship the Northumberland ; but it was found that these long 
ships were not well adapted for manoeuvring in line of battle, 
and later ironclads were made gradually broader in the beam, 
and shorter in the length from stem to stern. At the same time 
various minor improvements were introduced into the build, the 
most important of which was the change of the old oblique pro- 
jecting bow into the almost perpendicular “ swan-breasted ” 
shape, which is substantially the same as that of the present 
running-down bow or ram. The armour was no longer restricted 
to the midship portion of our war ships ; it was extended fore 
and aft, until they were completely covered above water and a 
few feet below it. The weight of the guns steadily increased, 
and with it the thickness of armour, while turrets and the tripod 
system of rigging were employed to give a concentration of fire 
on any desired point. The Bellerophon , with 12-ton guns, was 
given 6-inch armour; the Hercules, with 18-ton guns, armour 
of 9 inches ; the Devastation carries 35-ton guns and armour 
of 12 inches on her sides, and 14 on her turrets ; and the 
Inflexible , now building at Portsmouth, will have armour two 
feet thick and four 81-ton guns. 
This turret ship is remarkable as the highest development 
of the modern fighting ship — for that is the best way to describe 
her. The navies of Europe are fast being divided into ships for 
coast defence,, for cruising, and for action in line of battle in 
great naval engagements ; and while fully available for the first 
of these purposes, the real object of the Inflexible is the last. 
There cannot be a doubt that she will be the most powerful 
man-of-war ever launched, though he would be a rash prophet 
that would predict that she will not ere long be left behind in 
the race of improvement by some still more formidable turret 
ship. 
The Inflexible will be 320 feet long on the water-line, and 
will have a breadth of beam of 75 feet. The hull will consist of 
two parts — the main substructure and the upper portion ; the 
former being an iron hull, no part of which will be less than six 
or seven feet under water. It will be built with a ram-bow and 
provided at the stern with a rudder and a pair of twin screws. 
On this is erected the armoured central or fighting portion of 
the ship, which will have a height of 10 feet above the water- 
line, and will be 110 feet long. Upon its deck will be the two 
turrets, each armed with a pair of 81 -ton guns. At both ends 
of this midship section rises a lighter structure of the same 
height, but having along its centre, running fore and aft, deck- 
