THE “ INFLEXIBLE ” AND HER ARMAMENT. 
63 
the water-line, just inside the inner skin of the ship. The sides 
of this passage will be lined with cork, so that a shot passing 
through it will make a small clean hole. At various points in 
the passage masses of packing will be ready to be shoved 
backwards or forwards to the place where the shot has passed 
through, so as to block up the passage there, and stop the hole 
until it can be propeily plugged. The armour of the central 
portion will be the heaviest ever yet floated. It will be no less 
than two feet thick ; but this does not by any means express its 
full resisting power, for it is arranged on a new system which 
will materially increase its strength. It will be bolted on in 
two layers, each 12 inches thick, but between these there 
will be a 9-inch layer of solid teak, and behind the whole a 
heavy teak backing, and then the iron framework of the ship’s 
side. Now a shot from a very powerful gun, on striking this 
bulwark of wood and iron, would probably penetrate the outer 
plate, but in doing so it would be broken in several fragments ; 
and these, after tearing their way through the layer of teak, 
would encounter the inner plate. Thus it is unlikely that 
even a shot from the 81 -ton gun could penetrate such armour, 
and it would probably require several shots striking in succession 
on the same spot to make a breach. As yet this is only theory, 
but there is very little doubt that it would be confirmed by 
experiment. It would be well worth the cost of putting up a 
target at Shoeburyness and sending the 81-ton gun down there. 
Compared with the twelve-inch armour of the Devastation , it has 
been calculated that the strength of the armour of the Inflexible 
is as to 1 ; but the calculation has been based only on the 
thickness of the iron, the element of strength derived from its 
peculiar arrangement being left out of account, and the com- 
parative resisting power of the armour of the Inflexible must be 
very much higher. With this immense mass of metal on her 
sides, with 18 inches of it on her turrets, and an armament 
of four 80-ton guns, her displacement is 10,866 tons, but she 
will have three feet less draught of water than the Dreadnought ,* 
though that ship will carry only 14-inch armour and four 35- 
ton guns. 
But the ram and the torpedo are now weapons perhaps even 
more formidable than the gun ; and while her armour may be 
relied upon to protect the Inflexible , at least from any gun now 
afloat, ample care has been taken to obviate as far as possible 
the dangers of ram and torpedo attacks. The handiness of the 
ship with both her screws going will make it very difficult for 
* The greatest draught of water of the Dreadnought will be between 26 and 
27 feet. Until a few weeks ago and before her change of name the Dread- 
nought was known as the Fury. 
