14 
THE WORLD'S WAR-SHIPS. 
As we are not likely to have an experience similar to the Chilians, 
there is, of course, no necessity to learn what our own ships are like, 
but as they form the bulk of the vessels that pass along our zone of 
fire, and as they naturally prove to us more distinguishable by name, 
I propose here giving a short account of our own ships from the point 
of view in question, as a ready means of practising and teaching the 
men ; followed by a similar account of foreign navies. 
Let me commence by stating that nothing will be original, I must 
altogether disclaim here being much more than an indexer, and must 
tender my best thanks to the authors and editors of the works I have 
consulted, a list of which I append. 
Beginning then with armoured ships of the British navy, we find 
the earliest in point of date, “ the Nestor of the Fleet," as Lord Brassey 
terms her, the Black Prince. 
Though completed in 1862, she is still in commission, together with 
her sister ship, the Warrior : the first two armoured ships built in 
this country, they are easily distinguished, as they are long handsome- 
looking frigates, masted and rigged in the usual way, and formed with 
a bow and stern like the wooden frigates themselves. They are what 
are termed broadside ships, that is carry their armament on the main 
deck, 14 guns on either side, fired out of square ports. These port¬ 
holes alone afford an easy mode of recognising them. The armour 
consists of 4*5 inches of iron extending to a little beyond the bow and 
stern ports. With such a moderate defence it is, however, hardly 
worth considering in this or similar cases the question of penetration, 
the more especially when we remember that in these older types the 
ship will have to be brought broadside-on to the fort in order to allow 
her to fire her guns in return. 
The Achilles comes next, having been built two years later, she is 
just about the same size and length and carries the same thickness of 
armour which, however, runs the entire length of the ship at the 
water's edge, though it extends higher over the gun ports, which are 
pierced for 13 guns. Her straight stem would distinguish her from 
the Black Prince or Warrior. 
In the same year, 1864, the sister ships Hector and Valiant were 
completed, they are much smaller boats, though built on the same 
plan and having the same armour. 10,000 tons displacement has 
given way to under 7000, they are, therefore, only 280 feet long instead 
of 380 feet, though their beam is only two feet less—56 feet instead of 
58 feet. They are pierced with 15 gun ports on either side, but in 
order to accommodate this large battery the guns have to be brought 
very much further fore and aft than in the preceding vessels. In the 
Black Prince and Achilles they do not extend to the foremast or mizen. 
The stem, too, forms an incipient ram so to speak. 
We now come to the long ships, Minotaur, Agincourt, and Northum¬ 
berland, 400 feet long and 60 feet beam. Their five masts have long 
noted them as unique. They, too, are broadside ships; 20 guns on 
either side have the first two, their armour being 5*5 inches thick and 
extending from stem to stern. The Northumberland is of a different 
type. She has but 11 gun ports on each side, and is now rigged as a 
