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the world’s war-ships; 
The Belleisle is a very much smaller ship, under 5000 tons displace¬ 
ment, in place of over 9000. The belt is 12 inches thick amidships 
diminishing towards the extremities. The central battery is a raised 
octagon citadel, mounting four 25-ton guns which fire out of the 
angles, giving a cross-fire fore and aft within a range of 90 yards. 
The thickness of the armour of the citadel is from nine to ten 
inches; it is 60 feet long. The main deck is nearly level with the 
water, and is protected by three inches of iron. Above is erected a 
spar or hurricane deck, containing cabins, etc. The idea is that this 
could be shot away without injury to the citadel or submerged hull. 
They have only a speed of about 12 knots, and can be considered as 
little more than coast defence vessels. The funnel is outside the citadel. 
The octagon citadel almost gives them the appearance of a turret. 
They are rigged as brigantines and should be easily known. 
We have now to speak of the armoured cruisers, these till lately 
hardly formed a class by themselves, as their work was performed by 
second-class line-of-battle ships, the frigates of old. 
The first we may rank as such, is the Shannon. She would have 
been described when built as a second-class broadside, armour-belted, 
cruising ship. She is 260 feet, 54 feet beam, and has 5000 tons 
displacement. She is fully rigged as a ship, and has a single lifting 
propellor. Sail power was intended to be used under all ordinary 
conditions of cruising ; in fact, she has a coal endurance of only about 
2000 knots and cannot make 13 knots an hour. 
She is one of the earlier embodiments of attempting to dispense 
with a certain amount of armour. Thus the belt only extends to within 
60 feet of the stem, terminating in an armoured transverse bulkhead. 
An armoured deck entends from here to the bow, at first horizontally, 
and then descending to within 10 feet below the water-line. The guns 
on the broadside are unprotected, and mounted at considerable dis¬ 
tances apart. The belt is nine inches thick at its maximum, four feet 
high above the water, and five feet below. The ram is moveable 
and is only intended to be fixed in time of war. The armament 
consists of two 10-inch guns firing out of recessed ports forward, two 
9-inch ditto at the stern, and three on either side. They are all placed 
on the upper deck in the open, except the stern chasers, which are 
under the poop deck. She has a single funnel. The fact of the 
armament being on the upper deck should serve to mark her. 
The abandonment of bow armour is said to have suggested to Mr. 
Barnaby the idea in the Nelson and Northampton, of modifying the 
stern on the same principle. They have an increase of tonnage of 
over 2200 tons, are 280 feet long, and 60 feet beam. The belt is here 
only 180 feet long, but is much the same as in the Shannon, being 
terminated by bulkheads with armoured decks extending to stem and 
stern. The armament consists of four 10-inch guns for bow and 
stern, firing out of recessed ports, and eight 9-inch, all on the main 
deck. 
On the upper deck are four 4'7-inch Q.F. and 20 smaller ditto. The 
oblique armoured bulkheads are extended up to the main deck, so as to 
protect the four heavy guus, the eight 9-inch have only the ship’s thin 
