155 
the world's warships. 
steam 15 knots. She is built, however, entirely of steel, with steel 
armour. The belt is much the same as in the other Admiral. The 
turrets are allowed au inch more of protection. The chief difference 
is that there are only three turrets, and these are placed in the line of 
keel, each containing a 75-ton gun. One is up in the bow, one amid¬ 
ships, and one towards the stern; the secondary armament is not 
much altered. The turrets, or rather barbettes, do not extend, I 
think, in the same way to the armoured deck. There are two military 
masts very high indeed, each with three fighting tops, and a very large 
round funnel rising out of a high superstructure or bridge between the 
centre and fore barbettes. 
The sister ship, the Formidable, is similar in every way, but has one 
more inch of steel in her barbette armour. 
These three ships are particularly interesting from a gunner's point 
of view. From a fort on the water's edge there would be little steel 
to aim at. At 2500 yards (probably nearer) both the 12'5-inch M.L. 
and 9*2-inch B.L. would fail to let water into them. But, on the other 
hand, even pieces of smaller nature would probably jamb their turn¬ 
tables if the tower was hit at its junction with the deck, at least I 
think that is the naval idea. But a number of small guns, and more 
especially quick-firers, would also inevitably, in my opinion, drive them 
to long ranges. The whole of the ship above water, with the excep¬ 
tion of the barbettes, would be penetrated by even a common shell 
from a gun like the 4'7-inch B.L. Such projectiles, if poured in suffi¬ 
cient quantities into a ship, would do great and even often terrible 
damage, steam pipes would burst, auxiliary engines get out of order, 
lifts jamb, crew suffer, etc. In many cases the secondary battery 
would look like a butcher's shambles. It is for reasons like this that 
we are, I think, often led astray by penetration tables. Thus, that in 
“ Brassey's Annual" gives only the 16-inch M.L., 17'72-inch M.L., 
13'5-inch B.L., and 16'25-inch guns, as penetrating the sides of these 
three ships. Even officers get an idea that with smaller guns it would 
be useless to attempt much, while the men would, unless controlled, 
simply fire at the belt or big guns, or else leave the ship alone for a 
smaller craft. I doubt, too, if our necessity for Q.F.'s has been yet 
recognised, the 4'7-inch Q.F. is a very common gun at sea, but there 
are very few on land. 
While on this subject the deck penetration of the 6-inch B.L. from 
elevated batteries is worth looking at. At from 1500 yards the 6-inch 
B.L. guns on the top of the Bock would penetrate even these metal 
decks, and the 9'2-inch would do the same at a very long range, while 
a deck is a target one can hardly fail to hit each round. The possible 
loss of a ship costing some £800,000 will deter foreign Governments 
from risking so much unless with a very definite object. 
Let us now turn to the second-class battleships. It will be remem¬ 
bered that one group only had been built of these, for use on foreign 
stations. They were very similar, though smaller, to the old Magenta 
and Solferino. They are now beneath our notice. Of this the Alma 
type, three, the Victorieuse, the La Galissonniere, and the Triomphante, 
had been begun before the 1872 programme. I cannot account for 
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