THE WORLD’S WARSHIPS. 
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lately finished. She is 3027 tons displacement, 297 feet long, 40 feet 
beam. I believe she has steamed 20 knots; 6000 tons endurance at 
half speed. At the sides the protective deck has been increased to 
close on four inches in thickness, but is otherwise the same. She has 
a main armament of four 16 cm guns ; one right in the bow, another 
right aft; two in flat sponsons abreast foremost funnel. She has also 
four 47 mm Q.F. in similar sponsons abaft the after funnel. A long 
pointed narrow bow. Her funnels are oblong and high between her 
two masts. These masts and funnels pretty well divide her length 
into six fairly equal spaces. Her iron masts are peculiar—very large, 
with double tops and a pole not one-tenth the diameter of the mast 
hoisted above the upper tops. The conning tower is round the fore¬ 
mast. 
Three other second-class cruisers are to be built, the Bugeaux, 
Chasseloup-Laubat, and the Friant, but the tenders had not been 
accepted in the current estimates. 
There are six third-class cruisers protected, all completed, and all 
sisters. First come the Coetlogon, Cosmao, Forbin, and Surcouf. The 
last was at Portsmouth. They are 1850 tons displacement, 312 feet 
long, 30 feet beam ; speed 19*5 knots ; 2400 knots coal endurance. 
There is a protective deck throughout, flat at the middle, sloped at the 
sides, 1*57 inches thick. There is a coffer dam on armoured deck all 
round the sides, three feet three inches high, two feet six inches wide, 
filled with cellulose, this is to prevent a rush of water when the side 
is pierced. The armament consists of four 14 cm guns in the Coetlogon, 
two similar guns in the other three vessels in sponsons abreast the 
foremost funnel. The Coetlogon has four of these sponsons by the 
way. These guns will cross their fire a very short distance ahead and 
astern. They are rigged as three-masted schooners and have no fight¬ 
ing tops. There are two funnels oblong and very high, both nearer 
the mainmast than to the other masts. The sponsons of this class are 
very rectangular in appearance, and open to let the gun be fired like 
the upper part of a horse-box. 
The remaining two vessels, the Tronde and the Lalande, are similar 
in every way though they are a foot shorter and 27 tons more displace¬ 
ment, but their funnels are between the fore and mainmasts. There 
is a peculiarity in all these funnels, namely, that they are of unequal 
size. The smaller or thinner one being the after funnel in the four 
first ships, and the foremost in the last two. I append a list of these 
protected cruisers :— 
Protected Cruisers.—First Class. 
Sfax, Tage, Cecille, Jean Bart, Isly,* and Alger.* 
Second Class. 
Davout, Suchet,* Bugeaud,f Friant, and Chasseloup-Laubat.f 
Third Class. 
Forbin, Cosmao, Surcouf, Coetlogon, Lalande, and Troude. 
* Not yet launched. f Tenders even not yet accepted. 
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