Page:EB1911 - Volume 24.djvu/952

Rh barbette to the stem, with a maximum thickness of 12 in., tapering to 6 in at the bow; there is no side armour above this belt. The main armament consists of four 9·4-in. guns, placed in pairs in barbettes, one forward and one aft, protected by 10-in. armour. On the main deck they have four 5·9-in. Q.F. guns in 6-in. armoured casemates, two on each side; and on the upper deck they have eight similar guns, protected in like manner, and six others in turrets three each side; in all, eighteen 5·9-in. guns, besides twelve 3·5-in. and smaller guns. There are five vessels of the “Wittelsbach” class, a development of the “Kaiser Friedrich III.”; the are 700 tons more displacement, 15 ft. longer and 1 ft. more beam, out are of shallower draught. They have engines of 15,000 H.P. and a speed of 19 knots, or a knot more than their predecessors. Their armament is the same, but the 9·4-in. guns are better protected. The main armour belt is somewhat longer, but in other respects the thicknesses and general disposition of the protection are similar to the “Kaiser Friedrich III.” class. . 67.—Arrangement of Guns and Armour of U.S. “Connecticut.”

In the next five vessels, the “Braunschweig” class, laid down in 1901–1902, the 9·4-in. guns were replaced by 11-in. guns for the main armament; and the eighteen 5·9-in. guns were replaced by fourteen 6·7-in. guns for the secondary armament. The displacement was increased to 12,988 tons, the speed of 18 knots was maintained, and the armour protection practically as in the preceding vessels. Five vessels of the new “Deutschland” class which followed in 1903–1905 were very similar to the “Braunschweig” class. The “Nassau,” the first of the German “Dreadnoughts” laid down in 1907, was 455 ft. in length and of 18,200 tons displacement, and carried an armament of twelve 11-in., twelve 5·9-in. and sixteen 3·4-in. guns, had an armour belt of Krupp steel 11 in. to 4 in. in thickness, I.H.P. 22,000 for 19 knots and speed on trial 20·7 knots. The “Posen” (fig. 71, Plate XVII), “Rheinland” and “Westfalen” of the same type were also laid down in 1907 and were built and completed for sea with extraordinary rapidity. The “Westfalen” attained 20·25 knots on trial with 26,792 H.P. The next three vessels, “Thüringen,” “Helgoland” and “Ostfriesland,” laid down in 1908, are provided with twelve 12-in. guns arranged as in H.M.S. “Neptune”; they are of 22,150 tons displacement and 25,000 I.H.P. for 19·5 knots speed (probably at continuous sea speed; a measured-mile speed of about 2 knots more would doubtless be expected); they are protected by 12-in. Krupp steel armour; their dimensions are: length 489 ft., beam 98 ft., draught 27 ft. 6 in. The vessels laid down in 1910 were said to be still larger.

France.—For many years the French designers favoured the placing of the four heavy guns of their battleships in separate barbettes—a 12-in. gun at each end and a 10·8-in. gun on each side of the vessel amidships, intermediate positions being arranged for the smaller guns. Such vessels as the “Carnot,” “Charles Martel,” “Jaureguiberry,” “Masséna,” “Bouvet” approximating to 12,000 tons displacement, and built in the ’nineties, were so arranged. These were followed by a series of vessels in which the 12-in. gun alone was accepted for the main armament, and two pairs were fitted, one forward and one aft as in British vessels; the “Gaulois,” “Charlemagne,” “St Louis” and “Suffren” were so arranged. The “Suffren,” commenced in 1899 (displacement 12,728 tons, length 410 ft., beam 70 ft. and draught 27 ft. 6 in.), had a complete water-line belt of Harveyized steel armour of 11 in. maximum thickness, and above this, up to the main deck, similar armour, 5 in. thick, extending from the after turret to the bow; she had also a short armoured battery on the main deck which enclosed the funnel uptakes. There were eight turrets on her upper deck—one forward and one aft, each carrying two 12-in. guns, and six arranged three on each broadside, each carrying a 6·4-in. gun. The armour of the larger turrets was of the same thickness as the armour belt, namely, 11 in., and that of the smaller turrets 5 in. She mounted eight 3·9-in. guns on the superstructure, and also had twenty-two smaller guns and four torpedo tubes, of which two were submerged. She had triple screws, engines of 16,000 I.H.P. and a speed of 18 knots. The “République,” laid down in 1901, and the “Patrie,” laid down in 1902, were superior in speed and armament to any British battleships then building. They had a displacement of 14,865 tons, and were of 439 ft. length, 79 ft. 6 in. beam and 27 ft. 6 in. extreme draught. They had three screws, and a nominal I.H.P. of 17,500 for a speed of 18 knots; but on trial these were considerably exceeded, the “Patrie” reporting 19,000 I.H.P. and 19·47 knots. They carried four 12-in. B.L. guns in pairs in turrets on the middle line, as in the British ships, twelve 6·4-in. Q.F. guns in pairs in turrets on the upper deck, six additional 6·4-in. Q.F. guns in casemates on the main deck, twenty-six 3-pdrs., three above-water and two submerged torpedo tubes. There was a complete water-line belt of a maximum thickness of 12 in., the bow was protected by 4-in. armour and there was a partial 4-in. belt above the 12-in. belt. The protective deck was 4 in. thick on the slopes, and the armour of the main turrets 12 in., the whole armour being of Harvey quality.

Four later vessels of the class, “Justice”, “Démocratie”, “Liberté” and “Vérité,” were given a still more powerful secondary armament of 7·6-in. guns—six placed in well-protected turrets at a great height above water, and four in casemates between decks. Six vessels, the “Condorcet”, “Danton”, (fig. 72), “Diderot,” “Mirabeau,” “Vergniaud” and “Voltaire,” were laid down in 1907. All had Parsons turbines of 22,500 H.P. for a speed of 19·25 knots, and their main armament consisted of four 12-in. and twelve 9·4-in. guns, as shown in fig. 72. The later French ships “Courbet” and “Jean Bart” carry twelve 12-in. guns in six pairs, two forward and two aft on the middle line, one pair training over the other, and one pair on each side amidships as in “Dreadnought.” They are of 23,000 tons displacement and 20 knots speed, and have an anti-torpedo boat armament of twenty-two 5·5-in. guns, all in casemates of 7-in. armour.

Japan.—Previous to the Russo-Japanese War Japan had provided herself with a number of excellent battleships built in Great Britain, such as the “Fuji” of 12,450 tons, laid down at the Thames Ironworks in 1894, the “Hatsuse,” built at Elswick, the “Asahi,” built at Clydebank, and the “Shikishima,” built at the Thames ironworks, all of about 15,000 tons displacement and laid down in 1897–1898. The dimensions of these vessels were: length 400 ft., beam 75 ft. 6 in., mean draught 27 ft. The I.H.P. was 15,000, giving a speed of 18 knots. The armour-belt extended the full length of the ship at the water-line, and had a maximum thickness of 9 in.; between the top of this belt and the main deck, for a length of some 220 ft., was an upper belt 6 in. thick, which was continued by oblique bulkheads to the sides of the heavy-gun barbettes. The barbettes themselves, which were two in number, one forward and one aft, had armour 14 in. thick, and the conning-tower also was 14 in. thick. The armament consisted of four 12-in. 49-ton guns, two mounted in each barbette and loading in any position of training; fourteen 6-in. Q.F. guns, all in 6-in. casemates, eight on the main deck and six on the upper deck; and twenty 12-pdrs., besides smaller guns and four submerged torpedo tubes. The “Mikasa,” laid down at Barrow in 1899, was a slight modification of the “Hatsuse” class design, being 200 tons heavier and 6 in. more in draught. The principal difference was that the eight 6-in. Q.F. guns on the main deck were increased to ten in number, and instead of being in separate casemates were in a 6-in. armoured central battery, with 2-in. divisional screen bulkheads.

The “Hatsuse” was destroyed in the war by a mine explosion; and the “Mikasa” was seriously damaged by mines. After the war she was accidentally sunk on the 10th of September 1905; she was, however, refloated on the 8th of August 1906, repaired and recommissioned. The Japanese fleet in 1910 contained