Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 58.djvu/39

Rh the British battleship 'Venerable', which was christened early in November, 1899. This vessel was laid down in the first week of January, 1899, and her construction proceeded at such a rate that it was possible to place her in the water in exactly ten months from the day on which her first keel plate was laid. In this case the builders were impelled not so much by a desire to establish a record, as to provide a slip for the commencement of work on another naval contract.

It is a singular coincidence that the most favorable records established thus far in the annals of naval ship-building should have been made by three sister vessels, the trio being among the largest battleships

in the world. The performances of the 'Bulwark' and 'Venerable' have already been noted. That of the 'London' is scarcely less creditable. This vessel was built at the Portsmouth dockyard and was laid down on December 8, 1898. She was thus under construction a little more than nine months, and during that time over five thousand tons of material were built into her.

That all the energies of the builders of the United Kingdom are not exerted in behalf of their own nation is attested by the showing made by the Thames Iron Works, Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in the case of the battleship 'Shikishima', completed during the early part of 1899 for the Japanese government. The first plate of this