Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/275

 NAVY. 239

The whole of the vessels of the ironclad fleet may be divided into five classes. In the first class are the Warrior, the Black Prince, the Achilles, and the Bellerophon. The vessels of this class are all iron-built, and of great speed ; but their draught of water is great also, so that they could not be docked out of the country. To improve upon them, a new class of vessels was designed represented in the Minotaur, Aginconrfc, and Northumberland. The Minotaurs, as they are generally called, are all of 6,621 tons, no less than 400 it. long by 59 ft. beam, plated with 5^ in. armour on a 10 in. backing, carrying 36 protected guns, and propelled by screw engines of 1,350 horse-power. All the Minotaurs are built on the ram system, having what is termed the swan-breasted beak pro- truding under water. The stem of this portion, which would have to resist the first blow of the shock, is a gigantic forging, as is also the stern frame. Every part of the vessel is of iron, even to the spar deck, though the plating here, which is about three-quarters of an inch thick, is covered with wood. In the second class of vessels drawing less water, but possessing less speed, are the Boyal Oak, the Prince Consort, the Ocean, the Caledonia, the Royal Alfred, the Lord Clyde, and the Lord Warden. The first five of these are line- of-battle ships converted; the last two are new ships, built with wooden frames. In the third class are the Hector, the Valiant, the

Defence, and the Eesistance — four of the earliest British Ironclads

and the Zealous. These are lighter again than the vessels of the second class, but slower also, and with them the list of ships of the line is complete. Then follows a class of smaller Ironclads — corvettes or gunboats— including the Favorite, the Enterprise, the Research, the Pallas, the Viper, the Vixen, and the Waterwitch. These are succeeded by a class consisting of vessels distinctly characterised by the Admiralty as valuable for ' coast defences' only. In this category are placed the Royal Sovereign, and also the steam rams, the Scorpion and the Wivern.

The list of iron-clads given above includes 11 turret-ships, seven of them afloat, and four in course of construction at the end of 1870. The largest of those ships is the Monarch, launched July 17, 1869. The Monarch has two turrets, fixed on pivots between the foremast and the mainmast, both of the same size, with an outer diameter of 26ft. 6in., and an inner of 22ft. The turrets are plated with 10- inch armour in rolled plates round the ports, and with 8-inch on other parts. In each turret are mounted on compound pivoted iron carriages and slides, two 25-ton muzzle-loading rifle guns of 12-inch bore and 15 feet in length. They are exactly balanced at the trunnions, and throw a 600-pound shot with a battering charge of 701b. of powder. In the ordinary position of the guns in the turrets they have seven degrees of depression and four degrees of