Page:The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century.djvu/301

 armour has a maximum thickness on the belt of 17½ in. Such vessels are battle ships to all intents and purposes, though perhaps not suitable for service in distant waters. Three others, of 6600 tons, the 'Tréhouart,' 'Jemmapes,' and 'Valmy' are building. These are to have a 50-ton gun in a turret at each end. We thus see that France has abstained from following the example first set by Italy of building ships of extreme size and equipping them with monster ordnance. The 75-ton gun is the largest she has afloat.

While we had been hampered in the production of fast steam cruisers by the endeavour to give them good sailing qualities as well, the French clearly recognised, twenty years ago, that sail power must be sacrificed and longer vessels built to give speed under steam. This was carried out in two vessels, the 'Sané' and 'Seignelay,' launched respectively in 1870 and 1874, where with a displacement of 1900 tons a speed of 15 knots was obtained. The steam speed of our cruisers of that size rarely exceeded 13 knots.

But after 1880 a great impetus was given to the construction of fast cruisers in France when Admiral Aube was Minister of Marine. He had previously advocated raids on territory and commerce by light forces when at war with a powerful maritime nation whose battle ships were too numerous to cope with. A great number of unarmoured ships were then laid down, several of which are now complete. The 'Tage,' of 7000 tons, is the largest. Her armament consists of sixteen guns, and her speed is 19 knots. The 'Cecille' is another fine