Page:The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century.djvu/70

 it. In this we see a complete foreshadowing of what was to come thirty years later. He recognised at once the revolution his own invention would effect in naval armaments, and that provision must be made against it. Though no sailor or naval architect, he saw that his new idea was incompatible with the lofty sides of the old liner; but still more strangely, considering the date of his opinion, he indicated an amount of protectiou which was not reached for some years after the introduction of armour, as though he had an inkling of the later development of ordnance now so familiar to us.

But this conception of the future battle ship remained unheeded until the Crimean War, when the Emperor Napoleon, who in matters of war material often showed considerable ability, proposed the construction of floating batteries, or ships protected on the exterior by thick plates of iron, and shortly after five such batteries were commenced in France. All were of the same dimensions, 172 ft. long and 44 ft. broad. The side above the water line, which was only a few feet high, had a covering of 4½ in. of iron, a thickness determined after experiments with existing guns and projectiles. Behind the armour was a backing of 17 in. of timber. This added to the protection, besides being useful for supporting the heavy weight of iron with bolts. The first was launched in March 1855, and the others in July. We followed suit with three similar vessels, the 'Thunderbolt,' 'Erebus,' and ’Terror.' They were at first intended for an attack on Cronstadt, but this idea being abandoned, they were sent to the