Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/121

SHIP. was not yet appreciated; and the Captain, with her very moderate height of side, attempting to carry sail in heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay, capsized and went to the bottom with nearly every soul on board. The danger of masting low freeboard ships was then fully appreciated. France continued to develop the barbette ship in the Ocean and Friedland types. Italy constructed only central battery or bow battery ships until 1872. Russia built nothing but turret ships, except some armored cruisers (begun in 1870). Great Britain followed the Monarch and Captain with several low freeboard turret ships, reverting again in 1873 to the central battery in the Alexandra, one of the last and best of this type. France built a few central battery ships with barbette towers in addition, but continued the development of the barbette, with or without an unprotected auxiliary battery. Germany built chiefly central battery ships in the period 1865-73. Italy built no ships at this time. Russia built three or four central battery craft (but they properly belonged to the cruiser class) and one heavy turret ship, the Pietr Velikii.















In 1873-74 a radical change was introduced in the British and Italian navies. Up to this time, with few exceptions, the armor belt of battleships had extended from bow to stern. In 1873 Italy began the construction of the turret ships Duilio and Dandolo, and Great Britain laid down the Inflexible. These ships were remarkable in many ways. They were of unprecedented size (almost 12,000 tons); almost their whole battery was concentrated in four enormous guns behind very thick armor; the complete belt was given up and a central citadel, extending only a small portion of the length (in the case of the Inflexible, less than one-third), hut of enormously thick armor, protected the vitals, but did not absolutely insure stability if the unarmored ends were destroyed; to assist in reducing danger in case of injury to the ends, a submerged armored deck extended from the citadel to the bow

and to the stern a few feet below water; and lastly, their turrets, instead of being on the middle line of the ship, were placed in ‘echelon,’ the forward one close out to one side of the ship. and the after one close out to the other. This method of mounting theoretically doubled the fire ahead and astern; practically the principal result was to reduce the weight of fire on one bow and one quarter and almost destroy fire directly ahead or astern because of interference of the upper works. From this time on the development in each of the principal navies was along different lines. The British next built two reduced copies of the Inflexible; then some small single-turret ships shaped like a shoe—high aft, low forward; then two more modified copies of the Inflexible. In the Admiral class (Collingwood, Benbow, etc.), which followed, the short belt of the Inflexible was retained and made narrower by the height of a deck, the main battery was mounted in barbettes on the middle line, one forward, one aft, and an auxiliary battery of 6-inch guns provided, though they were not protected by armor. Following these came two more shoe-shaped single-turreted vessels of large size (10,500 tons). These were the Sanspareil and her sister, the ill-fated Victoria; they carried two 110-ton guns in the turret forward, a 10-inch gun on the poop, and a battery of twelve 6-inch guns, which was protected by thin armor. In one of the Admiral

class and in the Victoria and Sanspareil the very heavy gun reached its maximum in weight. In the next ships laid down the weight was reduced from 110 tons to 67, and the calibre from 16.25 inches to 13.5. These ships, the Nile and Trafalgar, were great improvements on their predecessors, and, although their auxiliary batteries were weak, they were well protected, as was the hull. The next design was that of the Royal Sovereign class of 14,150 tons, the first of which was laid down in 1889; in these vessels the modern battleship is foreshadowed, but it was not until the Magnificent class (1893) that the principal details were well settled. These carried 12-inch guns in turrets and 6-inch guns in armored sponsons. The later ships resembled these quite closely, but in the Bulwark class (1899) the water-line belt was carried to the bow instead of merely covering the vitals amidships, and in the Albion (1898) and Commonwealth (1901) classes it was carried to both bow and stern. In the last named four guns of