§ The first-class battle ships to be laid down in 1889–90 include two types: one armed on the turret system, and the other on the barbette system. It is proposed to build one of the former and the remainder of the latter type.
§ They are to be superior in speed and auxilary armament to all preceeding battle ships of the Royal Navy; and will surpass them all in displacement.
| Their principal dimensions are:— | |
| Length | 380 feet. |
| Breadth | 75 feet. |
| Displacement (about) | 14,150 tons. |
| Speed on measured mile:— | |
| Forced draught (about) | 17½ knots. |
| Natural draught (about) | 16 knots. |
| Coal endurance:— | |
| Speed of 10 knots (about) | 5,000 knots. |
| Speed of 16 knots (about) | 1,800 to 2,000 knots. |
§ The armament of each ship will include:—
- 4 13½in. 67-ton guns in two turrets or barbettes.
- 10 6-in. 5-ton guns, broadside.
- 18 to 24 6-pr. and 3-pr. quick-firers.
- 5 torpedo tubes (above water).
- 2 (submerged).
§ The disposition of the armament has been most exhaustively considered. It has been decided as follows:—
- To adopt an arrangement (in plan) similar to that carried out in the Trafalgar and Admiral classes.
- To place each pair of heavy guns in a separate armoured enclosure, situated about 50 or 60 feet from the bow and stern.
- To carry the 6-inch guns and smaller quick-firers chiefly in a long central battery, situated between the heavy gun stations.
§ The armour protection of the hull proper includes two principal features:—
§ (1) A belt, 8½ feet broad, extending over two-thirds of the length of the vessel, and having a maximum thickness of 18-inch armour. Transverse armoured bulkheads complete the belt, a 3-inch steel deck is fitted above it, and a strong protective underwater deck completes the protection before and abaft the belt.
§ (2) The broadside above the thick belt is protected, to the height of about 9½ feet above water over a considerable portion of the length, by 5-inch armour. Screen bulkheads, similarly armoured, enclose the central battery.
§ The protection of the heavy guns consists of 18-inch armour on the turrets and 17-inch on the redoubts protecting the turret-bases, &c. In the barbette ships the armour on the barbettes is 17-inch.
§ The protection of the guns and their crews in the auxiliary armament, as well as the ammunition supply, have been carefully arranged for, in view of the development of high explosives and quick-firing guns.
§ The turret and barbette designs are identical in nearly all the above-mentioned features. The essential differences between them are—
- (1) That the freeboard at the ends of the barbette ship is 18 feet, as against 11¼ feet in the turret ship.
- (2) That the height of the heavy guns above water is 23 feet in the barbette ship, as against 17 feet in the turret ship.
§ The second-class ironclads will be reproductions on a smaller scale of the first-class barbette ironclads, being in speed and coal endurance their equal, but carrying a somewhat lighter armament, and armour of less thickness. Their displacement will be about 9,000 tons.
§ The first-class protected cruisers which are to be commenced have been designed to carry an armament practically identical with that of the Blake and Blenheim (of which a full description was given last year); but they are to be of considerably less size and cost, to steam at a somewhat lower speed, and to have a smaller coal-endurance than the Blake and Blenheim, although they will compare very favourably in these respects with any cruisers building for foreign Navies.
| Their dimensions are— | |
| Length | 360 feet. |
| Breadth | 60 feet. |
| Displacement (about) | 7,350 tons. |
| Speed on measured mile | 20 knots. |
| Speed at sea (continuous steaming) | 18 knots. |
| Radius of action— | |
| Speed of 10 knots (about) | 10,000 knots. |
| Speed of 18 knots (about) | 2,800 knots. |
§ Armament:—
- 2 9.2-in. (22-ton) bow and stern chasers.
- 10 6-in. (5-ton) bow and stern chasers. and broadside.
- 12 6-pr. quick-firers.
- 4 Torpedo tubes.
§ The protective deck, extending throughout the length, will have a maximum thickness of 5 inches of steel.
§ Careful consideration was given to the question of the best system of protecting these vessels, their guns and guns' crews, before the arrangements approved were finally decided. The use of a very strong protective deck over the vitals, in association with certain novel arrangements for protecting the guns and their crews from shell-fire, was preferred to alternative plans in which the broadsides, to a certain extent, were protected by comparatively thin vertical armour. Special care has also been bestowed upon the protection of the ammunition during its passage from the magazines to the guns, and unusual facilities have been provided for the transport of the ammunition.
§ Some of the vessels of this type will be wood-sheathed and coppered in order to adapt them for distant service on stations where docks will not be available, at least in war time. This will add somewhat to the displacements given above, and cause a small reduction of the measured mile speed.
§ The second class Cruisers, of which it is proposed to construct a large number, may be described as enlarged Medeas. In protection, engine power, speed, and coal supply they are practically reproductions of the Medea class. They are more heavily armed than the Medea, 35 feet longer, and of about 600 tons greater displacement.
| The principal dimensions, &c. are:— | |
| Length | 300 feet. |
| Breadth | 43 feet. |
| Displacement (about) | 3,400 tons. |
| Speed on measured mile | 20 knots. |
| Speed at sea (continuous steaming) | 18 knots. |
| Radius or action:— | |
| Speed of 10 knots (about) | 8,000 knots. |
| Speed of 18 knots (about) | 1,000 knots. |
| 2,000 knots. |
§ Armament:—
- 2 6-inch (5-ton) bow and stern chasers.
- 6 4.7-inch quick-firers, broadside.
- 9 6-pounders and 3-pounders.
- 4 Torpedo tubes.
§ Protective deck: maximum thickness (on slopes) 2-inch steel on horizontal portions, 1-inch.
§ It is proposed to wood-sheath and copper the bottoms of a large proportion of these vessels, which will involve an increase of about 200 tons in the displacement given above, and a reduction of about one-quarter of a knot in the measured mile speed.
§ Four protected Cruisers of the Pandora class are to be laid down in the Dockyards. They are to be built from the same design as the five Cruisers for Australasian service described in my Statement of last year.
§ A description of the Sharpshooter class (Torpedo gunboats) appeared in the same Statement. The first vessel of the class is now nearly complete, and about to enter upon her steam trials, so that it will shortly be possible to decide, as the result of experience, whether any changes are desirable in future vessels of the class.
§ Eleven vessels for the Royal Navy and two for India are now building from the Sharpshooter design; and it is proposed to lay down four more Torpedo gunboats in the Dockyards in 1889–90.