er is 8548 (not 5500 as stated on page 76) with natural draft, and 12,000 with

forced draft, the estimated speed being 16 knots, the coal capacity 800 tons, and
the coal endurance 1500 miles at full power and 3500 miles at 11 knots speed. The
Neptune and the Hoche, of the same general plans and dimensions, were launched in
the spring of this year. As originally designed the Hoche was expected to develop
16 knots and 7000 indicated horse-power, but by the application of forced draft the
speed was increased to 17½ and the power to 12,000. The armament consists—not of
the four 52-ton guns given in the table on page 76—but, as stated in the text, of
two 13.4-inch guns (34 centimetre) mounted one in each of the midship turrets, of
two 10.6-inch guns (27 centimetre) carried one in each of the waist turrets, and of
eighteen 5.5-inch guns (14 centimetre) so disposed in broadside within the
unarmored central superstructure which occupies the deck between the turrets that
the forward and after pairs are given bow and stern fire respectively. The armor-
belt is similar to that of the Marceau, but the protective deck is from 3.15 to
3.54 inches thick, and the heavy gun sites are protected by 15.75 inches of
compound armor.

The Amiral Courbet (formerly the Foudroyant) carries four 10.6-inch, six 5.5-inch,
and twelve rapid-fire guns. She developed 6016 horse-power with natural and 8088
with forced draft, the mean speed being 14.2 knots on a consumption of 2.35 pounds
per power each hour. The Indomptable, Requin, Caïman, and Terrible are sister
battle-ships. They[94] were originally laid down in 1877, and the Terrible was only
completed ready for sea in 1887. They are constructed like the Marceau, of iron and
steel, the outer skin of the under-water body being of the former metal; the
compound armor is from 13 to 19⅝ inches in thickness, and carries five feet of its
seven feet six inches width below the water-line. In each of two pear-shaped
barbette towers situated on the longitudinal midship line, and protected by 17¾
inches of armor, a 16.5-inch gun, with its axis twenty-one feet above the water is
mounted; in addition there are four 4-inch breech-loading rifles and a secondary
battery of rapid-fire guns and torpedo-tubes. The Indomptable, launched in
September, 1883, made in her trial trip in August, 1886, a speed of 15 knots, and
is officially rated as having a sea speed of 13.5 knots. All work upon the
partially protected ships Brennus and Charles Martel was stopped in 1886, and their
specific appropriation has been transferred to the sum already assigned for the
construction of fast cruisers and torpedo-boats.

The Cocyte and Mitraille belong to a new class, or rather they represent a type
which, after disappearing for a season of doubt and denial, has had its value so
much recognized that three Continental nations are giving it earnest study. A late
French Minister of Marine asked within a year for money to construct fifty of these
gun-boats, but was then refused the grant, a decision for which Admiral Sir George
Elliot thinks England ought to be very grateful. This distinguished officer
believes in the value of the type, and hopes that the Admiralty “will take note of
the threat thus made” before the theory is allowed to prevail that adequate
security can be given to the British coasts by sea-going cruisers, submarine mines,
shore batteries, and torpedo-boats. The boats present a small target, and give good
armor protection to guns which, when the vessels are inshore or reinforced by land
batteries, have sufficient power to keep battle-ships at a distance. They are very
handy, have good speed, and are economical, because for the same money they can, as
flotillas, bring into the action four times the gun-power possible in the large
battle-ships. In France this type is divided into two classes—the Achéron, Cocyte,
Phlegéton, and Styx, of 1639 tons, belonging to the first, and the Fusée, Grenade,
Mitraille, and Flamme, of 1045 tons, to the second. The iron and steel hulls are
extensively subdivided into water-tight compartments, and are protected by complete
belts of steel armor at the water-line, and by arched steel-armored decks. The
superstructures above the protective decks have water-line belts of cellulose. The
armament consists of one heavy gun mounted[95] in a barbette tower, and of a strong
secondary battery of machine guns and torpedoes.
The most important contributions to the sea-going navy of France are the cruisers.
In the naval programme adopted after the war with Germany, ships of high speed were
decided to be of such great value that thirty-four—sixteen of the first and
eighteen of the second class—were provided for. At the present day French naval
policy seems to pin its faith to fast cruisers, 5½-inch breech-loading guns, and
torpedo-vessels. In pursuance of this belief the Tage, the largest unarmored
cruiser yet designed by any nation, was laid down in 1885; she is ship-rigged, has
a complete under-water curved deck, lightly armored bulkheads forward and abaft the
battery, a steel conning-tower, and heavily plated hatchways. A belt of cellulose
along the water-line, and the subdivision of the space above the protective deck
into water-tight compartments, will, it is claimed, insure the safety of the ship
in action. This employment of cellulose to stop leaks automatically was very
successfully demonstrated in the experiments made at Toulon with a target “composed
of fourteen parts of cellulose and one part of cellulose in fibre, the whole
compressed into a felt-like mass, with a lining two feet thick. A shot seven and
one-half inches in calibre was fired against this target at a distance to insure
penetration. The result was not only satisfactory but extraordinary. The shot,
which carried away about one-fifth of a cubic foot of the composition, had no
sooner passed through than the cellulose closed up so firmly that a strong man was
unable to insert his arm into the hole. A tank filled with water was then hung
against the place where the shot had entered, and after an interval of fifteen
minutes water began to trickle through, but not more than a man with a bucket could
easily intercept. As soon as the composition became thoroughly soaked, it offered
increased resistance to the entrance of the water, which eventually ceased to flow,
and the breach was closed automatically. The results were the same where shells
were used instead of shot, and red-hot coals were heaped upon the composition
without causing its ignition.”[28]

The twin-screw cruiser Cecile, which was designed before the Tage, and is somewhat
smaller, illustrates the principle of duality in construction; the two main engines
are situated in separate compartments, and the six boilers are arranged in three
different groups. The sail area is 2153 square yards, and the steel lower masts
serve as ventilators to the[96] hold, and carry steel crow’s-nests in which are
mounted rapid fire and machine guns. The primary batteries of the two ships are
similar, each carrying six 6¼-inch guns on the spar-deck (one forward, one aft, and
four on sponsons) and ten 5½-inch pieces on the covered deck in broadside. The
secondary battery of the Cecile consists of ten 37-millimetre (1.45-inch) guns, and
that of the Tage of three 47-millimetre (1.85-inch) rapid-fire guns, and twelve 37-
millimetre revolving cannon—all of the Hotchkiss pattern. Both ships are supplied
with above-water torpedo tubes, the former having four, the latter seven. The
estimated maximum speed of the Tage is 19 knots, with 10,330 horse-power, and that
of the Cecile is 18½ knots, with 9600 horse-power. The latest cruisers laid down
are the Jean Bart and the Dupuy de Lôme, the first bearing the name of the rugged
old sea-wolf who entered the navy as an apprentice and died a famous admiral, and
the other that of the constructor who designed both in wood and iron the first
steam line-of-battle ships. These vessels are of 352 feet length, 43.6 feet beam,
18 feet 10 inches mean draught, and 4162 tons displacement; their estimated maximum
speed is 19 knots. The main battery is composed of four 6.3-inch guns mounted on
sponsons, and of six 5.5-inch carried in broadside, and the secondary armament has
six 37-millimetre revolving cannons, four 3-pounder rapid-fire guns, and the usual
torpedo tubes.

The Alger and Isly are similar in construction to the Cecile, but have the
dimensions and armament of the Jean Bart; they are designed for 19 knots, and a
coal endurance of 3600 miles at 13 knots. The Mogador is a rapid cruiser of 4325
tons, and of nearly similar design, armament, speed, and endurance as the above.
The Chanzy, Davoust, and Suchet belong to the same class of “croiseurs à barbette,”
and are of 3027 tons displacement, with an estimated speed of 20 knots.
The Surcoup and Forbin illustrate another favorite type of cruiser. They are 311
feet 7 inches long, have 30 feet 6 inches beam, and on a mean draught of 13 feet 11
inches displace 1848 tons. The hull weighs 817 tons, and the engines (with boilers
filled) 544 tons; the coal capacity is 200 tons, and the endurance 2400 miles at 10
knots. The engines are expected, with forced draft, to develop 6000 indicated
horse-power and 19.5 knots. They have a four-masted schooner rig, spread 7255.5
square feet of canvas, and carry a complement of one hundred and fifty officers and
men. The battery consists of two 5.5-inch guns on the upper deck, three 47-
millimetre rapid-fire guns on the poop and forecastle, four 37-millimetre Hotchkiss
revolving cannon on the rail, and five torpedo launching tubes—two firing ahead,
one astern, and one on each beam.[97] This lightness of battery and small coal
capacity indicate with great precision how much weight-carrying power has been
sacrificed to spars and sails. The Coetlogon and Cosmao laid down this