The Belleville was the first water-tube boiler to come into prominence; other types, however, soon appeared. In the period 1895–98, torpedo gunboats were experimentally fitted as follows:—Sharpshooter, Belleville; Sheldrake, Babcock; Seagull, Niclausse; Spanker, Du Temple; Salamander, Mumford; Speedy, Thornycroft—these three last being of the small tube type. Other existing types were the Yarrow, White-Foster, Normand, Reed, Blechynden, all these being of the small tube type also, and regarded as suitable for small craft only.19

In the matter of big ships, so far as the British Navy was concerned, “water-tube boiler” for some years meant Bellevilles only, whence it came that in the insensate “Battle of the Boilers,” which presently broke out, Bellevilles were the main object of attack in Parliament and elsewhere. Actually, of course, the whole principle was in the melting pot. All the elements opposed to change in any form rallied to the attack, led on and influenced in some cases by those whose interests were bound up with the old style cylindrical boilers. It was all over again the old story of the fight for the retention of the paddle against the screw propeller, with an equal disregard for facts.

Unfortunately the party of progress played somewhat into the hands of the reactionaries. In fitting the Belleville type only, they had not much alternative, other types being then in a less forward state. The error made was that in the wholesale adoption of a new type of steam generator, requiring twice the skill and intelligence necessary for the old type, it was practically impossible to train quickly enough a sufficiency of engineers and stokers. Hence troubles soon arose. An even greater error was that the boilers were mostly built in England to the French specifications, without, in many cases, sufficient experienced supervision; and minor “improvements,” such as fusible plugs and restricting regulations, were introduced by more or less amateur Admiralty authorities—which also produced trouble.

For example, French practice had taught that adding lime to the feed water was desirable; but in many British ships this rule was ignored. Again, one Belleville essential was to throw on coal in very small quantities at a time, in contradistinction to the old cylindrical practice in which shovelling on enormous quantities of coal was the recipe for increased speed. This feature was often disregarded.

The Belleville, ever a complicated and delicate mechanism, if its full efficiency is to be secured, was a worse boiler for the experiments than many of the simpler types of to-day would have been. But no water-tube boiler of any type would have stood any chance of success against the opposition. There were some terrible times in the boiler rooms in those days. One or two ships whose chief engineers had been specially trained in France secured marvellous results, usually by ignoring Admiralty improvements and regulations.20 But for one success there were many early failures.

The agitation triumphed to the extent of a Committee of Inquiry being appointed. An interim report of this Committee made a scape-goat of the Belleville, to the extent of recommending that no more should be fitted. But the victory of the retrogrades ended there. A species of compromise with public opinion inflamed against the water-tube system was temporarily adopted, and absurd mixed installations of cylindrical and water-tube boilers were fitted to some ships. Four large tube types were selected as substitutes for Bellevilles, the Niclausse, Dürr (a German variant of the Niclausse), the Babcock and Wilcox, and the Yarrow large tube.

It may approximately be said that every water-tube boiler is a species of compromise between facility for rapid repair on board ship and complication, and the need of great care in using and working. It is usual to put the Belleville at one end of this scale and the Yarrow (large tube) at the other, this last boiler now requiring little, if any, more care than the old type of cylindrical.

In the course of comparatively short experiments, both the Niclausse and the Dürr were found to possess most of the alleged deficiencies of the Belleville without its advantages; and it was decided to fit all future types of large ships with the Babcock and Yarrow types only. The absurd mixture of cylindrical and water-tube boilers was wisely done away with. Curiously enough, the Belleville boiler, once the agitation had ceased, also ceased to be troublesome. This was no doubt due to the increased experience which had been gained in the interim.

Both the Babcock and Yarrow boilers have been immensely improved since the days when they were first brought out. Something of the same sort is, of course, true of all the standard types, and there is to-day hardly any question as to which of them may be the best or worst. Each type has some special advantage of its own, and in no case, probably, is that advantage sufficiently pronounced to render any one type absolutely the best. When adopted by the Admiralty the Belleville was certainly the best water-tube boiler available. Had it been persisted in and not “improved” by amateurs it would probably have done quite as well as any type adopted to-day. The real issue was mainly not one of type, but of principle. That principle was the water-tube boiler as opposed to the old type cylindrical.

The Estimates for 1896–97 provided for five battleships which were somewhat sarcastically alluded to as “improved” Majestics. These ships were the Canopus class, and they mark a species of early striving after the ideal of the battle-cruisers of to-day. That is to say, certain sacrifices were made in them with a view to securing increased speed.

Particulars of these ships:—

• Displacement—12,950 tons.
• Length—(over all) 418ft.
• Beam—74ft.
• Draught—(maximum) 26½ft.
• Armament—Four 12in., 35 cal., twelve 6in. 40 cal., ten 12-pounders, four submerged tubes (18in.)
• Armour—Harvey-Nickel. Belt amidships 6in. with 2in. extension to the bow and 1½in. skin aft on the water-line. Bulkheads and barbettes 12in. Turrets 8in.
• Horse-power—31,500 = 18.25 knots.
• Coal—(normal) 1,000 tons; (maximum) 2,300 tons = nominal radius of 8,000 miles at 10 knots.

The adoption of Harvey-Nickel armour, which was of superior resisting power to Harvey armour in the ratio of about 5 to 4, partly, but not entirely accounted for the thinning of the armour of this class. Theoretically, the 9in. armour belt of the Majestic was equal to 18in. of iron, while the belt of the Canopus class was equal to about 15in. of iron. In place of the 4in. deck of the Majestics, the Canopus class had only a 2½in. deck. The thin bow (2in.) plating was introduced as a sop to a public agitation against soft-ended ships. Such a belt is, of course, perfectly useless against any heavy projectile, or, for that matter, against 6in., except at very long range indeed. Sir William White never made any secret of his cynical disbelief in these bow belts. They were and always have been what doctors call a “placebo.”

In the following year the sixth ship of this class was built—the Vengeance. She differed from the others in the form of her turrets, which were flat sided for the first time. In her also a mounting was first introduced, whereby, in addition to being loaded in any position, big guns could also be loaded at any elevation.

Some other details of the Canopus class are:—

The cruisers of the following year were eight cruisers of the much discussed Diadem class, small editions of the Powerful (11,000 tons), and carrying a pair of 6-inch guns in place of the 9.2’s of the Powerfuls. For the first four (the Diadem, Andromeda, Europa, and Niobe) a speed of 20.5 knots only was provided, but in the late four (the Argonaut, Ariadne, Amphitrite, and Spartiate) the horse-power was increased to 18,000, in order to provide twenty-one knots. At the present time (1912) these ships have for all practical purposes already passed from the effective list, all the weak points of the Powerfuls being exaggerated in them.

In the Estimates for the years 1895 to 1898, provision was made also for eleven small third-class cruisers of the “P” class of 2135 tons and twenty knot speed. The armament consisted of eight 4-inch guns. On trials most of them did well, but in a very short time their speeds fell off, and at the present time, such of them as remain on the active list are slower than the far older cruisers of the Apollo class.

In the Estimates for 1897–98, in addition to the Vengeance, already mentioned, three improved copies of the Majestic were provided. These ships were:—

The only difference between them and the Majestics lies in advantage being taken of improvements in gunnery and armour to increase the offensive and defensive items. The absurd 2-inch bow belt of the Canopus was repeated in them, but raised within 2½ft. of the main deck. A 40-calibre 12-inch was mounted, also a 45-calibre 6-inch.

These were the first ships of the British Navy in which Krupp cemented armour was used. This armour, generally known as “K.C.,” has approximately a resisting power three times that of iron armour. That is to say, the 9in. belts of the Formidables were approximately 33 per cent. more effective than the similar belts of the Majestics. These ships proved faster and more handy, easily exceeding their designed eighteen knots. The superior handiness was brought about by a superior form of hull—the deadwood aft being cut away for the first time in them.

In this year’s Estimates armoured cruisers definitely re-appeared, six ships of the Cressy type being laid down.

Particulars of these:—

• Displacement—12,000 tons.
• Length—454ft.
• Beam—69½ft.
• Draught—(maximum) 28ft.
• Armament—Two 9.2, 40 cal., twelve 6-inch, 45 cal., twelve 12-pounders, two 18in. submerged tubes.
• Armour—6in. Krupp belt amidships, 250ft. long by 11½ft. wide, 2in. continuation to the bow. Barbettes 6in. Casemates 5in.
• Horse power—21,000 = 21 knots.
• Coal—(normal) 800 tons; (maximum) 1,600 tons.

In substance these ships were armoured editions of the Powerful. They steamed very well in their time, but have now fallen off considerably and are no longer of any importance. Total weight of armour 2,100 tons. An innovation introduced in these ships was the fitting of non-flammable wood, which at a later date was objected to on the grounds that it deteriorated the gold lace of the uniforms stored in drawers made of it. The Cressy was completed in 1901; the others, excepting the Euryalus, in 1902. This latter ship was greatly delayed from various causes, and not completed until 1903.

The 1898–99 Estimates consisted of three battleships and four armoured cruisers. The battleships were practically sisters to the Formidable, but differed from her in that the main belt, instead of being a patch amidships, has a total length of 300ft. from the bow. At the bow it is 2in., quickly increasing to 4in., 5in., 6in., and finally to 9in., and this provided a measure of protection that the 2in. belts of preceding ships could never afford. The flat-sided turrets, first introduced in the Vengeance, were also fitted in these ships, the Formidables having the old pattern turrets.

The advantages of flat-sided turrets lie in the fact that K.C. can be used for them instead of the relatively softer non-cemented. K.C. is not applicable to curved surfaces, for which reason barbettes, casemates, and batteries with curved portholes in them and rounded turrets cannot be constructed of it. Flat-sided turrets consist of a number of flat plates placed to meet each other at predetermined angles, thus forming one homogeneous whole.

These battleships were:—

All were completed in 1902.

The cruisers of the same year, the Drake class, were “improved” Cressies, with increased displacement, power and speed. The increased displacement allowed of four extra 6-inch guns being mounted, these being placed in casemates on top of the amidships casemates.

Particulars of the Drake class:—

• Displacement—14,000 tons.
• Length—(over all) 529½ft.
• Beam—71ft.
• Draught—(maximum) 28ft.
• Armament—Two 9.2, 45 cal. (instead of 40 cal., as in the Cressies), sixteen 6-inch, 45 cal., and fourteen 12-pounders, two submerged tubes (18in.).
• Armour—2,700 tons, as in Cressy, except that the casemates are 6in. thick.
• Horse-power—30,000 = 23 knots. Boilers, 43 Belleville.
• Coal—(normal) 1,250 tons; (maximum) 2,500.

These ships were altogether superior to the Cressy class. On trial they all easily made their contract speeds and subsequently greatly exceeded them. It was discovered that increased speed was to be obtained by additional weight aft, and this was so much brought to a fine art that weights were adjusted accordingly, and in one of them, seeking to make a speed record, the entire crew were once mustered aft in order to vary the trim!

Building details are as follows:—

For some years these were the fastest ships in the world. In 1905, in a race by the Second Cruiser Squadron across the Atlantic, with ships of nominally equal speed, the Drake came in first. In December, 1906, at four-fifths power for thirty hours, she averaged 22.5 knots. In 1907, the King Alfred averaged 25.1 knots for one hour, and made an eight hours’ mean of 24.8. They proved very economical steamers, being able to do nineteen knots at an expenditure of eleven tons of coal an hour, and though they are now getting old, as warships go, they have never yet been beaten on the results achieved by horse-power per ton of displacement.

The Estimates of 1898–99 included a supplementary programme of four armoured ships which, like the Canopus class, again foreshadowed the battle cruisers of to-day. These were the famous Duncan class, and may be described as slightly smaller editions of the London, with armour thickness sacrificed for superior speed. The belt amidships was reduced from 9in. to 7in., but against this the belt at the extreme bow was made an inch thicker, and 25ft. away from the ram became 5in. thick. The displacement sank by 1,000 tons, the horse-power was increased by 3,000, and the speed by one knot.

The total weight of armour is about 3,500 against 4,300 tons in the Londons. The Duncans may be regarded as a species of recrudescence of Barnaby ideas, plus a later notion that a well-extended partial protection was better than a more concentrated protection of less area. Generally speaking, they were improved duplicates of the Canopus class, in the same way that the Formidable and the ships that followed her were duplicates of the Majestic. Two ideas were obviously at work. In other forms these two ideas have (with variations) existed to the present day. Then it was purely a question between ratios devoted to speed and protection. To-day (1912) matters have been so far modified that increased displacements are given to secure speed advantages, but protection remains proportionately as it was. Reduced armament has always been accepted.

Construction details of the Duncans, of which two more figured in the estimates for 1899–1900:—

The Montagu was wrecked on Lundy Island in 1906.

Contemporaneous with the Drakes, and extending over four ships in the Estimates of 1898–99 to two in the following and four in the year later, ten armoured cruisers were provided for, which in essence were little but an attempt to provide a normal second-class protected cruiser of the Talbot class, with armour protection. These ships—the County class—are of 9,800 tons displacement, and may also be regarded as diminutives of the Drake and Cressy classes, with a touch of the Diadems thrown in. In place of the fore and aft 9.2’s of the Drake and Cressy, they were supplied with a couple of pairs of 6-inch guns mounted in turrets fore and aft. The belt amidships was reduced to 4in. (a thickness in K.C. which has no virtues over armour of earlier type) with the usual extension of 2in. to the bow. The twin turrets, in which, like those of the Powerful, electrical control was once more introduced, have never given satisfaction, being very cramped for working purposes, and probably no more efficient than single gun turrets would have been, certainly less than the single gun 7—5in. turrets, originally proposed as an alternative, would have been.

Had the ships been regarded frankly as modern variants of the second-class protected cruisers, they probably would have been esteemed more than they were. Unfortunately they have always been regarded as “armoured ships” and discounted on account of their obvious inferiority to the Drakes. In the matter of steaming all of them have invariably done well (except in the case of the Essex, over which a mistake in design was made). The anticipated twenty-three knots was made quite easily, once certain early propeller difficulties were overcome. The Boiler Commission, already referred to, affected these ships, in so far that, instead of the hitherto inevitable Bellevilles, the Berwick and Suffolk were given Niclausse boilers and the Cornwall Babcocks. The total weight of armour is 1,800 tons.

Details of the construction of this class are:—

All were completed during 1903 and 1904.

For the year 1900–01 only two battleships were provided: the Queen, built at Devonport and engined by Harland and Wolff, and the Prince of Wales, built at Chatham and engined by the Greenock Foundry Co. These were laid down in 1901 and completed in 1904. They were copies of the Londons in every detail, saving that, instead of being enclosed, their upper deck batteries were left open as in the Duncans. The Queen was given Babcock boilers instead of Bellevilles.

The 1901–02 Estimates provided three battleships and six armoured cruisers of the County class. These were the last ships designed by Sir William White. The battleships, of which eight were built altogether—three for 1901–02, two for the next year—were of a different type from any which had preceded them, and to some extent may be said to mark the birth of the Dreadnought era. That is to say, in them the old idea of the two calibres, 12in. and 6in., died out, and heavier auxiliary guns began to appear.

Particulars of these ships, the King Edward VII class, are as follows:—

• Displacement—16,350 tons.
• Length—(over all) 453¾ft.
• Beam—78ft.
• Draught—(maximum) 26¾ft.
• Armament—Four 12-inch, 40 cal., four 9.2, 45 cal., ten 6-inch, 45 cal., twelve 12-pounders, fourteen 3-pounders, five 18-inch submerged tubes (of which one is in the stern).
• Armour—As in the London (but a 6in. battery instead of casemates).
• Horse-power—18,000 = 18.9 knots.
• Coal—(normal) 950 tons; (maximum) 2,150 tons, also 400 tons of oil, except in the New Zealand.

Except the last three, all were completed in 1905. The others were completed very shortly afterwards.

The boilers fitted to these ships varied considerably. The King Edward, Hindustan, and Britannia were given a mixed installation of Babcocks and cylindricals; the New Zealand Niclausse boilers; the other ships Babcock only. In the Britannia, super-heaters were also fitted to six of her boilers. The point differentiating these ships from their predecessors was the mounting of four 9.2 guns in single turrets at the angles of the superstructure. Equally novel was the placing of 6-inch guns in a battery behind the armour on the main deck.21 Fighting tops, a feature of all previous ships, disappeared, and in place of them fire-control platforms were substituted.

When produced, these ships were considered as something like the “last word”; but in service later on it was very soon found that the two calibres of big guns rendered fire-control extremely difficult, and they have been a somewhat costly lesson in that respect. They cost about £1,500,000 each, and were found to be all that could be desired tactically, their turning circles with engines being only about 340yds. at fifteen knots. All of them did not make their speeds on trials, and some have never quite come up to expectations in that respect, but they have all proved remarkably reliable steamers.

Six armoured cruisers provided for in the 1901–02 Estimates were the Devonshires. These were originally intended to have been enlarged Counties, carrying a single 7.5 fore and aft, in place of the twin 6-inch turrets of the prototype ships. The design was, however, modified to the extent of substituting a single 7.5 for each of the forward pairs of 6-inch casemates.

Details of these ships are:—

• Displacement—10,850 tons.
• Length (between perpendiculars)—450ft.
• Beam—68½ft.
• Draught—(maximum) 25½ft.
• Armament—Four 7.5, six 6-inch, 45 cal.; two 12-pounders, twenty-two 3-pounders, two 18in. torpedo tubes submerged.
• Armour Belt—(length 325ft. from the bow, width 10½ft.), 6in. amidships, thinning to 2in. right forward. Barbettes 6in. Turrets 5in. Casemates 6in.
• Horse-power—21,000==22.5 knots.
• Coal—(normal) 800; (maximum) 1,800 tons.

Other details are:—

Like the King Edwards, various boilers were given to them. All of them have one-fifth cylindrical boilers. The Devonshire and Carnarvon were otherwise given Niclausse; Antrim and Hampshire, Yarrow; Argyll, Babcock; and Roxburgh, Dürr. The designed speed was exceeded by all on trials, but none have proved successful steamers ever since. They were completed between 1904 and 1905.

These were the last ships to be designed by Sir William White. He resigned his position from ill-health; but, like his predecessors, left under a cloud—at any rate, with his services not really appreciated. He had created a magnificent fleet; but its very magnificence made many of his designs look poor on paper against any foreign construction of less displacement, but—on paper—of equal or superior qualities. It is the fate of the naval architect in peace-time to be judged on paper with small regard to issues such as nautical qualities, constructional strength, and a score of other details which are not to be expressed by any statistical formulæ, but yet make all the difference between efficiency and the absence of it.

Sir William White’s period of office was marked by an almost complete naval revolution. It began with the quick-firer and the disappearance of the low freeboard battleships. It ended with the coming of submarines, fire-control, and wireless. In between, it included the coming of the destroyer, the re-birth of the armoured cruiser; the arrival of the water-tube boiler, new forms of hull, unprecedented advances in both guns and armour—in fact, almost every conceivable change. Through these troubled waters with a steady hand and cool brain Sir William White guided the destiny of the Fleet and the millions of pounds expended in shipbuilding. Already his era is “the pre-Dreadnought” one, and to present-day ideas the term “pre-Dreadnought” is already very nearly akin to “pre-historic.” His creations preserved the peace, for which very reason they failed to secure glory. Already some have gone to the scrap-heap, and others are well on their way thither to join the Reed and Barnaby ships in that oblivion to which modern Dreadnoughts will just as surely go in their season. More might be said: but cui bono? Such public epitaph as Sir William White received when he retired was of the “about time, too!” order. The creator of the finest fleet that the world has ever seen left office with less honour and no more public interest than did half-a-dozen mediocre admirals who had chanced to fly their flags in some of his creations. It is not given for the stage manager to stand in the lime-light reserved for the principal actors. But the historian of a hundred years hence, placing great Englishmen in perspective, will assuredly place Sir William White far ahead of many who loom greater in the public eye to-day.

GUNS IN THE ERA.

The guns which especially belong to the White era are as follows:—

PURCHASED SHIPS.

In the year 1902 two ships, the Constitucion and Libertad, were laid down at Elswick and Vickers-Maxims’ respectively for the Chilian Government. They were designed by Sir Edward Reed, and compare interestingly with the King Edwards in being much longer and narrower. It will be remembered that in the past Reed ideals had always centred round a “short handy ship.” They had also always embodied the maximum of protection, while these ships carried medium armour only. His ships had, further, always been characterised by extremely strong construction, while these verged on the flimsy, the scantlings being far lighter than in British naval practice.

Out of all which it has been held that they represented the Reed ideal of armoured cruisers interlaced with whatever limitations the Chilian authorities may have specified.

Particulars of these ships, which in 1903 were purchased for the British Navy and renamed Swiftsure (ex Constitucion) and Triumph (ex Libertad):—

• Displacement—11,800. Complement, 700.
• Length—(over all) 470ft.
• Beam—71ft.
• Draught—(Maximum) 24ft. 8in.
• Armament—Four 10-inch, 45 cal.; fourteen 7.5-inch, 50 cal.; fourteen 14-pounders, four 6-pounders, four Maxims; two 18-inch submerged tubes.
• Armour—Practically complete belt 8ft. wide, 7-inch thick amidships, reduced to 3-inch at ends. 10-inch bulkheads at ends of thick portion of belt. Redoubt above (250ft. long), 7-inch on sides 6-inch bulkheads to it. Deck 1½-inch on slopes amidships, 3-inch on slopes at ends. Barbettes 10-inch, with 8 to 6-inch turrets. Battery and upper deck casemates, 7-inch.
• Horse-power—14,000 = 20 knots. Yarrow boilers.
• Coal—(normal) 800 tons; (maximum) 2,000 tons.

These ships compare interestingly with the King Edwards and Devonshires, between which they struck a mean, as follows:—

Other items of interest are that the armament of the Swiftsures (10-inch and 7.5’s) had somewhere about that time been laid down by Admiral Fisher as the ideal armament of the future, on the principle that the best possible was “the smallest effective big gun, and the largest possible secondary gun.”

In service these ships never proved brilliantly successful. They rarely managed to make their speeds successfully, and there was a great deal of vibration with them. They were shored up internally in places with a view to strengthening them. On the other hand, it should be mentioned that some of these alleged defects have been put down to conservatism in nautical ideas, and that the shoring up was not really required. Their great drawback was that so far as the British Navy was concerned they were neither one thing nor the other, being too light in heavy guns to be satisfactory with the battleships, and too slow to act with the cruisers. Had there been six or so of them they would, possibly enough, have formed an ideal squadron. Being two ships only, they of necessity became round pegs in square holes.

NAVAL ESTIMATES IN THE ERA.

In the following year 1903–04 three ships (the last of the King Edwards) were provided for. The total number of battleships designed for the British Navy by Sir William White was therefore 48. There were in addition 26 armoured cruisers—making a total of 74 armoured ships, and about as many protected cruisers, including some for Colonial service.