In 1893 steel-built vessels replaced the iron-built; the length had grown to four hundred and seventy feet; and the speed had increased to seventeen or eighteen knots.
The Celtic, mentioned above, launched in 1901, of over twenty thousand tons, is seven hundred feet in length, and though not equal to many modern ships in speed, can do her seventeen knots with ease.
The same advance was seen in another line of steamers, plying their way to and from the Cape.
Before the middle of the century, ships two hundred feet in length, and going at the rate of seven knots an hour, were reckoned sufficiently up to the mark. Now vessels five hundred feet in length, steaming at a pace of twenty or more knots, are in use. One cannot but question how long it would have taken, under the old régime, to transfer two hundred thousand soldiers from Great Britain to South Africa. Under the new order of things that feat was lately accomplished in less than eight months.
The same steady growth is apparent in Merchant vessels generally—in their gradual increase from small to large, from slow to fast.
Again, the same development is seen in Men-of-War.
Up to the year 1860, twelve or thirteen knots for the best speed of a battleship was regarded as eminently satisfactory. By 1870 this had risen to nearly fifteen knots. There for many years it stood still; but since 1880 the outside speed of battleships has arrived at nineteen knots.
Fast Cruisers have exceeded the Battleships. Up to 1870 they had reached nearly nineteen knots; and since 1880 they have risen to twenty-three knots. These, again, have been excelled by Torpedo Destroyers, which can go at the rate of twenty-six or twenty-seven knots.
Together with increase of speed has come growth in size. A modern fast Cruiser has often from ten to fourteen thousand tons displacement; a modern Battleship from thirteen to fifteen thousand tons.
But the popular notion, that Men-of-War exceed in size and weight all Passenger and Merchant vessels, is a delusion. It arises from a difference in the mode of measurement.