The "County" class of cruisers, which immediately preceded those just mentioned, are considerably smaller, though to some minds but weakly gunned for their size. None of them have heavier guns than 7·5-inch, and most only 6-inch weapons. Neither have they a great deal of armour protection or an extraordinary high rate of speed. As none have been built within recent years, we may fairly assume that they are not considered quite what we want at the present time, though many or most of them have done excellent work in the present war. You will remember how the Kent and Cornwall fought at the battle off the Falklands.
The "Town" class, of not much more than half the size, would appear to have superseded the "Counties", and they, too, have been very much in evidence in the hostilities which have been carried on afloat. The biggest of these are of 5400 tons displacement, and carry eight 6-inch guns, and as these are the latest cruisers built, with the exception of the monster battle-cruisers, it seems likely that it is not intended to have any cruisers of intermediate size. Big sparsely-armoured cruisers, like the unfortunate Good Hope, which did not steam faster than smaller ones, and which carried but a poor armament considering her size and cost, cannot be considered a good investment. The "Town" class have done splendidly in the war at sea. The Birmingham had the distinction of sinking the first German submarine; the plucky little Gloucester hung closely on the heels of the giant Goeben and her consort the Breslau during their flight to Constantinople, though one well-directed shot from the former would have put her out of action and probably sent her to the bottom. The Glasgow, Carnarvon, and Bristol were of great use in the Falklands fight, the first-named having already fought against the heavy batteries of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau off the coast of Chile, while later on she sank the Dresden; while the Sydney won undying fame by defeating and driving on shore the notorious commerce-destroyer Emden.
Another distinctly modern type of cruiser is the "light cruiser", a fast unprotected vessel with light guns of 4-inch calibre, which has proved of immense value in the area of "liveliness" in the North Sea. The Amphion opened the ball by sinking the German mine-layer Königin Luise at the very opening of hostilities, but was very soon after herself blown up by a mine the latter had laid. She, like her sisters, was almost exactly like a big destroyer in appearance. The "Saucy" Arethusa has proved a worthy descendant of the famous frigate after which she was named, and has more than once particularly distinguished herself, notably in the fight off Heligoland. But space forbids more than the mere mention of the smallest class of cruiser, the "scouts", of just under 3000 tons, which are also extremely useful little vessels, since it is necessary to give some account of destroyers and submarines.
The destroyer was originally built to "destroy" the torpedo-boat, which, from its small size, had its limitations in anything of a sea-way. The earliest torpedo-boats were ordinary steamboats, such as are carried by most ships of any size, fitted with a long spar with a tin of gun-cotton at the end of it, which could be run out some way over the bows. The idea was to approach an enemy's ship under cover of the darkness, lower the outer end of the spar with its "torpedo" below the water-line, place it in contact with the enemy's ship, and explode the charge by means of an electric current. This seems a crude way of going to work, but several ships have been sunk by its means, notably the Confederate ram Albemarle, which was attacked by Lieutenant Cushing of the United States navy in this way in the course of the Civil War in America. Special boats were then made for this purpose, but the advent of the "Whitehead" automobile torpedo provided them with a much more formidable weapon. Naval powers built these "torpedo-boats" in considerable numbers, and they were considered such a menace to bigger ships that the destroyer, an almost exactly similar boat, but of larger size, was designed to cope with them. In point of fact it did destroy them, for it was found to be so much better an "all-round craft", not only for attacking torpedo-boats, but to act as one itself, that the smaller craft before long were entirely superseded by the destroyers. Beginning about 1897 with boats of about 180 tons, armed with 6-pounder guns, we have now improved our destroyers till at the present day our latest types are more than twice as big, and are armed with 4-inch guns, which give them a decided advantage over less heavily-gunned destroyers, as has been amply demonstrated in more than one encounter with German destroyers. The destroyer is used, generally speaking, for scouting purposes, and especially to attack an enemy's submarines, which, if caught at the surface, may be approached in a swift destroyer and sunk by gun-fire before they are able to dive, or, with luck, may even be rammed. Destroyers, too, may be used to attack at night as torpedo-boats, or even in the course of a naval action if a favourable opportunity offers; it will be remembered that the Goliath was torpedoed by a Turkish destroyer.
"Vessels of stealth", as submarines have been called, have now taken the place of the obsolete torpedo-boat. The latter relied on torpedoing her enemy under cover of the darkness, but the submarine is most dangerous in day-time. At night it is almost impossible for her to find her target or to estimate the speed at which she is travelling if under way, without which knowledge it is extremely difficult to arrange for a torpedo to intercept her course unless fired at very close quarters indeed. As the particulars of our submarines are wisely kept secret, no more can be said about them than is already public property.
The "E" class, our latest improved "Hollands", are 176 feet long, with a beam of a little over 22 feet, and have a displacement—when submerged—of 800 tons. When at the surface their heavy oil-engines, of something like 2000 horse-power, enable them to travel at a speed of from 16 to 20 knots. When under water the electric engines are brought into play, but owing to the increased friction and larger area of the vessel to be forced through the water the speed of the boat drops to 10 knots. Moreover, travelling at the most economical rate of speed, not more than 140 knots can be negotiated when submerged, while at the surface an "E" submarine can travel for no less than 5000 miles without refilling her oil-tanks.
These boats preserve the "porpoise" shape, are equipped with wireless apparatus, and provided with panoramic periscopes to enable them to sight their target when submerged. There is no necessity nowadays to describe the principle of a periscope, since little portable patterns of this optical instrument, of various types, made for use in the trenches, can be seen exposed for sale almost anywhere. But, of course, those in use on a submarine are of a large and highly perfected type. The conning-tower of the "E" boats is armoured, and they carry a couple of quick-firing guns of 3 inches calibre in recesses on their decks, closed in by folding doors. These little weapons can be quickly raised into position by an arrangement of hydraulic machinery, and by merely pressing a lever they sink down and are boxed in again in a second or two.[71] They are so mounted as to be able to fire at a very high elevation, in order to defend the boat against bomb-dropping air-ships or aeroplanes, but, of course, can be used against surface vessels in the same way as those of the German submarines, which have made several attempts to sink merchantmen. As a modern Whitehead has a range of something like 3 miles, travels at a speed of 50 miles an hour, and carries a heavy charge of high explosive in its head, we need not dwell on its formidable nature, which has been amply proved in the course of the war. It has also been equally proved that it is almost impossible for a submarine to torpedo a fast and well-handled vessel once it has located the position of its attacker.
Photo. Cribb, Southsea