The Monmouth of to-day is one of our 'County Cruisers'—and among them one of the smartest and best. Her special rôle in war-time will be to help in safeguarding the commerce of the British Empire on the high seas, to see that the corn-ships and the cattle-ships from across the Atlantic, on which the people of these islands depend for their existence from day to day, reach port without molestation by the 'corsair cruisers' of the enemy. It will be her duty to patrol on the trade routes far and wide, and chase off hostile ships at sight, or run them down and fight them. All that, with other duties at times thrown in:—
For this is our office, to spy and make room.
As hiding, yet guiding the foe to their doom;
Surrounding, confounding, to bait and betray
And tempt them to battle the seas' width away.
For her work, whatever it may be, the Monmouth is well equipped. She carries quick-firing guns and Krupp steel armour on her sides, and can steam at high speed—23 knots, or, on occasion, a trifle more.
A glance round on board this brand new twentieth-century cruiser of ours may be of interest at the outset.
An ugly customer to tackle looks the Monmouth in her 'war-paint' of sombre Navy grey, devoid, as are our modern men-of-war, of all that has to do with prettiness and the merely decorative.
Mis arreos son las armas,
Mi descanso el pelear,
My ornaments are arms,
My pastime is in war,
is the motto of the Royal Navy of our day.
A big ship is the Monmouth, a first-class cruiser of not far short of 10,000 tons displacement,—9800 tons, to be exact,—a floating weight heavier than all the mass of iron and steel in the Eiffel Tower. She measures over all, from end to end, from ram to rudder, 463½ feet. To give an idea, in another way, of the ship's size. If she were stood on end inside St. Paul's Cathedral, her bows would project 60 feet above the cross over the dome. Set up on end beside the Clock Tower at Westminster, the ship's length would overtop the tower by half as high again. The Monument piled on the top of the Nelson Column would need an extra 50 feet to equal the Monmouth from stem to stern. Propped up against Beachy Head, the Monmouth would overtop the turf at the edge of the cliff summit fully 90 feet. Laid lengthways inside St. Paul's, the Monmouth would fill the whole length of the nave and chancel from the western door to the reredos. Placed along the front of Buckingham Palace, the Monmouth's hull would overlap the façade for 50 feet on either side. In width the ship is 66 feet broad amidships,—22 yards, just the length of a cricket-pitch, or one foot wider than London Bridge after its recent enlargement. It takes 5 tons weight of paint to coat the hull above water, and 6 tons to coat it below; and costs, the single item of paint by itself, every time it is laid on—£800.
Her three funnels each stand up 75 feet into the air—very nearly the height of the Round Tower of Windsor Castle above the mound at its foot. Each funnel weighs 20 tons, and costs £400 to make—a year's pay of a colonel of hussars. In diameter each is the exact size, to an inch, of the 'Two-penny Tube.' If they were laid flat, a life-guardsman in King's Birthday regimentals could trot through them. Each lower mast is a steel tube, 80 feet from end to end and weighing 20 tons. The rudder weighs 18 tons; and the ram, a steel casting, 19 tons. The propellers each weigh 12 tons, and are each 16 feet across from tip to tip. The stern-post weighs 20 tons.