Navies of the world

by Edward W. Very

KAISER.

FRIEDRICH DER GROSSE. PREUSSEN.

Armored belt, breastwork, and two revolving turrets. These ships are built on the lines of the Monarch, although improved in detail. The belt encircles the water-line, but does not come as low down as the point of the ram. The breastwork surrounds the boilers and the bottoms of the turrets, but the engines are outside of and abaft it. The turrets are closer together than in the Monarch, and have no upper works to interfere with their fire. The dead-angles of the turret-guns are filled by a bow and stern-gun working in single unprotected ports. These ships have single screws and about three-quarter sail-power.

PREUSSEN.

KÖNIG WILHELM.

KÖNIG WILHELM.

Armored belt and long, main-deck casemate, stern casemate, and two spar-deck redoubts. Ram bow and straight stern. The belt encircles the water-line, coming to the height of the main-deck beams aft, but somewhat lower forward of the casemate, that portion being covered by a steel deck. There is no forward or after fire from the casemate, the sides rising straight up fore and aft. The ends of the casemate are protected from raking by armored bulkheads, rising to the spar-deck beams forward and abaft. The stern casemate protects a single gun working in one port. At the forward end of the main casemate, and rising clear of the upper deck, is a redoubt—or rather traverse, for it is unprotected at the rear—giving protection to two guns working each in two ports for fore-and-aft and beam fire. At the after-end of the main casemate is a similar traverse, which has an overhang of several feet, its two guns working also each in two ports for stern and beam fire (vide Sultan, English). These traverses encumber the spar-deck for working the gear of the sails. Single screw and full sail-power.

FRIEDRICH KARL. KRON PRINZ.