The vessels in the tables C and D are all revolving-turret vessels, with the exception of the Taureau and of the four second-class gun-boats, which fire their guns en barbette. They embrace very different types of construction, involving different degrees of sea-worthiness—very low degrees in some of them, I fear. With the exception of the Tempête, they are all furnished with twin screws. The Fulminant, Tonnerre, Tempête, and Vengeur, in Table C, and the whole of the vessels in Table D (as yet incomplete), are of iron or of steel, or of the two combined; the remainder have hulls principally built of wood. I have chosen for illustration the turret-vessel Vengeur, as seen on [page 87], which has been engraved from a photograph sent to me by a naval friend in France.
We come now to the unarmored ships of France, and as in writing of these I purpose accepting the official classifications adopted in France, which are not identical with those employed in England, it may be well to repeat here a caution which the British Admiralty has given in a memorandum prefixed to a recent “return” of theirs “showing the fleets of England, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Greece.” The caution is to the effect that France includes under the heading of “cruisers” vessels of about similar value to the larger class of English sloops, which are excluded from the English “cruiser” class. But I regret the necessity of observing that the Admiralty officers, while careful to put this explanation well forward, appear to be equally careful to withhold an explanation of much greater moment concerning three French cruisers of large size and of greater importance—withheld in pursuance, apparently, and as I have most reluctantly come to fear, of an uncandid, and indeed of a misleading spirit, which seems to have taken possession of some persons who have to do with the preparation of Admiralty returns to Parliament. The exercise of this spirit has forced me ere now to draw the attention of Parliament to the matter, and in one instance to have an official return, which contained erroneous and too favorable classifications of British ships, withdrawn.
Any one referring to the Parliamentary return of British and foreign fleets just adverted to will find under the heading of “Unarmored Vessels Building” two large and remarkably fast steel cruisers, the Tage and the Cécile, the former of which exceeds 7000 tons in displacement, while the latter approaches 6000 tons, and both of which are to steam at the immense speed of 19 knots an hour, or a knot in excess of the fastest armed vessel (neglecting torpedo craft) in the British navy. These two French cruisers are respectively 390 and 380 feet in length, and are to be driven by over 10,000 indicated horse-power in the Tage, and by nearly 10,000 indicated horse-power in the Cécile. A third vessel, the Sfax, launched at Brest in 1884, of 4420 tons, 7500 indicated horse-power, and 16½ knots speed, is also given without remark in the Parliamentary return as an “unarmored” vessel. Now even this last-named vessel has a steel deck one and three-fourths inches thick to protect her boilers, machinery, and magazines, while the Tage and Cécile have such decks three inches thick. These, being mere decks, do not, of course, remove the ships out of the category of unarmored ships, and the return is correct in this respect. But now in this same return all the British ships provided with protecting decks of this character are kept out of the lists of unarmored or “unprotected” vessels, and are classed separately, and are described as “protected” vessels. And not only is this true of vessels like the Mersey class, which have such decks two and one-half inches thick in places, but it is true likewise of some twenty vessels, ranging, many of them, as low as 1420 tons in displacement, and with decks and partial decks of less thickness than that of the Sfax, the weakest of the three French ships in this respect. In short, while the twenty-two English ships are withheld from the category of unarmored ships, although every one of them is inferior in protecting decks to the three French ships, the latter are placed in the inferior category, and not a word of explanation is offered to prevent the uninitiated and unsuspecting reader from regarding as weaker than our vessels those French vessels which are in fact the strongest and best protected. I must say that, as an Englishman, I grieve to see returns to the British Parliament made use of for the dissemination of information so misleading as this; and I should do so if I could believe there was nothing but official negligence involved; but I am sorry to say I cannot doubt that had the mere reproduction of foreign classifications put three of the very fastest and most important cruisers of our own navy, of Admiralty origin, at the very great disadvantage to which the French ships are put in this return, we should have had a very full and a very prominent explanation of the seeming discrepancy given. It is to the credit of Lloyd’s Register office that what the Admiralty Office failed to do in a paper issued at the end of July was properly done in their Universal Register, published two or three months earlier; for in the latter the three French ships are separately detailed under the heading of “Deck-protected Cruisers.”
THE “VENGEUR:” FRENCH IRON-CLAD COAST-GUARD VESSEL.
It is absolutely necessary to bring to light the matter just explained, for otherwise the present state and the prospects of the French navy cannot be properly understood, the Tage, Cécile, and Sfax being, on the whole, the most important of the French ships which are without armor-belts. Two others there are, however, which are weaker than the Tage and Sfax only in the fact of their being without special deck protection. These are the Duquesne and the Tourville, two ships approximately alike in size and construction, and both having their iron bottoms sheathed with two thicknesses of wood and then coppered, after the manner introduced by myself in H.M.S. Inconstant. Both of these French ships have attained 16 9/10 knots of speed. They are armed with seven guns of eight tons and fourteen of three tons weight.
The remaining unarmored vessels of France must be rapidly summarized. It is impossible to neglect in this case, as was done in my article on the British navy, all the frigates, etc., which have frames of timber, because to do this would be to omit all unarmored frigates of the French navy except the Duquesne and the Tourville, already described. But it is not necessary to do more than name the Venus, Minerve, and Flora, all launched prior to 1870, and all slow, and to say that there remain but four unarmored wood frigates of 14 knots speed, of about 3400 tons, and armed with from two to four guns of five tons, and eighteen to twenty-two guns of three tons. These are Aréthuse, Dubourdieu, Iphigénie, and Naïade, which, although wooden ships, have all been launched since 1881—the Dubourdieu in 1884. Of French first-class cruisers which do not rank as frigates (having no main-deck batteries) there are nine in number, all built of wood except one, the Duguay-Trouin, which is the fastest of them all, steaming at 15 9/10 knots. This vessel has 3300 tons displacement, and is armed with five guns of eight tons and five of three tons. None of the remaining eight exceed 2400 tons in displacement, none exceed 15.3 knots in speed (but none are less than 14 knots), and each of them carries fifteen guns of three tons. Next come thirteen second-class cruisers, ranging in displacement between 1540 and 2100 tons, and in speed between 11½ and 15 knots; they are principally armed with 3-ton guns. There is another vessel, the Rapide, in this class, but I only know of her that her tonnage is 1900 tons. Of cruisers of the third class there are fifteen, ranging from 1000 to 1400 tons, and principally armed with 3-ton guns. Their speeds vary from 10 to 13 knots; one, however, the Hirondelle, steaming at 15½ knots. The French have likewise thirty-five vessels, “avisos,” etc., of which about one-half are from 1400 to 1600 tons, and the remainder are from 720 to 1000 tons. About six of them reach or approach 13 knots, but most of them range between 10 and 11 knots, some of them falling as low as 8 knots. I have further to make mention of two very fast vessels—for they are to steam 19½ knots—now under construction, named the Surcoup and the Forbin, each of 1850 tons, and each armed with two 3-ton guns. There is also a vessel of 1540 tons, named the Milan, which steams 18 knots, and is armed with five very light (24-cwt.) guns. The French navy possesses also ninety-nine vessels, most of them carrying guns (many of 3 tons, some of 5 tons, and one or two of 8 tons), and also twenty-eight steam transports, varying in size from 1200 to nearly 6000 tons, the largest of them, the Nive (of 5680 tons), steaming 14 knots.
The navies of Europe, including the British navy, have undergone of late considerable expansion in respect of their very fast unarmored steel vessels, the designing and successful construction of which have been brought about by improvements in the quality of ship steel and in steam-machinery, notably as regards the latter, by the employment of “forced draught.”[27] These are called torpedo-vessels, as distinct from torpedo-boats. There are in process of completion for the British navy eight of 1630 tons (the Archer class), each carrying six 6-inch 5-ton guns, and estimated to steam with forced draught from 16 to 17 knots; two of 1430 tons each (Scout class), carrying four 5-inch 2-ton guns, with an estimated maximum speed of 16 knots; and two of 785 tons (Curlew class), called “gun and torpedo” vessels; speed, 15 knots; armament, one 6-inch 89-cwt. and three 5-inch 36-cwt. guns. There is also a class of “torpedo gun-boats” (the official designation, but not one which expresses any very manifest distinction from the last-named class), which are of a very notable character. This (the Grasshopper) class, of which each vessel is of only 450 tons displacement, is to be supplied with engines of 2700 indicated horse-power. The diagrams on [page 90] exhibit the general form and particulars of these very remarkable little vessels, which are expected to steam at fully 19 knots (22 miles) per hour. Against the above torpedo-vessels of the British navy are to be set, in the French navy, four torpedo-cruisers of 1280 tons, 17 knots speed, carrying each five 4-inch guns; and eight torpedo despatch-vessels, each of 320 tons, and designed to steam at 18 knots, carrying machine guns only; such machine guns being also carried, of course, by all the fast torpedo-vessels and gun-boats, both French and English, previously referred to, but in their cases in conjunction with their other guns. These 320-ton torpedo-vessels of France are to be driven by machinery of 1800 indicated horse-power.
BRITISH TORPEDO GUN-BOAT OF THE “GRASSHOPPER” CLASS (SIDE VIEW).
THE “GRASSHOPPER”—PLAN OF UPPER DECK, POOP, AND FORECASTLE.