With these new ideas came a desire for information which could not be satisfied, because, curiously enough, the popular literature of the subject is meagre, or rather it is unavailable. There are treatises in plenty which soar beyond the skies of any but experts; there are handy manuals wherein the Navy, like the banjo, is made easy in ten lessons; but between these extremes nothing exists which is accurate, and at the same time free from those dismal figures and dry-as-dust facts that are so apt to discourage a reader at the outset.
To meet this want, which was one by no means “long felt,” these articles were originally published in Harper’s Magazine, and with a success that seemed to justify their collection in a more available, if not a more permanent, form. It may be said now that no changes of any moment have been made in the text, that the notes attempt only to bring down the data to the latest date, and that the appendices are needful additions which the limited space of a monthly publication necessarily forbade. The reader who has not followed the progress of naval war construction will undoubtedly find many surprises, both in achievement and promise, which may be difficult to understand, yet it is hoped that the non-technical manner in which Sir Edward Reed and Rear-admiral Simpson have written will do much to make plain this important National question. Both these gentlemen are authorities of the first rank, both are luminous writers, and each in his own country and own sphere has had an important influence upon war-ship design and armament. To those who read within the lines there awaits a mortifying realization of our inferiority; for during all the years that this country—masterful beyond compare in other material struggles—was so successfully neglecting its navy, foreign designers were achieving triumphs which are marvellous. With this knowledge there is sure to come a high appreciation of the intelligence exercised; for the evolution of the battle-ship has been so rapid, and the resultant type has so little in common with the wooden vessel of our war, that those who have solved the problems have practically created a new science.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER | [1] |
| THE BRITISH NAVY | [12] |
| Notes | [52] |
| THE FRENCH NAVY | [67] |
| Notes | [92] |
| THE ITALIAN, RUSSIAN, GERMAN, AUSTRIAN, AND TURKISH NAVIES | [104] |
| Notes | [134] |
| Italy | [134] |
| Russia | [139] |
| Spain | [141] |
| Austria | [144] |
| THE UNITED STATES NAVY | [148] |
| Notes | [183] |
| UNITED STATES NAVAL ARTILLERY | [194] |
| Notes | [226] |
| Guns | [226] |
| Machine and Rapid-fire Guns | [234] |
| SHIPS OF THE MINOR NAVIES | [241] |
| APPENDIX I | [251] |
| Submarine Warfare | [251] |
| Torpedoes | [259] |
| A Naval Reserve | [261] |
| Forced Draft | [263] |
| APPENDIX II | [267] |
| The Question of Types | [267] |
| APPENDIX III | [283] |
| Range of Guns | [283] |