“Dreadnought,” but laid down 212 years earlier; she carries four 12-in. and fourteen 8-in. guns as well as twelve 4·7-in. guns arranged as shown in fig. 75, from which it will be seen that an attempt was made to protect almost the whole of the vessel above water with armour varying from 812 in. to 3 in. in thickness. Engines of 17,600 I.H.P. are provided for 18 knots speed. A sister vessel, “Andrei Pervozvanni,” was also laid down in 1903, but neither vessel was completed in time to take part in the war. In 1909 four vessels were laid down, which were again larger than any then building for any other power, viz. the “Sevastopol,” “Petropavlovsk,” “Gangut” and “Poltava,” of 23,000 tons displacement, with Parsons turbines of 42,000 H.P. for 23 knots speed, 600 ft. long, 89 ft. beam, 27 ft. 3 in. draught, protected by 11-in. armour, armed with twelve 12-in. and sixteen 4·7-in. guns, the 12-in. guns being carried in four three-gun turrets placed at considerable distances apart on the middle line.
Fig. 75.—Arrangement of Guns and Armour of “Imperator Pavel.”
Italy.—The Italian navy has always contained interesting vessels embodying the independent thought and skill of her own designers. The “Duilio,” launched in 1876, and the “Dandolo,” launched in 1878, were 340 ft. in length, 10,400 tons displacement, and carried four 100-ton M.L. rifled guns, mounted in two turrets and capable of penetrating 22·7 in. of iron at 1000 yds. They had a central citadel 107 ft. in length, protected by 2112 in. of steel armour, with 18-in. armour on the turrets. Their engines were of 7900 I.H.P., giving a speed of 15 knots. In the “Italia” and “Lepanto,” launched in 1880 and 1883 respectively, side armour was dispensed with, a curved 3-in. armour deck, with its sides 512 ft. below the water-line, being fitted from stem to stern, with armour glacis protection to the funnel openings, &c., in this deck; they carried four 100-ton breech-loading guns mounted in two barbettes arranged so as to permit all four guns to fire, ahead, astern or on either broadside as in “Inflexible”; their displacement was 13,500 tons, their length 400 ft., and they had engines of 18,000 I.H.P. designed to give a speed of 18 knots. They were followed by three of the “Andrea Doria” class of 11,000 tons, launched in 1884 and 1885, armed with four 105-ton breech-loaders, and protected by an 18-in. belt of compound armour; and by the “Re Umberto,” “Sicilia” and “Sardegna” of 13,250 tons, launched 1888 to 1891, and armed with four 67-ton B.L. guns having a penetration of 27 in. of iron at 1000 yds. In 1897 Italy launched the second-class battleships “Ammiraglio di Saint Bon” and the “Emanuele Filiberto” of 9800 tons and 18 knots speed, carrying four 10-in., eight 6-in. and eight 4·7-in. guns and armoured with 10-in. to 4-in. armour. These were followed by the “Regina Margherita,” laid down in 1898, and the “Benedetto Brin,” laid down in 1899, two vessels of 13,426 tons displacement and 20 knots speed, of good freeboard, carrying an armament similar to that of the “Duncan” and in addition four 8-in. guns; the 12-in. guns are protected by 10-in. armour, the 6-in. guns and the ship’s sides by 6-in. armour with 3-in. side plating forward and aft. Four very notable vessels were next laid down—the “Regina Elena” (fig. 76, Plate XVII.) and “Vittorio Emanuele III.” in 1901, and the “Napoli” and “Roma” in 1903, each on a displacement of 12,625 tons, carrying two 12-in. and twelve 8-in. guns in turrets, as well as a large number of small quick-firing guns; their machinery of 20,000 I.H.P. is provided for a speed of 22 knots; their hulls are cut down, giving reduced freeboard as compared with “Benedetto Brin,” and the hulls and machinery are built as lightly as possible. For several years no new design was adopted, but in 1909 the “Dante Alighieri” was laid down, of 18,700 tons displacement, an increase of 50% over that of the preceding vessels. She was reported to be 492 ft. long, 79 ft. beam, carrying twelve 12-in., eighteen 4·7-in. and sixteen 3-in. guns, turbines of 30,000 H.P. being provided for a speed of 23 knots, and side armour fitted 9 in. thick amidships tapering to 6 in. forward and 412 in. aft. Three later vessels, the “Conte di Cavour,” “Giulio Cesare” and “Leonardo da Vinci,” are of 22,000 tons, 35,000 H.P., 23 knots, and carry thirteen 12-inch guns.
Fig. 78.—Arrangement of Guns and Armour of Austrian “Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand.”
Austria.—Until quite recently Austria has made no attempt to maintain battleships of the first class. Three small battleships, the “Monarch,” “Budapest” and “Wien,” were laid down in 1893–1894, of 5550 tons displacement and 1712 knots speed, carrying four 9·4-in., six 6-in. and twelve 3-pdr. guns, with armour 1012 in. to 4 in. in thickness. In 1899 three larger vessels, the “Habsburg” (fig. 77, Plate XVII.), “Arpad” and “Babenberg,” were begun, of 8340 tons displacement and 18 knots speed, carrying three 9·4-in., twelve 6-in. and several smaller Q.F. guns and well armoured. In 1901 it was decided to build the “Erzherzog Karl Friedrich” and “Ferdinand Max,” of 10,600 tons and 19 knots, carrying four 9·4-in. and small Q.F. guns as in the “Monarch,” but with the secondary armament increased to twelve
