_DREADNOUGHT._ _VICTORY._ Time Building 16 months Five years ten months Total Cost £1,797,497 £89,000 Displacement 17,900 tons 3400 tons. Total Weight Broadside 6800 lb. 1160 lb. Extreme Range of Guns 25 miles 3 miles. Penetration of armour at six miles 9 in. Krupp Steel Penetration at all distances Nil. Heaviest Gun 12 inch 6 inch. Weight of Charge 265 lb. 10½ lb. (M.D. cordite). (gunpowder). Time to make Gun 12 to 15 months Four guns a week. Cost per Gun £11,000 £57. 15s. Average Weight per Gun 58 tons 56 cwt. Complement 780 men 850 men. Length 490 ft. 226 ft. 6 in. Breadth 82 ft. 52 ft. Mean Load Draught 26 ft. 6 in. 25 ft. Number of Guns 37 104 Speed 21½ knots 10 knots. II “KENT CLAIMS THE FIRST BLOW!” “The Kentishe Menne in Front!” “Kent claims for itself the first blow in battle against alien enemies.” The hand that penned these words has lain in the grave for over seven centuries; but old William Fitz-Stephen of Canterbury knew what he meant, and meant what he wrote. They are words that our fine “county cruiser” the _Kent_ of to-day—to which the ladies of Kent have presented a silken battle flag and the Men of Kent a silver shield and other gifts, to incite the _Kent’s_ bluejackets to shoot straight—might well adopt and make the ship’s motto. It was from the County of Kent that the initiative came in the movement which has had such excellent results in inducing the county people in other counties all over Great Britain and Ireland to display a practical interest in the warships that bear the county names; and the idea has since spread in other cases throughout the Empire.