One of the finest of the large ironclads is the _Hercules_, of which a section amidships is presented on the next page. This ship is 325 ft. in length, and 59 ft. in breadth, and is fitted with very powerful engines which will work up to 8,529 indicated horse-power. The tonnage is 5,226; weight of hull, 4,022 tons; weight of the armour and its backing, 1,690 tons; weight of engines, boilers, and coals, 1,826 tons; total with equipment and armament, 8,676 tons. Although the _Hercules_ carries this enormous weight of armour and armament, her speed is very great, excelling, in fact, that of any merchant steamer afloat, for she can steam at the rate of nearly 17 miles an hour. She also possesses, in a remarkable degree, the property which naval men call _handiness_; that is, she can be quickly turned round in a comparatively small space. The handiness of a steamer is tested by causing her to steam at full speed with the helm hard over, when the vessel will describe a circle. The smaller the diameter of that circle, and the shorter the time required to complete it, the better will the vessel execute the movements required in naval tactics. Comparing the performances of the _Warrior_ and the _Hercules_, we find that the smallest circle the former can describe is 1,050 yards in diameter, and requires nine minutes for its completion, whereas the latter can steam round a circle of only 560 yards diameter in four minutes. The section (Fig. 70) shows that, like the _Great Eastern_, the _Hercules_ is constructed with a double hull, so that she would be safe, even in the event of such an accident as actually occurred to the _Great Eastern_, when a hole was made by the stripping off of her bottom plates, 80 ft. long and 5 ft. wide. The defensive armour of the _Hercules_ is, it will be observed, greatly strengthened near the water-line, where damage to the ship’s side would be most fatal. The outer iron plates are here 9 in. thick, while in other parts the thickness is 8 in., and in the less important positions 6 in. The whole of the hull is, however, completely protected above the water-line, and the iron plates are backed up by solid teak-wood for a thickness of from 10 in. to 12 in. The teak is placed between girders, which are attached to another iron plating 1½ in. thick, supported by girders 2 ft. apart. The spaces between these girders are also filled with teak, and the whole is lined with an inner skin of iron plating, ¾ in. thick. The belt along the water-line has thus altogether 11¼ in. of iron, of which 9 in. are in one thickness, and this part is, moreover, backed by additional layers of teak, as shown in the section; so that, besides the 11¼ in. of iron, the ship’s side has here 3 ft. 8 in. total thickness of solid teak-wood. The deck is also covered with iron plates, to protect the vessel from vertical fire. The _Hercules_ carries eight 18–ton guns as her central battery, and two 12–ton guns in her bow and