TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the book. A superscript is denoted by ^, for example y^3. Basic fractions are displayed as ½ ⅓ ¼ etc; other fractions are shown in the form a-b/c, for example 16-9/10 or 9/16. The tables in this book are best viewed using a monospace font. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, OCTOBER 21, 1805.—From a drawing by J. O. Davidson.] MODERN SHIPS OF WAR BY SIR EDWARD J. REED, M.P. LATE CHIEF CONSTRUCTOR OF THE BRITISH NAVY AND EDWARD SIMPSON REAR-ADMIRAL U.S.N., LATE PRESIDENT U. S. NAVAL ADVISORY BOARD WITH SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS AND NOTES BY J. D. JERROLD KELLEY LIEUTENANT U.S.N. AUTHOR OF “THE QUESTION OF SHIPS” “ARMORED VESSELS” ETC. _ILLUSTRATED_ NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1888 Copyright, 1887, by HARPER & BROTHERS. _All rights reserved._ PREFACE. After many years of neglect, the people of this country have awakened to the necessity of creating a modern fleet. Proud as they were of the Navy’s achievements in the past, they failed for a long time to exhibit any interest in its present or future, and met all claims for its re-establishment by a denial of its usefulness, or by a lazy optimism of indifference which smilingly put the question by. Indeed, at one time, the popular solicitude disappeared completely, and outside of the service there was manifested neither an alarm at its degeneracy nor an appreciation of the dangers this made possible. With an apathy inexplicable upon any rational grounds, the notes of warning sounded by experts were unheeded, and the law-makers contented themselves by pinning their faith to what they called “the creative possibilities of American genius.” They accepted this fallacy as a fact, they made this phrase a fetich, and with a fatuous hope believed it could, by some occult inspiration, in the event of sudden, sharp, and short war, save them from the fighting-machines which twenty years of tireless experiment had perfected abroad. In the end, by a neatly balanced policy of pride and folly, the Navy was exhausted almost to dissolution. Then Congress lazily bestirred itself to action, and prescribed as a remedy three unarmored cruisers and a despatch-boat.