“This description seems to me one of the best possible illustrations of a remark in my previous letter, that ‘the _mitraille_ which is driven back into a ship when armor is penetrated is probably as destructive as any kind of projectile can be.’ Had the _Huascar_ not had weak armor, but light sides only, the local injuries might have been less. The other case cited of a shell which entered the unarmored stern of the _Cochrane_ shows how little damage may be done when a projectile passes through thin plating. At the bombardment of Alexandria there were many such examples on board our ships, although it must be frankly admitted that the engagement is no sufficient indication of what shell fire may do. A good deal of use has been made of the single case where a shell in bursting blew a hole ten by four feet in the thin side-plating of the _Superb_. The case was quite exceptional, whether it be compared with the other hits on the same ship or with the injuries done to the unarmored sides of other ships. Moreover, in that case exceptional injury is traceable to special structural arrangements at the embrasure near the battery port, where the shell struck. These cases do not prove that the light unarmored structures in the _Admiral_ class are likely to be destroyed in such a rapid and wholesale manner as has been asserted. Nor, on the other hand, do they indicate conclusively what damage shell-fire may do in future actions. On these points, as I have before remarked, experiment might be made with advantage. But, on the other hand, there is good evidence that armor so thin as to be readily penetrable to many guns may be a serious danger, and that armor over the vital parts of ships should be strong if it is to be a real defence. * * * * * “In matters of ship design the constructors of the navy are only the servants of the Board, and while they must take sole responsibility for professional work, the governing features in the designs are determined by higher authorities, among whom are officers of large experience, both as seamen and gunners. And it is certainly not the practice of the constructive department to intrude themselves or their advice into matters for which neither their training nor their experience fits them to give an opinion. * * * * *