At the end of 1887-88 one armored ship, the _Camperdown_, and one protected cruiser, the _Forth_, will be nearly finished, the _Anson_ will be approaching completion, and the new belted cruisers of the _Orlando_ class will be far advanced. The armored battle-ships _Victoria_ and _Sanspareil_, of 10,470 tons displacement, are to be delivered according to contract in October, 1888, and the _Trafalgar_ and _Nile_, the largest war-vessels yet laid down in England, are being pushed rapidly. Out of the thirty-seven ships building or incomplete at the commencement of 1887-88, twenty-six will be completed by the end of the year, thus leaving only nine of those specified, and two others not ordered, in the programme of 1885 to be finished subsequently. The ships projected for this year include: 20-knot steel-bottomed partially protected cruisers (_Medea_, _Medusa_) 2 19¾-knot copper-bottomed partially protected cruisers (_Melpomene_, _Marathon_, _Magicienne_) 3 Composite sloops of the _Buzzard_ class (_Nymphe_, _Daphné_) 2 Composite gun-boats, improved _Rattlers_, (_Pigmy_, _Pheasant_, _Partridge_, _Plover_, _Pigeon_, _Peacock_) 6 Torpedo gun-boat of the _Grasshopper_ class (_Sharpshooter_) 1 -- Total 14 Besides the ships that have been or will be finished in 1886-87, it is believed that thirty-five of the fifty-five first-class torpedo-boats (125 to 150 feet in length) will be added to the twenty which were completed in June.