In preparing this work the author has simply aimed at representing in as detailed a manner as possible all the elements which go to make up the active naval strength, leaving to those who in their search for information may have recourse to the data herein presented to estimate the values of these elements as they are developed and combined in different navies, and to judge for themselves of the true value of the results obtained. In collecting this data the greatest care has been taken to only give such as is entirely authentic. For the most part it has come from official sources, and, wherever it has been necessary to make comparisons or to give opinions, the writer has in no case given his own independent ideas on the subject. The principal authorities, aside from official records, whose works have been consulted are: Reed, White, Dislere, Marchal, and De St. Bon, on Naval Architecture; Owens, Mayevski, Sebert, Müller, and Cooke, on Ordnance; Schleeman and Stotherd, on Torpedoes; and Von Billerbeck, on the iron-clads of the first decade. EDWARD W. VERY, _Lieutenant U. S. Navy_. WASHINGTON, June, 1880. CONTENTS. PAGE PART I.—FLEETS 1 Argentine Confederation, Austria, Brazil, Chili, China, Denmark, England (Armored Fleet, Unarmored Fast Cruisers), France (Armored Fleet, Unarmored Fast Cruisers), Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Japan, Norway and Sweden, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Turkey, United States. THE PRINCIPAL BATTLES OF TWENTY YEARS—1860-1880. _Bombardments of Earthworks._—Hatteras Inlet, Hilton Head, Fort Henry, Roanoke Island, Fort Donelson, Fort Darling, Fort Hindman, Grand Gulf, Simonoseki, Kagosima, Fort Wagner, Fort McAllister, Fort Fisher, Danube Forts, Callao. _Bombardments of Masonry Forts._—Fort Sumter, Forts Jackson and St. Philip. _Passages of Forts._—Forts Jackson and St. Philip, Vicksburg Earthworks, Port Hudson Earthworks, Fort Morgan, Vicksburg Earthworks (second time). _Assaults._—Fort Sumter, Fort Fisher, Korean Forts. _Deliberate General Actions._—Memphis, Helgoland, Lissa. _Dashes._—Passages of the Mississippi, Vicksburg, Charleston. _Iron-Clads against Wooden Vessels._—Hampton Roads, Roanoke River, Albemarle Sound, Black Sea, Ylo Bay, Iquique Harbor. _Duels._—Monitor and Merrimac; Alabama and Hatteras; Weehawken and Atlanta; Kearsarge and Alabama; Meteor and Bouvet; Almirante Cochrane, Blanco Encalada, and Huascar. PART II.—NAVAL ORDNANCE 175