This vessel attracted considerable attention on account of her peculiar shape and up-to-date equipment. She is fitted with non-inflammable wooden decks, and carries eight 8-inch guns in four turrets, forward, aft, and on each beam. She is painted white, a fact which led the irreverent tars to christen her "The Cement Factory."] [Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by West & Son, Southsea._ THE NAVAL REVIEW: THE FLEET, LOOKING WEST. Photographed from the Flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, the _Renown_. The nearest vessel is H.M.S. _Powerful_; the next beyond is the _Blake_. In the other line are the _Galatea_, _Aurora_, _Edgar_, _Melampus_, &c.] [Illustration: _Fred. T. Jane_} THE FLEET ILLUMINATED: AS SEEN FROM THE WATER.] The Naval Review of 1897 was over. It had provided a sublime spectacle for our Colonial and foreign visitors, and it had taught a lesson that was meant to be learned by the whole World, and was actually so learned. A great military Power we might not be, but on the seas our dominion was, and must ever be, unquestionable. The chorus of admiration that arose from the Continental and American press showed that the necessity for this pre-eminence was recognised and allowed. If we had not known it long ourselves, our foreign critics, both friendly and hostile, had been aware that a great navy was the paramount condition of our national existence. [Sidenote: The Colonial Troops at the Naval Review.] A circumstance that concerned the gallant men of the Colonial contingent who had taken part in the Jubilee Procession must here be touched on. Strange as it may seem, there had been originally no provision made for the representation at the Naval Review of the Colonial contingent. This remissness on the part of the authorities occasioned a good deal of surprise, which found its expression in the columns of the London _Daily Mail_; but it was not until the newspaper in question took the matter up in right good earnest that the authorities bestirred themselves. It was then proposed to charter a vessel and send the Colonials down to Portsmouth some two or three days after the Review--it being somewhat artlessly explained that as the fleet would still be in position and the Review well over, our visitors would enjoy a better opportunity of examining the ships in detail! Needless to say this line of argument found little favour with the _Daily Mail_, the _Globe_, and the other newspapers which were now strenuously advocating the claims of our visitors. They raised their voices once more, with the result that at the eleventh hour the responsible officials announced that the difficulties--whatever they were--had been surmounted, and that the Colonial contingent were to see the Imperial fleet on the actual day of Review in all its majesty and splendour. The fleet was again dressed and illuminated on the following Monday--Coronation Day. Mention should be made of a little vessel, first seen at the Review, which marks a new