“INFLEXIBLE” AS ORIGINALLY COMPLETED 1881 3 “BENBOW” SHIP OF THE ADMIRAL CLASS 29 SUBMARINE E2 213 BRITISH NAVY SEAPLANE 219 HOISTING A NAVAL SEAPLANE ON BOARD THE “HIBERNIA” 223 PORTRAITS SIR N. BARNABY 45 SIR WILLIAM WHITE 55 SIR PHILIP WATTS 123 GENERAL CUNIBERTI 135 ADMIRAL FISHER 243 ADMIRAL SIR JOHN JELLICOE 249 PLANS, DIAGRAMS, ETC. EARLY TURRET SHIPS OF THE BARNABY ERA 7 FOREIGN SHIPS PURCHASED FOR THE NAVY IN 1877–78 11 BARNABY BARBETTE SHIPS 17 SOME FAMOUS RAMS 21 CHARACTERISTIC BARNABY SHIPS 33 TURRET SHIPS OF THE BARNABY ERA 37 BATTLESHIPS OF THE WHITE ERA 79 SYSTEMS OF WATER-LINE PROTECTION 83 PRINCIPAL CRUISERS OF THE WHITE ERA 95 PRE-DREADNOUGHTS OF THE WATTS ERA 119 ALTERNATIVE DESIGNS FOR THE DREADNOUGHT 151 ORIGINAL DREADNOUGHT DESIGNS 157 EARLY EXAMPLES OF WING TURRETS 161 DREADNOUGHTS 167 CENTRE-LINE SHIPS OF VARIOUS DATES 177 DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE WEAK POINT OF THE ÉCHELON SYSTEM 181 THE BRITISH BATTLE FLEET. I. THE BARNABY ERA. The characteristic _motif_ of the Barnaby designs has been described as a “maximum of offensive power and the minimum of defence.” This is not altogether correct; though as a generalization it is no very great exaggeration. In every Barnaby design proper, offence was the first thing sought for, but defence as then understood was by no means overlooked as to-day it appears to have been. The bed rock “Reed idea” was to produce a ship which could attack and destroy the enemy without much risk of being damaged in doing so. The “Barnaby idea” was that “the best defensive is a strong offensive”; and a strict subordination of defence to what might best serve the attack on the same displacement.