The _Barfleur_ and _Centurion_ proved excellent steamers and good sea-boats. Their defect was their weak armament, and in 1903 it was decided to remedy this. In that year they were “reconstructed.” Their 4.7’s were taken out and 6-inch guns substituted, and the six on the upper deck were put into casemates. As a species of make-weight the foremast was taken out of both ships; but this made little difference. The “improvements” were a total failure; the ships were immersed far below what they had been designed for, and they never thereafter realised much more than about sixteen knots. Within seven years they were removed from the Navy List altogether, and such service as they performed after modernising was entirely of a subsidiary order. For the first-class cruisers of the Naval Defence Act reduced examples of the _Blenheim_ were decided on. These vessels were the _Edgar_, _Endymion_, _Grafton_, _Hawke_, _St. George_, _Gibraltar_, _Crescent_, and _Royal Arthur_ (formerly designated as the _Centaur_). They were launched between 1891 and 1892, averaging 7,350 tons (unsheathed) and 7,700 tons (sheathed and coppered, in the case of the last four mentioned). Except the two last, all had the _Blenheim_ armament of two 9.2 and ten 6-inch. The two latter had a couple of extra 6-inch on a raised forecastle substituted for the forward 9.2. No attempt was made to obtain the high speed of the _Blenheims_--19.5 knots being the utmost aimed at. Not only, however, did the _Edgar_ class exceed expectations on trial, but they proved most remarkably good steamers in service. No engine-room defects of moment were ever encountered in any of them, and twenty years after launch most were still able to steam at little short of the designed speed. Like the battleships, they were given 18-inch torpedoes in place of the 14-inch of the _Blenheims_. In the course of their service careers, the _St. George_ (or rather her crew) earned distinction in the Benin Expedition. The _Crescent_ was served in by King George V, and the _Hawke_ achieved notoriety by ramming the _Olympic_ in the Solent in 1911. The lesser cruisers of the Naval Defence Act numbered altogether 28. Of these twenty belonged to the _Apollo_ class of 3,400 tons (unsheathed) and 3,600 tons (sheathed). They were _Apollo_, _Andromache_, _Latona_, _Melampus_, _Naiad_, _Sappho_, _Scylla_, _Terpsichore_, _Thetis_, _Tribune_ (unsheathed), and _Aeolus_, _Brilliant_, _Indefatigable_ (named _Melpomene_ in 1911), _Intrepid_, _Iphigenia_, _Pique_, _Rainbow_, _Retribution_, _Sirius_, and _Spartan_ (sheathed). In all, the armament was two 6-inch and six 4.7, with lesser guns, and, above-water, 14-inch torpedo tubes. The speed was twenty knots in the unsheathed, and a quarter of a knot less in the sheathed ones.