To this era, 1894–95, belong two groups of protected cruisers, the _Powerfuls_ and the _Talbots_. The latter, nine in all, were merely enlarged (5,600 tons) editions of the later cruisers of the Naval Defence Act, and call for no comment. The former group were the _Powerful_ and _Terrible_, “replies” to the Russian _Rurik_ and _Rossiya_. They displaced nearly as much as the battleships--14,200 tons--and ran to the then unheard of length of 500ft. between perpendiculars. They carried no belt armour whatever, but were given stout protective decks, no less than 6in. on the slopes amidships. The two big guns (40 calibre, 9.2) were given 6in. Harvey barbettes, the twelve other guns[18] (6-inch) being in 6-inch casemates. Sixteen 12-pounders were disposed about the upper works. Designed horse-power 25,000 = 22 knots. Total bunker capacity of 3,000 tons, equal to a nominal 7,000 miles at fourteen knots. Both ships were laid down in 1894, the _Powerful_ by Vickers and the _Terrible_ at Clydebank. They were launched in the following year. In service the _Powerfuls_ proved capable of keeping up a speed of twenty knots almost indefinitely. For the rest, they were unhandy ships with large turning circles. At the time of the South African War, both of them were at the Cape, and did service with landed naval brigades. Of these, one from the _Powerful_, with some 4.7’s on special Percy Scott gun-carriages, materially assisted in the defence of Ladysmith. During the year 1911 the decision was come to that it was not worth while preserving either ship, on account of the large crews required and their comparatively small fighting value under modern conditions. Two considerable novelties were embodied in these ships. The first of these was the adoption of electrical gear for the big guns. The other and more far-reaching was the adoption of Belleville boilers. _THE BATTLE OF THE BOILERS._ Owing to favourable reports of their use in the French Navy, Belleville boilers were in 1895 experimentally fitted to the _Sharpshooter_, torpedo gunboat; but the decision to adopt them in large ships was taken from French rather than any British experience. Trouble and failure were freely predicted. With the result frequently attending lugubrious predictions, very little trouble has ever been experienced with any type and then only in the very early stage when the water-tube boiler was an almost unknown curiosity to the engine-room staff. The chief advantages claimed for Belleville boilers were the higher working pressures, economy in maintenance and fuel consumption, saving of weight, rapid steam raising, and great facility for repairs. [Illustration: WHITE ERA BATTLESHIPS OF THE MAJESTIC CLASS]