The former ship was laid down at Pembroke and engined by Hawthorn; the latter was built and engined by the Thames Iron Works. In the matter of armament and its arrangement the ships were to some extent cruiser versions of the _King Edward_; but equally, in the adoption of a number of single gun-houses for big guns, and the jump from two to a larger number of big guns, the influence of the Chilian _O’Higgins_, built at Elswick, may be noticed. The big guns were placed one forward and one aft, two on either beam and two on either quarter. The 6-inch were placed in an armoured battery below. As originally designed, right ahead fire was given to the forward battery guns, but this was dispensed with at a later date. The ships were never good sea boats, and the 6-inch guns were soon found to be well-nigh useless in any sea. The armour was disposed in generous fashion--a complete belt reaching up to the main deck, 4in. forward, 6in. for some 260ft. amidships, and 3in. aft of that. A 6in. battery (K.N.C.) with bulkheads surmounts the belt-7in. barbettes with 6in. K.C. flat-sided gunhouses. Both were given a mixed installation of Babcock and cylindrical boilers. A novelty was the standardisation of all their machinery, a very valuable innovation, which has been followed ever since. Parts of any one ship’s machinery can be used for any other of her class, thus facilitating rapid repairs and requiring a considerably reduced stock of spares. On trials the _Duke of Edinburgh_ did on her eight hours’ full power trial I.H.P. 23,685 = 22.84 knots, the _Black Prince_ 23,939 = 23.6 knots. In service, however, the former has generally proved the better steamer. Another innovation in these ships was the re-appearance of the stern torpedo tube, first introduced in the _Centurions_. As re-introduced it was built submerged, a feature long desired, but which had previously presented innumerable difficulties in design. [Illustration: SWIFTSURE. WATTS ERA. LORD NELSON. BLACK PRINCE. WARRIOR. MINOTAUR. PRE-DREADNOUGHTS OF THE WATTS ERA.] For the Estimates of the following year (1903–04) four more ships of the same type were provided-- ===========+============+===========+============= Name. | Laid down. | Builders. | Engines by. -----------+------------+-----------+------------- _Achilles_ | Feb. ’04 | Elswick | Hawthorn _Cochrane_ | Mar. ’04 | Fairfield | Fairfield _Warrior_ | Jan. ’04 | Vickers | Vickers _Natal_ | Nov. ’03 | Pembroke | Wallsend Co. ===========+============+===========+============= In these the defect of the low 6-in. battery of the _Black Princes_ was anticipated, and instead of ten 6-inch guns, four 7.5 were mounted in gun-houses on the upper deck amidships. Yarrow and cylindrical boilers mixed were installed. Otherwise no change was made. On trial the _Achilles_ reached a maximum of 23.27, the other three ships all made their contracts or over.