Armour (iron)--Complete 11--8in. belt. Bulkheads 8--5in. Barbettes 10--8in. Battery 10--8in. Horse-power--7,520 = 14.5 knots. Coal--620 tons = 2,680 miles at economical speed (nominal). The _Téméraire_ was unique in the world’s navies in that two of her 25-ton guns were carried--one forward, one aft--on special Moncrieff mountings, an adaption for naval purposes of the “disappearing gun,” invented for forts of that era. The gun, loaded under cover, was raised to fire by hydraulic mechanism, and then recoiled to the loading position. The ship was otherwise essentially of the Reed box-battery type; the other two 25-ton guns being in a central main-deck battery, and capable of a good deal of ahead fire. The other big guns (18 tons) were cut off from the 25-ton by an armoured bulkhead, and merely had the ordinary broadside training. Like the _Inflexible_, the _Téméraire_ had a heavy brig rig. Towards the end of her active service career this was replaced by a military rig; but all her active work was done as a brig. She was built at Chatham Dockyard, engined by Humphrys, and completed for sea in 1877. In 1882 she was at the bombardment of Alexandria, and there did more execution than any other ship. Her subsequent career was uneventful, and in her own way she was a “monstrosity” as much as the _Polyphemus_ was. She is generally understood to have been a “naval officers’ ideal” ship, rather than the regular production of the Chief Constructor. Whether this be true is, at least, doubtful. Certainly she may equally well be regarded as the forlorn hope of those who looked to see the general principles of the central battery system adapted to suit the new ideas as to ironclads. French ideas[4] also had probably something to do with her peculiar design. The idea embodied in the _Inflexible_ was so pleasing to the authorities of that period that she was duplicated in two smaller vessels of the same type, the _Ajax_ and _Agamemnon_, though the precise purpose for which these vessels were built is difficult to fathom. They were in every way inferior to the _Inflexible_, and mainly of interest as indicating the definite abandonment of the idea of the masted battleship, and they were also the last ships to mount muzzle-loading guns:-- Particulars of these ships were:-- Displacement--8,660 tons. Length (between perpendiculars)--280ft. Beam--66ft. Draught (mean)--24ft. Guns--Four 38-ton M.L., two 6-inch 81-cwt. B.L. Horse-power--5,440. Speed--13.25 knots. These were followed by the _Colossus_ and _Edinburgh_, which were laid down in 1879. In these ships the 12-inch breechloader was adopted, and an attempt at what was then a very considerable speed was made. An auxiliary armament made its first really definite appearance, five 6-inch guns being mounted on the superstructure. Particulars of these ships were:-- Displacement--9,420 tons. Length (between perpendiculars)--325ft. Beam--68ft.