“I would, therefore, say frankly at once that the designs for such a vessel have already been worked out, and that its construction seems quite feasible and attainable. Following up the progressive scale of displacement from 8,000 to 12,000 tons, and then on to 17,000 tons, a new _King Edward VII_ has been designed, 521½ft. (159 metres) in length, with a beam of eighty-two feet (twenty-five metres), and mean draught of 27ft. (8.5 metres); with the water-line protected with 12-inch plates, and the battery similarly armoured; having two turrets at the ends, each armed with a pair of 12-inch guns, and two central side turrets high up (similar to the two with 8-inch guns in the _Vittorio Emanuele III_), also each armed with two pieces of 12-inch, and four turrets at the four angles of the upper part of the battery, having each one 12-inch gun. “This vessel has no ports whatever in her armour; she carries no secondary armament at all, but only the usual pieces of small calibre for defence against torpedo attack. “The speed to be realised, as proved by the tank trials, is twenty-four knots.” The idea was at first received with derision and scepticism, which lasted until, in the Russian-Japanese War, it was announced that the Japanese had laid down two battleships, the _Aki_ and _Satsuma_, which “were to be more or less on the lines of the ship projected by Colonel Cuniberti.” Contemporaneous with this the United States authorised the building of the _South Carolina_ and _Michigan_, which carry eight 12-inch guns, so disposed as to be available on either broadside. Both these ideas were public property before the British _Dreadnought_ was laid down. She was, however, built with such rapidity that she was completed long before any other vessel of the type. [Illustration: THE “DREADNOUGHT”--1906.] In the design for a new type of British capital ship, a great many ideas were considered and rejected. Eventually, however, it was decided to equip the _Dreadnought_ with five turrets so disposed that eight guns were available on either broadside and six guns available ahead or astern. The designed speed of the ship was twenty-one knots. Together with this type of ship, another type, somewhat more resembling the Cuniberti ideal, was laid down. Three ships of this class, the _Invincible_ class, were designed for a speed of twenty-five knots, and given big guns so disposed that eight guns were available on either broadside and six big guns ahead or astern.