It has been claimed, either by those responsible for the _Dreadnought_ herself, or by others professing to speak for them, that the _Dreadnought_ was evolved entirely independently of Cuniberti’s ideal. It is practically impossible to say definitely how far there can be any truth in this. In all Admiralties, ships are, as a rule, designed as “projects” long before they see the light (some never see it at all, as witness the sea-going masted turret-ship of his design referred to by Sir Edward Reed in some remarks quoted on an earlier page!). The first British all-big-gun ship design (see diagram) is a lineal enough descendant of the _King Edward_ and _Lord Nelson_, just as Cuniberti’s is a descendant of the _Vittorio Emanuele_. The Cuniberti design appears, however, to have been submitted as early as 1901. In any case, to Cuniberti belongs the first clear exposition of the idea, while the ridicule with which it was at first received indicates the general novelty. Germany is also a claimant to having evolved Dreadnoughts with the “_S_” type, intended to have been laid down in 1906, to follow the _Deutschlands_. These ships can hardly have been designed much later than 1904. When first heard of they were reported to carry four big gun turrets, of which two were placed on either side amidships. Six big guns was the first reputed armament, later each turret was to carry two guns. The absurd secrecy with which subsequent German designs have been shrouded was not then in evidence; and all the indications are that the _Nassau_, as originally contemplated, was to have been a four-turret ship--the two extra 11-inch being Germany’s equivalent for the four 12-inch, four 9.2, of our _King Edwards_. This would perhaps accord Germany a priority in actually adopting the principle of an increased number of heavy guns. All of which suffices to indicate that the adoption of more than four big guns had little or nothing to do with the somewhat theatrical building of the original _Dreadnought_. On the other hand (with the possible and doubtful exception of the _South Carolinas_[32]) it appears clear that the _Dreadnought_ was the first ship in which the all-big-gun principle was adopted as a technical asset in gun-laying over and above guns _qua_ guns. After four, eight was the “tactical unit” of guns, promising results altogether out of proportion to anything that six, or for that matter, ten (in proportion) could achieve. [Illustration: 1879. French AMIRAL DUPERRÉ. 1886. French HOCHE. 1886. Austria K.E.RUDOLPH. 1886. Russian TCHESMA. 1889. German SIEGFRIED. EARLY EXAMPLES OF WING TURRETS.] It may not be too much to say that what Cuniberti “saw as through a glass darkly,” the _Dreadnought_ translated into fact, and that she was the first battleship avowedly so designed.