After battle-cruisers we come to cruisers. Our typical modern cruisers may be taken to be represented by the "_Defence_" and "_Achilles_" classes, the latest of which dates from 1909. The former class have a displacement of 14,600 tons apiece, and carry four 9·2 and ten 7·5 guns. The latter are about 1000 tons smaller, and have an armament of six 9·2 and four 7·5 guns. Both types have 6- to 8-inch armour, and about 23 knots speed. They are exceedingly smart-looking vessels, with their numerous turrets or gun-houses, four funnels, and two lightly-rigged masts. They sit comparatively low in the water, and present an appearance of both speed and war-like efficiency. The "County" class of cruisers, which immediately preceded those just mentioned, are considerably smaller, though to some minds but weakly gunned for their size. None of them have heavier guns than 7·5-inch, and most only 6-inch weapons. Neither have they a great deal of armour protection or an extraordinary high rate of speed. As none have been built within recent years, we may fairly assume that they are not considered quite what we want at the present time, though many or most of them have done excellent work in the present war. You will remember how the _Kent_ and _Cornwall_ fought at the battle off the Falklands. The "Town" class, of not much more than half the size, would appear to have superseded the "Counties", and they, too, have been very much in evidence in the hostilities which have been carried on afloat. The biggest of these are of 5400 tons displacement, and carry eight 6-inch guns, and as these are the latest cruisers built, with the exception of the monster battle-cruisers, it seems likely that it is not intended to have any cruisers of intermediate size. Big sparsely-armoured cruisers, like the unfortunate _Good Hope_, which did not steam faster than smaller ones, and which carried but a poor armament considering her size and cost, cannot be considered a good investment. The "Town" class have done splendidly in the war at sea. The _Birmingham_ had the distinction of sinking the first German submarine; the plucky little _Gloucester_ hung closely on the heels of the giant _Goeben_ and her consort the _Breslau_ during their flight to Constantinople, though one well-directed shot from the former would have put her out of action and probably sent her to the bottom. The _Glasgow_, _Carnarvon_, and _Bristol_ were of great use in the Falklands fight, the first-named having already fought against the heavy batteries of the _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_ off the coast of Chile, while later on she sank the Dresden; while the _Sydney_ won undying fame by defeating and driving on shore the notorious commerce-destroyer _Emden_.