(Most of these ships have belt armour as thick as that of the British “County” class of armoured cruisers.) Small cruisers, 21 knots (1893-1910) 12 Destroyers (1889-1913), 34 to 26 knots 152 Torpedo-boats (1887-1898), 26 to 22 knots 45 Submarines, about equal to British in size and speed 30 to 40 Minelayers 2 All the German Navy, except one battle-cruiser, two armoured cruisers, and a few light cruisers, were concentrated in the North Sea and Baltic when war occurred. CHAPTER II THE BRITISH NAVY BRITISH BATTLESHIPS DREADNOUGHTS IRON DUKE CLASS. IRON DUKE (Flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleets). MARLBOROUGH. EMPEROR OF INDIA. BENBOW. (Completed 1914.) These fine ships are the very latest additions to the British battle-fleet. The displacement is 25,000 tons, but with a full supply of coal, ammunition, and stores on board the actual figure is nearly 27,000 tons. The length over all is 645 ft., the maximum breadth is 89½ ft., and under normal conditions the ship draws 28 ft. of water. Parsons’ turbines, designed for 29,000 h.p., give a speed of 21 knots, which was exceeded by over one knot on trial. An extremely powerful armament is carried. It consists of ten 13·5-in. and twelve 6-in. guns, with some small quick-firers on high-angle mountings for use against aircraft. The big guns, mounted in twin turrets, are all on the centre line, and can thus be trained on either broadside, while four train ahead and the same number astern. Ten of the 6-in. guns are disposed in an upper-deck battery forward, the remaining two in casemates right at the stern. This disposition was adopted owing to the fact that torpedo attacks are usually delivered from ahead, and it is necessary, therefore, that as many quick-firing guns as possible can be trained on the approaching boats before they are able to discharge their torpedoes. Armour protection is very complete in this class. On the waterline there is a 12-in. belt, with 10-in. armour rising above this as far as the upper deck. The belt thins to 6-in. forward and aft, but the extreme ends of the ship are unarmoured. On the turrets there is 12-in. armour, with 6-in. plating over the secondary battery. Four 21-in. submerged torpedo tubes are fitted. The fuel supply is well over 3,000 tons. The complement of these ships totals more than 1,000 officers and men. They each cost over £2,000,000 to complete. AGINGOURT. (Completed 1914.)