After the passage of the Navy Act of 1900 the 9·4-inch gun, as the battle weapon, was abandoned in favour of an 11-inch of 40 calibre, and the displacement of the new ships of the Deutschland class, as they are generically termed, although there are minor differences in the ten vessels, was nearly 13,000 tons. These ships really represented the entrance of Germany upon the high seas as a first-class naval Power, possessing vessels fit to lie in the line and to fight the men-of-war under any foreign flag. The new design may be contrasted with advantage with that of the Worth class which has already been described: Deutschland Class. _Armour._ Krupp, complete belt, about 7 feet wide,[10] 8·9 inches amidships, tapering to 3·9 inches at ends; lower edge amidships, 6·7 inches; lower deck side amidships, 5·5 inches; main turrets and barbettes, 11 inches to 9·8 inches; secondary turrets, 6·7 inches; battery, 5·9 inches; conning-tower, 11·8 inches; s.t.--aft, 5·5 inches; deck, 2·9 inches on slopes, 1·6 inches on flat. _Armament._ Four 11 inch (40 calibre) in pairs in turrets, fore and aft; 14 6·7 inch (40 calibre), 10 in battery on main deck, 4 singly in turrets on upper deck; 12 3·4 inch (24 pounder); 4 machine; torpedo tubes, 6 (18 inch), 4 submerged, 1 bow, and 1 stern. Simultaneously with the construction of these ten battleships, six armoured cruisers, ranging in displacement from 8,800 to about 11,000 tons, were laid down, and in 1906 a single clause amending the Act was passed increasing the foreign fleet by five armoured cruisers and the fleet reserve by one armoured cruiser, thus fulfilling in part the original programme of the Navy Department with which the Reichstag had interfered. At about the same date German naval opinion made a complete _volte face_ in regard to the fighting value of the submarine. About the time when the Act of 1900 was passed the British Admiralty, after a careful study of the progress of submarine navigation in France and America, decided that it could no longer ignore this type of man-of-war. It was forthwith decided to buy an experimental ship from the Holland Company of the United States, which had already demonstrated the practical value of this particular type of submersible torpedo-boat. The original craft which was purchased under these circumstances was a little ship with a submerged displacement of only 120 tons, and a water-line displacement of 104 tons. She was propelled on the surface by a four-cylinder gasoline engine giving a speed of eight to eight and a half knots, while below the surface she was driven by an electric motor, and was capable of only six or seven knots.