"It is proposed to begin during the financial year 1905-06: 1 battleship, 4 armoured cruisers, 5 ocean-going destroyers, 1 ocean-going destroyer of the experimental type, 12 coastal destroyers, 11 submarines.[12] "His Majesty has approved that the battleship should be called the _Dreadnought_, and the first of the armoured cruisers the _Invincible_." It was not until many months later that it gradually became known that the British Admiralty were embarking upon the construction of an entirely new type of battleship, and it was even later that information was available as to the character of the "armoured cruisers" mentioned in the First Lord's statement. In the following spring a partial revelation of the change in British design was made in the _Naval Annual_: "The _Dreadnought_, officially laid down at Portsmouth on October 2nd, 1905, though some material had already been built into her, was launched by His Majesty on February 10th, 1906. The Admiralty announce that the period of building for armoured vessels is to be reduced to two years, but the _Dreadnought_ is to be completed in February, 1907. The rapidity of her construction will therefore out-rival that of the _Majestic_ and _Magnificent_, which were completed within two years from the date of the laying of their first keel plates. "The _Dreadnought_ represents a remarkable development in naval construction, which has been for some time foreshadowed, notably by Captain Cuniberti, the famous Italian naval constructor. The Russo-Japanese War, more particularly the Battle of Tsushima, established the fact that naval engagements can, and will, be fought at greater distances than were formerly considered possible. Hence the medium armament is held by many authorities to lose much of its value." In the _Naval Annual_ of that year, it was reported that the Japanese contemplated laying down a battleship with an armament of four 12-inch and ten 10-inch guns. It was then announced that the _Dreadnought_ was to carry a main armament of ten 12-inch 45 calibre guns, of 50 per cent. greater power than those carried by the _Majestic_, while the medium armament was to disappear entirely. The question of protection entered also very largely into the consideration, and _The Times_, in describing the new ship, said that it was understood that "she was to be made as nearly unsinkable as possible from the explosion of a torpedo or mine." It was even stated that there would be no openings in the watertight bulkheads, and this proved to be the fact. Moreover, this ship was the first large vessel in the world to be fitted with turbines.