The naval proceedings in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1 remind one somewhat of Sir Richard Strachan and the Earl of Chatham, each of whom, according to the well-known verse, had his sword drawn and waited for the other. In the Franco-Prussian conflict, however, there was a hostile meeting at sea, although on a small scale. The only naval action in this war was that between the French gunboat _Bouvet_, carrying one 16-centimètre gun and four 12-centimètre guns, with a complement of eighty-five officers and men, and the German gunboat _Meteor_, with one 15-centimètre gun and two 12-centimètre guns, and having sixty-four officers and sailors. They met at Havana, and left the harbour for the open sea at the prescribed interval. When outside territorial limits they exchanged cannonades for two hours at 1,200 yards range, with little harm to either. Then the Frenchman decided to ram, but the _Meteor_ moved and only received a glancing blow which did little damage to her hull but brought down her main- and mizen-masts. The _Bouvet_ was going to ram again, when the _Meteor_ gave her a solid shot in her boiler. There was no further fighting, for the Spanish ship which had steamed out from Havana to prevent a violation of neutrality, informed them that they were now in Spanish waters and that the engagement must stop. The Turkish fleet at the beginning of the war with Russia in 1876-7 was superior to that of Russia in every respect save efficiency. The Russian Black Sea fleet, owing to diplomatic restrictions, was of very little use. The only effective naval work performed by the Russians in this war was with torpedo boats brought overland by rail from the Baltic, which were supported by merchant steamers acquired for the purpose. The Turks had some splendid vessels which should have given a good account of themselves, and had they performed the duties expected of them and of which they were quite capable, and had they been properly handled, the history of that war would have been very different. When the Turks lost command of the sea they also lost the war. One of their finest vessels was the _Messoudiye_, a sister ship to the British _Superb_, which had also been built for the Turkish Government, but was bought by England. Both were of 9,100 tons displacement, and had engines giving them a speed of thirteen and a half knots on 1,200 h.p. They had 12-inch armour with a 10-inch backing, and carried sixteen 10-inch guns. The Turks also had four vessels of over 6,000 tons displacement, the _Azazieh_, _Mahmoudieh_, _Orkanieh_, and _Osmanieh_; the _Assar-i-Tewfik_, of 4,000 tons, each having fifteen 6½-ton guns and one 12-ton gun; and several smaller vessels. These were all broadside or central battery ships. There were also a couple of monitors with turrets, and some armoured gunboats, among which were the _Avni-Illah_, of 2,314 tons displacement, a more powerful version of the Greek _King George_. Some of the ships