“Meanwhile how many hundred thousands pounds have been expended in building iron-plated ships, which these long-neglected steel projectiles will riddle as easily as the cast-iron shot found its way through the wooden walls of our old men-of-war!... It is not less remarkable that while our firm at Sheffield have manufactured some hundred and fifty pieces of Bessemer steel ordnance for foreign service, guns of this material are still untried by our government, although it is well known that the strength of this metal is double that of ordinary iron, while such is the facility of production that a solid steel gun block of twenty tons in weight can be produced from cast fluid in the short space of twenty minutes, the homogeneous mass being free from weld or joint. “Our armour-plate system has certainly received a severe shock, and it behoves us now to see how far it is possible to increase the resisting power of ships so as to keep pace with the advances made by steel shot.... The fine ship _Minotaur_ ... was all that excellent workmanship and the best iron could make her, but still she was only iron. It has been stated that the hull of the vessel weighs 6,000 tons, and her 4½-inch armour 1,850 tons. Now, had the hull of this vessel been built of a material possessing double the strength of ordinary iron her weight might have been reduced to 3,000 tons; but suppose that, while we admit a double strength of material, we only reduce the weight by one-third, this would give 4,000 tons of steel for the hull. Now, with this reduction in the weight of the hull, we may employ 9-inch armour-plates in lieu of the 4½-inch armour-plates now employed. It must be borne in mind that the resistance offered by the armour-plate is equal to the square of its thickness; hence a vessel constructed in the manner proposed would bear a blow of four times the force that the present structure is calculated to withstand. Thousands of Bessemer steel projectiles are now being made for Russia.... Have we a single ship afloat that can keep out these simple round steel shots fired from a common smooth-bore gun, if ever directed against us?” [Illustration: 12½-PR. Q.F. 50-CALIBRE GUN AND MOUNTING.] [Illustration: 4-INCH B.L. 40-CALIBRE GUN AND MOUNTING FOR TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYERS. _Photographs supplied by the Coventry Ordnance Works, Ltd._]