Identifier: romanceofshipsto00chat (find matches)
Title: The romance of the ship; the story of her origin and evolution
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Chatterton, E. Keble (Edward Keble), 1878-1944
Subjects: Ships Shipbuilding
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott company London, Seeley and co., limited
Contributing Library: Boston College Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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ecome not merely a remarkablyintricate art, but a highly expensive one. Every timethe modern 12-inch gun is fired it means a cost of dt^lOO.Even at a distance of thirteen miles away its projectilewill penetrate eight inches of armour. On the otherhand, the Dreadnought battleships, to be protected againstthe enemy*s fire, have a belt of Krupp steel, 11 inchesthick, this being equal to 20 inches of the old-fashionedcompound armour which we discussed some time earlierin our story. The citadel theory, which we also ex-plained, is still well exemplified in the case of theDreadnought, The midship section of the Dreadnoughtis protected with Krupp steel, about 11 inches thick. To enter here into a discussion of the gunners artis altogether foreign to our subject, but, as illustratingthe development of the ship of war, it will not be outof place to give the reader some idea of the way inwhich firing from a modern battleship will be carriedon in the next sea-fight. When aiming at the object 214
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Fio>n a pJioto by StepJioi Cribb, SoiitJisea The Fore-deck of a Modern Dreadnought This photograph, taken from aloft, shows what the fore-deck of a modernbattleship looks like, though when cleared for action the appearance would, ofcourse, be modified. Notice the two 12-inch guns pointing forward, and thepowerful cables for the massive anchors. THE MODERN MAN-OF-WAR to be hit, there are various matters to be taken intoconsideration. Owing, of course, to the law of gravita-tion, the gun must be aimed higher than the target tobe hit. Then allowance must be duly made for theconditions of the air, the rate and direction of thewind; but these may vary very much over the spacethe projectile has to pass before it reaches its target.Thus, supposing the firing is with a range of 15 miles,the projectile will rise to the terrific height of over22,000 feet in the air—the height of a very loftymountain—before it comes down into the hull of theenemy. Then there is another allowance to be mad

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