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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re iswhat is known as the fire-control station, whence theship is, as regards her firing at least, directed duringa battle. When opening hostilities the range is foundfrom this platform, and signalled down to the menbehind the gun. We need not endeavour to realise theserious position of the fire-control station, which is, infact, not merely the brain but the eyes of the ship. Ata range of several miles it would not be easy to hit thistempting mark, but it is far from probable that damagewould not be done to its supports, and in order todiminish the fatal result of such an accident it will benoticed that it is customary now to have the tripod mast,so that if one leg is shot away the other two may supporttheir burden. Turning our attention now from the battleship to thecruiser, we find the measure of her importance becominggreater and greater, until she has in the case of theInvincible class become a much more powerful unit thanmost of the battleships which preceded the Dreadnought, 216
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Fro7)i a photo by StepJie)i Cribb, Soathsea A Dreadnoughts Tripod Mast This shows in greater detail the after-mast of a modern battleship. To theright of the picture will be seen a long line of Dreadnoughts and other battleships. THE MODERN MAN-OF-WAR Whereas, as we saw just now, these earlier fighting shipscarried nothing heavier than four 12-inch guns, yetthe Indomitable^ Invincible and her sisters, though theyare cruisers, carry no fewer than eight 12-inch weaponsof this kind. The evolution of the first-class cruiser fromthe time of the Pozoerful and Terrible^ when they wereprotected but not armoured, is full of interest. TheCressy class, which passed into the navy at the begin-ning of the new century, were vessels of 12,000 tons,with a speed of 21J knots, costing c^750,000, whilst theInvincible cost most of a million pounds more. Theheaviest armament of the Cressys consisted of a coupleof 9*2-inch guns, a type of weapon which has attainedgreat popularity in the British navy, and i

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