With engines of 23,000 horsepower that could drive
them through the seas at 21 knots, ready to ward off blows with
armor from 8 to 11 inches thick, firing at the same time volleys
from ten 12-inch guns down to sixteen 4-inch rapid firers.
Naval architecture had now taken a definite turn, the principal
feature of which was the tremendous size of the destructive floating
machines. England, a leader in this sort of building, in 1910 built
the _Vanguard, Collingwood_, and _St. Vincent_, each displacing
19,250 tons. Nor were they lacking in speed, for they made, on an
average, 21 knots. The 20,000-ton battleship was then a matter of
months only, and it came in the following year, when the _Colossus,
Hercules_, and _Neptune_ were launched. It was only in the matter
of displacement that these three ships showed any difference from
those of the _Vanguard_ class; there were no great innovations
either in armament or armor. But in the same year, 1911, there
were launched the _Thunderer, Monarch, Orion_, and _Conqueror_,
each of 22,500 tons, and equipped with armor from 8 to 12 inches
thick, for the days of 3-inch armor on first-class warships had gone
forever. These had a speed of 21 knots, and were the first British
ships to have anything greater than a 12-inch gun. They carried as
a primary battery ten 13.5-inch guns, and sixteen 4-inch guns,
along with six more of small caliber as their secondary battery.
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