4-inch guns, fourteen of 5.9 inches,
twelve of 3.4-inches, and twenty of smaller measurement. Roughly
they corresponded to the British ships of the _Canopus_ class,
both in design and time of launching.
Following this class came that of the _Wittelsbach_, including
also the _Wettin, Zaehringen, Mecklenburg_, and _Schwaben_, built
between 1901 and 1903, displacing 11,643 tons, making 18 knots,
protected with from 9 to 10 inches of armor and carrying a primary
battery of four 9.4-inch guns, eighteen 5.9-inch guns, and a large
secondary battery. The similar type in the British navy was the
_Canopus_--for England was far ahead of Germany, both in the matter
of displacement and primary battery. During the same years England
had launched ships of the type of the _Implacable_.
In 1904 came the German ships _Hessen, Elsass_, and _Braunschweig_,
and in 1905 and 1906 the _Preussen_ and _Lothringen_. They were
well behind the English ships of the same years, for they displaced
only 12,097 tons, made 18 knots, carried armor of from 9 to 10
inches in thickness, and a primary battery of four 11-inch guns,
fourteen 6.7-inch guns, and twelve 3.4-inch guns, together with
rapid firers and other guns in a secondary battery. England at
this time was putting 12-inch guns in the primary battery of such
ships as the _King Edward VII_.
Still Germany kept up the race, and in 1906, 1907, and 1908 launched
the _Hannover, Deutschland, Schlesien, Schleswig-Holstein_, and
_Pommern_, with 12,997 tons displacement, 16,000 horsepower, a speed
of 18 knots, and only ll-inch guns in the primary batteries.
Pages:
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282