1887. She is built of steel, is 320 feet in length, 50 feet 7 inches

in beam, has a sea-going displacement of 4800 tons, and with her full capacity of coal and stores on board, a displacement of 5600 tons. The motive power consists of two independent, horizontal, triple-expansion engines (each working in its own compartment), which are capable of developing with forced draft 12,000 indicated horse-power and a speed of 20.5 knots. The battery will consist of four 9.45-inch Hontoria rifles, mounted on platforms raised four feet above the deck, and situated two forward and two abaft the superstructure; of six 4.72-inch Hontoria guns, two mounted each side on sponsons, and one each side in a recessed port; of eight 6-pounder rapid-fire guns, six revolving cannons, and five above-water torpedo-tubes. The ship has a complete steel deck, curving from about six feet below the water-line to its horizontal height; this latter section is about one-third the width of the ship, and is three inches thick over the engines and boilers, and one inch thick for the rest, while the inclined and curved sides are four and three-quarter inches thick. To assist in excluding water when pierced, a complete belt of cellulose extends around the ship inside the inner skin, and about the height of the water-line. The torpedo-boat chaser _Destructor_ is not only a good sea-boat, and capable of making a long passage at high speed, but has proved herself to be one of the fastest vessels afloat. She has 350 tons normal displacement, and when fully loaded and equipped 458 tons. Her engines have developed 3829 indicated horse-power. During ten days in November, 1886, a maximum speed of 23¾ knots was attained, and on December 13th of that year she reached a mean speed for four hours of 22.65 knots, and an estimated coal endurance of 5100 miles at 11½ knots, and of 700 miles at full speed. In January, 1887, she ran in twenty four hours from Falmouth to Finisterre, thus covering the 495 miles at a mean speed of 21 knots. The _Pelayo_, a barbette ship of the _Amiral Duperré_ class, has a complete water-line belt of steel, 6 feet 11 inches wide, and from 11.8 to 17.72 inches thick. The steel armor on the barbette towers is 11.8 inches, and the protective deck which extends throughout her length is 3.5 inches thick. The dimensions are as follows: Length 344 feet 6 inches, beam 66 feet 3 inches, draught 24 feet 8 inches, and displacement 9902 tons. The armament consists of two 12.6-inch 48-ton guns in the barbettes; of two 11-inch guns on sponsons, one each side; of twelve 4.72-inch guns in broadside, and of one 6.3-inch piece in the bow. The secondary battery is composed of fourteen rapid-fire and machine guns and seven torpedo-tubes. The contract horse-power is 7000, the speed 15 knots, and the coal endurance (the supply being 700 tons) is sufficient for 885 miles at 15 knots, and 2340 miles at 13 knots. The five ships of the _Infanta Isabel_ class are launched, and the small steel cruisers _Isla de Luzon_ and _Isla de Cuba_ are rapidly approaching completion. AUSTRIA. Austria has under construction this year the two armor coast-defence vessels described in the text: the _Tiger_, a 3800 ton protected cruiser of the latest type, and the _Meteor_, a torpedo-cruiser of the _Leopard_ and _Panther_ class. These last-mentioned important additions to the fleet are 224 feet long, 34 feet beam, 14 feet draught, and of 1550 tons displacement. They differ from the English _Condor_ and the French _Archer_ in these particulars: first, the steel protective deck is not continuous; secondly, the engines are of the vertical, inverted, triple-expansion type; and thirdly, the engine cylinders are protected by steel shields surrounded by coal or sand-bags. The armament consists of four large-range Krupp guns, mounted in sponsoned turrets, of numerous machine and rapid-fire pieces, and of four above-water torpedo-tubes. Under natural draft 17.6 knots, and with forced 18.9 knots, were accomplished. The 87-ton torpedo-boats _Falke_ and _Adler_, built by Messrs. Yarrow & Co., are 135 feet long, with 14 feet beam, 5½ feet draught aft and 2¼ feet forward. The engines are of the three-cylinder, compound, surface-condensing type, and developed 1250 horse-power and 22.4 knots in fighting trim. The coal supply of twenty-eight tons is expected to give an endurance of two thousand miles at ten knots. Their armament is composed of two machine guns and two torpedo-tubes, which discharge straight ahead. The _Habicht_, a 90-ton torpedo-boat, built by Schichau, was designed to develop with a load of 14½ tons a speed of 20½ knots, and to have a coal endurance of 3500 miles at a 10-knot rate; but on trial she realized 21.77 knots for three hours. It is understood that future boats will be much larger, approaching 300 to 400 tons displacement. The budget for 1887 provides 720,000 florins for torpedo-boats and vessels. Though Austria holds a secondary place as a maritime power, she is, of all the Continental nations, the one most liable to precipitate the next great war, and it seems strange, therefore, that she does not try to acquire a great number of those special classes of ships which, after all, are the only logical answers the weaker naval countries can make to the more powerful. “While the Austrian military position, in spite of the desire of the emperor for military reform, is still weak, I cannot find words too strong to praise the political ability with which the Austrian empire is being kept at peace and kept together. The Austrian empire is a marvel of equilibrium. The old simile of a house of cards is exactly applicable to its situation; and just as in the exercises of acrobats, when seven or nine men are borne by one upon his shoulders, it is rather skill than strength which sustains them; so, if we look to the Austrian constitution, which we shall have to consider in the next paper in this series, it is a miracle how the fabric stands at all. At the same time it is impossible for Austria, although she can maintain her stability in times of peace, to impose upon either her Russian or her German neighbors as to her strength for war. Prince Bismarck is obliged, with whatever words of public and private praise for the speeches of the Austrian and Hungarian statesmen, to add the French and Russian forces together upon his fingers, and to deduct from them the Austrian and the German, with doubts as to the attitude of Italy, doubts as to the attitude of England, and contemptuous certainty as to the attitude of Turkey. “If Austria could have presented Prince Bismarck not only with an English alliance, but with an English, Turkish, and Italian alliance, he might possibly have allowed her to provoke a general war; but with the difficulties attendant upon a concession of territory to Italy, except in the last resort, and with Turkey at the feet of Russia, it was difficult for Prince Bismarck to go further than to say to Austria, ‘Fight by all means, if you feel yourself strong enough to beat Russia single-handed. France and Germany will “see all fair,” and you can hardly expect anybody effectually to help you.’ Prince Bismarck deals with foreign affairs on the principles upon which they were dealt with by King Henry VIII. of England, when that king was pitted against the acutest intellects of the empire and of France. His policy is a plain and simple policy, and not a policy of astuteness and cunning, and almost necessarily at the present time consists in counting heads.”[47] There have been no additions of any importance to the fleets of the other European powers since the publication of Sir Edward Reed’s article, and their policy has in no way been changed from that epitomized in the text. The apathy of Germany is inexplicable, and as for the others, there seem, except with Turkey, perhaps, no good reasons why they should strive to create fleets, as they are either too poor to build and support them, or their dangers from maritime attack are not great enough to make a large navy necessary. Holland has lately launched the _Johan Willem Friso_, which is the last of six large cruisers, “of which the others are the _Atjeh_, _Tromp_, _Konigin Emma der Nederlanden_, _De Ruyter_, and _Van Speyk_.... All these vessels are built of iron and steel, sheathed with wood to four feet above the water-line, and coppered. They are of 3400 tons displacement and of the following dimensions: Length 262 feet 5 inches, beam 39 feet 4 inches, and mean draught 18 feet 4 inches. Their armament is six 6.7-inch Krupp guns (one carried in the bow, one in the stern, and the others in broadside), four 4.72-inch Krupp pieces in broadside, six 37-millimetre revolving cannons, and a supply of Whitehead torpedoes. The engines drive single screws, and have an estimated horse-power of 3000, which has been slightly exceeded by some and not attained by others. The speeds vary from 14.1 knots to 14.7 knots. The coal supply is 400 tons—sufficient for six and three-quarter days’ steaming at full speed or for thirteen days at ten knots.”[48] Denmark has the _Valkyrien_, a steel cruiser of 2900 tons, fitted with a good battery and five torpedo-tubes, and designed to develop 5000 horse-power and 17 knots. Her new double-turreted, armored, coast-defence vessel _Iver Huitfeldt_ has developed a maximum speed of 15.6 knots. From data furnished by First-lieutenant Tasker H. Bliss, U. S. Artillery, the peace strength of the principal Continental nations may be summarized as follows: