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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 Excerpt:...weapons, with improved projectiles, prevailed. The next step was the introduction of all-steel armour in 1890. Two years later there was introduced 58 Hardened Armour. 1 "Engineering," vol. lxxix., page 677, May 6th, 1905. the super-carburising and subsequent chilling of the face of plates made of an alloy of nickel steel. In 1897 the process of hardening was still further developed, and now the 9-in. plate on the modern battleship is equal in resistance to a 26-in. wrought-iron plate of the 'sixties, or a 20-in. compound-plate of the 'eighties, or a 13-in. plate of the early-hardened type. For the present, therefore, the armour seems to have secured the victory, as at 5000 yards range 9-in. armour can scarcely be defeated by even the 12-in. gun. With the increased resistance of armour and the consequent reduction in its thickness, the naval designer can spread his protecting plates over a much wider area, so that the whole broadside of ships like the Prince of Wales, or the cruisers Argyll and Defence, is clad with armour of satisfactory resisting power. At the same time the gunpower and speed of ships have been greatly increased without making the displacement inordinately high. On the opposite page a Table gives the main features of representative ships at different epochs, which will show this at a glance. The growth in the size of battleships has been steady, with the exception of the class represented by the Barfieur and Canopus, both of which were engined by the Scotts. These vessels are embodiments of a desire to check the advance in the size and cost of the battleship. The deficiency in the number and calibre of their guns was partly compensated by the introduction, for the first time in battleships, of quick-firing weapons of large calib...