ABSTRACT
A warship is one of the few structures in the world in which first cost is secondary to desirability. Before the period under review the Navy consisted of a very large number of types of ships. There were battleships, first-class armoured cruisers, second-class protected cruisers, third-class cruisers, gunboats, and a host of others. Associated with these, of course, are mother ships for the submarines, and other vessels which are mostly obsolete craft which have been refitted for their special purpose and do not count on the fighting strength. A more modern type of battleship is a Super-Dreadnought, which is superior in size, speed, and armament to those originally built. Naval warfare employs no more terrible weapon than the torpedo, and though it has hitherto been regarded as suitable for use only at close quarters, improvements have made it a formidable rival to the biggest guns. On board ship ranges were sometimes taken by the depression method.
