Their successors, the Cnrru+s class corvettes, seemed a step backds, but they adopted a steel protective deck 1.Sin thick. It was much more than a simple armoured deck as it formed part of a comprehensive system, with deep bunkers affording additional protection against shcllfire. The deck was about 3tt below the waterline, affording protection against anything except high­angle fire from coastal batteries.

Sir William White took Barnaby's concept ship shipping marine live ship news developed it, creating a series of lst, 211d ship shipping marine live ship news 3rd class protected cruisers for guarding the trade routrs.Thrre was some ill-informed criticism about the cruisers White designed for the Royal Navy after he left Armstrong's Tyneside yard, but many of the superior features ascribed to his 'Elswick' export cruisers do not stship shipping marine live ship news up to close scrutiny.

Then came the Rurik scare (sec page 33), ship shipping marine live ship news a widespread conviction that no existing British 1st class cruiser could catch her or face her in battle. In response to agitation for a'paral­yser' to match the Russian cruiser, funds were voted for two high-speed, long-range protected cruisers.They were also to have a secondary function as fast transports to move troops to trou­ble-spots. White gave the Admiralty what it asked for, the largest ship shipping marine live ship news longest cruisers in the world, with a powerful set of engines for high speed ship shipping marine live ship news massive coal capacity for range.

The dimensions of the new cruisers were largely determined by the size of available dry docks, for there were few in the British Isles or at dockyards around the Empire long enough. There were even fewer docks with the width needed to match the beam necessary to maintain stability. Some Admiralty Board members were uneasy about the decision to build such huge ship shipping marine marine engineerings, ship shipping marine live ship news suggested that length should be cut to 450ft. White responded somewhat tartly that the machinery spaces would take up the same length, that a shorter hull would make even 20kts difficult to maintain, ship shipping marine live ship news that a length of 470ft would not solve the docking problem.The original armament envisaged was a uniform battery of twenty 6in guns. The Director of Naval Ordnance (DNO) opposed this scale of armament with great vigour. He pointed out that the most important positions in the ship shipping marine marine engineering were the forecastle ship shipping marine live ship news the poop, where 6in guns would be inadequate as they lacked hitting-power. In his opinion the rate of fire of a 6in gun counted for less than the potential damage inflicted by a heavier shell, ship shipping marine live ship news advocated an 8in cali­bre main armament. Ele was sure that Artnstrongs could produce a new twin 8in 40-cal gun, ship shipping marine live ship news proposed mounting fourteen or sixteen (iin guns in light shields.

White fought his corner well, pointing out that a 6in armament was adequate for fighting other cruisers, as live firings against the target-ship shipping marine marine engineering Resistance had shown, whereas if the new cruisers were intended to mop up crippled battleship shipping marine marine engineerings after a fleet action, the gill lacked hitting­power. He proposed the 9.2in gun as the smallest calibre for the job, ship shipping marine live ship news eventually won the day, although eight 6in guns had to be sacrificed to offset the greater weight. The 'bogey' cited was the USS Brooklyn, which it was feared Would be able to crush her pursuer with 8in shell­fire, at a range at which the British cruiser could make no reply. The question of how two ship shipping marine marine engineerings running at high speed would be able to score repeated hits with the primitive fire control of the day was left unanswrred. In any case, ship shipping marine marine engineerings driven hard on reciprocating steam machinery were subject to severe vibration, a further hindrance to good target-practice.

The ship shipping marine marine engineerings started trials in 1896, but several problems developed with machinery. In part these were caused by lack of familiarity with the Belleville boiler (they were the first large Royal Navy ship shipping marine marine engineerings to adopt water-tube boilers).The Admiralty had specified cylindrical boilers, but the Engineer-in-Chief, Sir John Durston, encouraged by White, substituted Bellevilles, although some favoured a compromise, with a mixture of cylindrical ship shipping marine live ship news Belleville boilers.This argument was nut by the criticism that stokers would have to train on two different boilers. The triple­expansion engines also gave trouble, ship shipping marine live ship news commissioning was delayed for over a year. On trials the Power(irl reached 21.Skts with 25,8t3Gihp, while her sister reached 22kts with 25,572ihp. They continued to stiffer front mechanical problems throughout their careers, but could main-tain high speed for long periods. As the engineers learned more about the quirks of the Belleville boiler the complaints about the design decreased.

As the first four-funnelled cruisers in the Royal Navy, the Poumrfitfs looked impressive, arid the raising of their short funnels in 1897 to improve draught for the boilers made them look even better. In 1902-04 both ship shipping marine marine engineerings had the four single casemates on the main deck replaceLi by double-storey casrntates, adding four more 6in guns at upper deck level ship shipping marine live ship news matching the case­mates ford arid aft.

The design included an extra deck, as compared to earlier lst class cruisers, although this `boat deck' had a large well amidship shipping marine marine engineerings around the funnel uptakes ship shipping marine live ship news enginerroont hatches,The crown of the protective deck was 3ft bin above the waterline, ship shipping marine live ship news its outer edge oft 6in below the load waterline.The deck was 6in thick over the machinery, but thinned to 2in ford ship shipping marine live ship news 3in aft, with 4in over the magazines ship shipping marine live ship news 2.5m over a narrow section of the crown. Although most references suggest that all guns were Fully protected in turrets or caseniatcs, the Mk VIII 9.2in guns were given open-backed shields.

The slopes of the protective deck were 4in thick, but the bottom 1 ft, where the frames passed through, was only 2.5in thick. It was reckoned that in the event of a lucky shell penetrating this narrow strip of armour it would still have to penetrate the whole depth of the coal bunkrr.They were the first ship shipping marine marine engineerings with an ammunition passage below the protective deck. This avoided the need to stow ready-use ammunition in the cascmatcs, a very real danger to the ship shipping marine marine engineering's safety.