BRITISH NAVY.—In 1859, the navy was made a steam-navy, and sailing-vessels of war ceased, practically, to exist. No sooner was this accomplished, at great expense, than, at a still more enormous outlay, it was found necessary again to reconstruct the navy by building vessels more or less encased in iron plates, varying in thickness from 41 to 7 inches. These are for the most part already obsolete. The British fleet now consists of between 300 and 400 war-ships; and in 1879, 64 of these were iron-clads. The most important section of the iron-clads is nowadays the turret-ships, of which there were in all 16 in the same year. The first class of war-ships consisted of 4 iron-clad turret-ships, with armor plates varying from 12 to 14 (or more)• in thick. The second class con sisted also of turret-ships, 9 in number, and mostly with armor 'from 10 to 12 In. thick. The remaining three classes are all rigged ships. See Malvin NAVY; also Tun CANNON.—The service ordnance now in use in the British army and navy is divided into two great classes—viz. (I.) muzzle-loading rifled guns; and (II.) breech-loading rifled guns. I. All our guns of heavy caliber belong to the first class, and their dimen
sions range from the 80-ton gun of 16 in. caliber (taking a charge of 370 lbs. of pow der and a Palliser shell, weighing, when empty, 1700 lbs.), down to the 7-pounder of 3-in, caliber, weighing only 150 lbs. A gun of 100 tons weight has recently been turned out of the royal factory at Woolwich, and underwent trial in 1879. This class of guns, again, is divided into four (1) armor-piercing; (2) medium; (3) field and siege; and (4) rifled howitzers. II. In the second class there are nine varieties, varying from the 7-in. gun of 4 tons 2 cwt. to the 6-pounder of 8 cwt. In addition to the above, there are in all fortresses and in many ships of the old cast-iron ordnance, for which the new guns are in course of substitution.
CANNON-FOUNDING.—Guns, whether of iron or brass, have ceased to be cast at Wool wich. All new guns are now formed of iron or steel bars, wound while red-hot into a coil round a mandril, and welded together into a solid barrel. Such a coil never bursts explosively.