The offensive power of the ship consists of seven breechloading rifled guns of 27 centimeters (10.63 in.), and weighing 24 tons each, six breechloading rifled guns of 14 centimeters (5.51 in.), and quick-firing and machine guns of the Hotchkiss systems.  There are in addition four torpedo discharge tubes, two on each side of the ship.  The positions of the guns are as follows:  Four of 27 centimeters in the central battery, two on each broadside; three 27 centimeter guns on the upper deck in barbettes, one on each side amidships, and one aft.  The 14 centimeter guns are in various positions on the broadsides, and the machine guns are fitted on deck, on the bridges, and in the military tops, four of them also being mounted on what is rather a novelty in naval construction, a gallery running round the outside of the funnel, which was fitted when the ship was under repairs some months ago.

There are three electric light projectors, one forward on the upper deck, one on the bridge just forward of the funnel, and one in the mizzen top.—­Engineering.

* * * * *

ARMOR PLATING ON BATTLESHIPS:  FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN.

The visit of the French squadron under Admiral Gervais to England has revived in many a nautical mind the recollection of that oft-repeated controversy as to the relative advantages of armored belts and citadels.  Now that a typical French battleship of the belted class has been brought so prominently to our notice, it may not be considered an inappropriate season to dwell shortly upon the various idiosyncrasies of thought which have produced, in our two nations, types of war vessels differing so materially from each other as to their protective features.  In order to facilitate a study of these features, the accompanying sketch has been prepared, which shows at a glance the relative quantities of armored surface that afford protection to the Nile, the Camperdown, the Marceau, the Royal Sovereign, and the Dupuy de Lome; the first three of these vessels having been actually present at the review on the 21st of August and the two others having been selected as the latest efforts of shipbuilding skill in France and Great Britain.  Nothing but the armored surface in each several class is shown, the same scale having been adhered to in all cases.

[Illustration:  Armored Surface for Various Ships]

Two impressions cannot fail to be made upon our minds, both as to French and British armor plate disposition.  These two impressions, as regards Great Britain, point to the Royal Sovereign as embodying the idea of two protected stations with a narrow and partial connecting belt; and to the Nile as embodying the idea of a vast and absolutely protected raft.  For France, we have the Marceau as representing the wholly belted type with four disconnected but protected stations; and the Dupuy de Lome, in which the armor plating