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New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 25, 21 June 1911, Page 16

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BRITAIN'S INCREASING NAVY BILL. THE rapidly-increasing expense of warship construction is strikingly shown in the following table, which gives the cost of successive classes of armoured cruisers since that type of ship was reintroduced into the British Navy in 1898:—

In twelve years—for the Creasy was launched in 1899—the cost of the individual armoured cruiser has increased, by over a million sterling. The Princess Royal is the nineteenth British ship of the Dreadnought type to be launched, and she is the fifth ship to carry the new 13.5 inch gun, weighing 76 tons and firing a shell of 1,2501b5. The ship is 660 ft long between perpendiculars and 700 ft over all. She will carry eight big guns in four turrets, all mounted on the centre line of the ship, and thus capable of firing on either broadside if required. The second turret from forward will be raised above the foremost, so that the four guns will fire ahead, but only two will bear directly astern. The new ship will be the fifty-first ship of the Dreadnought era to take the water; and as the average cost of construction abroad is even higher than in England, the total expenditure thus represented is rather over than under £100,000,000. As the first Dreadnought was not launched until 1906, and "as armoured ships represent only a fraction of general naval expenditure, the colossal outlay on naval armaments may to some extent be imagined. With turbine engines of “0,000 horsepower, the Princess Royal is designed for a speed of 28 knots, but it is confidently expected that she will do over 30 on trial. No other British warships have ever had engines of more than 43,000 horse-power (in the last Princess Royal, a three-decker of 91 guns, they were of 400 i.h.p.), and the machine-power of the new ship is 6,000 horse-power above that of the Indefatigable and the Dreadnought combined.

Ship Cost Tonnage. Coot. per ton. Creasy ... .... 12,000 £740,324 £62.4 Drake . .. . .... 14,100 1.002,977 71.1 Monmouth .... 0,800 779,591 79.4 Devonshire . .. 10,850 850,877 78.4 Warrior .. .... 13,550 1,186,395 87.5 Minotaur . .... 14,600 1,438,065 98.5 Invincible .... 17,250 1,768,995 102.5 Princess Royal 26,360 1,912.166* •Without armament. 72.5*