The first monitor has been called an epoch-making ship, for she began
an era. The _Inflexible_ was also epoch-making, for she closed the era
of the monitor pure and simple. Upon a development of three hundred
and twenty feet of length she carried only four guns, of which it is
not too much to say that their power was very far in excess of almost
all targets that could be opposed to them. If, indeed, her possible
opponents could have carried such an armor as her own all over their
exposed surface, her guns would have been no heavier than needed,
and the fewness must be accepted; but this was not the case. Like
herself, ships of twelve thousand tons must have a penetrable target
far exceeding in surface the almost impregnable box she presented.
The unreasonableness of the result struck men at once, though of
course she had advocates. As an exception, such a ship might pass;
as a type, never. It was pointed out that guns of very small power
could pierce the exposed ends about the water-line, and that, as water
entered by numerous holes, she would not only sink lower, but for
constructional reasons, not necessary here to give, she would lose
stability rapidly—become liable to overset. If under such conditions
she attempted to turn round, the inclination vessels take in so doing
would be enough alone to cause her to capsize. Her defenders did not
deny this; but they said that the likelihood of her exposed ends being
so riddled was too slight to justify alarm.
Under artillery conditions, then, this reply was plausible, though
it soon ceased to be so. Even then, however, it was true that a ship
with only four guns that fired very slowly, and with such an exposed
surface, was liable to serious injury from a nimble antagonist firing
many guns rapidly. The defensive weakness of the _Inflexible_ is
apparent; her offensive power, great as in the aggregate it was, was
much impaired by lack of proper development, by undue compression
into very few guns, the larger part of whose effect was wasted,
except in the rare instances when they struck a target not often to
be encountered. But this was not the only deduction from her strength
through the excess of concentration. Very large guns fire very slowly,
yet they are as subject to inaccuracy from the motion of the ship as
is the smallest piece. Where the target is missed, it is immaterial
whether the shot weighs a ton or a pound; and a gun that fires ten
times to another’s once has ten times the chance of hitting. It is
evident, therefore, taking the _Inflexible_ as she was, that a ship
of the same weight and length with ten guns in broadside—twenty
altogether—and with similar armor over her engines only, would have
at the least a fair chance against the _Inflexible_, and would be much
more efficient against vessels with average armor. Each of her ten guns
firing once a minute, while the _Inflexible’s_ cannon required five
minutes for discharge, would give over ten shots to one.