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THE NEW GERMAN CORVETTE GREIF.


Our cut represents the corvette Greif--the latest addition to the German
fleet--on its trial trip, March 10. As other naval powers, especially
England and France, have lately built corvettes and cruisers which can
travel from 17 to 18 knots, while the fastest German boats, Blitz and
Pfeil, can make only 16 knots an hour, the chief of the Imperial Admiralty
decided to construct a corvette which should be the fastest vessel in the
world. The order was given to the ship and engine corporation "Germania,"
of Berlin and Keil, in April, 1885, the requirements being that the engines
should generate 5,400 h.p., and that the vessel, when loaded, should have a
speed of 19 knots, a point which has never been reached by any boat of its
size. The hull is made of the best German steel of Krupp's manufacture, and
measures 318 ft. in length at the water line, with a breadth of beam of 33
ft., the depth from keel to deck being 22 ft. It draws about 11 ft., and
has a displacement of 2,000 tons.

As the vessel is to be used principally as a dispatch boat and for
reconnoitering, and as--on account of its great speed--it will not be
obliged to come into conflict with larger and stronger men-of-war, no great
preparations for protection were needed, nor was it necessary that it
should be heavily armed, all available room being devoted to the engines,
boilers, and the storing of coal; these occupy more than half the length of
the vessel, leaving only space enough for the accommodation of the officers