The two battleships which were under construction in Great. Britain for Turkey, and which the Admiralty appropriated immediately on the outbreak of war, have been completed and passed into the service. The construction of the Sultan Osman I, formerly the Rio de Janeiro, was very much more advanced than that of the Reshadich on the opening of hostilities, but Messrs. Vickers made a great effort and the Reshadich was completed less than a fortnight after the Sultan Osman I, and put into commission. These ships, now named the Agincourt and Erin, have combined broadsides superior to those of any three German battleships. The Erin has a broadside of 14,000 Ib. (ten improved 13.5 in, guns) and the Agincourt 11,900 Ib. (fourteen 12 in. guns). Supplementary to these useful additions to the fleet, the three remaining battleships of the 1912-13 programme have been
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.