e which were built in
1914 and which had a displacement of 26,575 tons. These ships were the
_Koenig_, _Grosser Kurfuerst_, and the _Markgraf_. The corresponding type
in the British navy was that of the _Iron Duke_, built in the same year.
The British ships of this class were 1,000 tons lighter in displacement,
a bit faster--making 22.5 knots to the 22 knots made by the German
ships--and their armament was not so strong as that of the German type,
for the German ships carried ten 14-inch guns, whereas the English
carried ten 13.5-inch guns.

In addition to these first-class battleships, Germany had certain
others, individual in type, such as the _Von der Tann_, _Moltke_,
_Goeben_, _Seydlitz_, _Derfflinger_, _Fuerst Bismarck_, _Prinz Heinrich_,
_Prinz Adalbert_, _Roon_ and _Yorck_, _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_,
_Bluecher_, _Magdeburg_, _Strassburg_, _Breslau_, _Stralsund_, _Rostock_,
and _Karlsruhe_. These may be reckoned as scout cruisers, for they
showed much speed, the fastest making 30 knots and the slowest 19 knots.
The oldest dates from 1900, and the newest from 1914. Germany had, also,
thirty-nine more fast protected cruisers which were designed for scout
duty.

In destroyers she was well equipped, having 143 ready for service when
war was declared. Her twenty-seven submarines were of the most improved
type, and much about their construction and armament she was able to
keep secret from the rest of the world. It is probable that even their
number was greater than the intelligence departments of foreign navies
suspected. The best type had a speed on the surface of 18 knots and
could travel at 12 knots when submerged. The type known as _E-21_, of
the design of 1914, measured 213 feet 8 inches in length and had a beam
of 20 feet.

Austria, though not renowned for her naval strength, had certain units
which brought up the power of the Teutonic powers considerably. She had
nine first-class battleships, the _Erzherzog Karl_, _Erzherzog Ferdinand
Max_, _Erzherzog Friedrich_, _Zrinyi_, _Radetzky_, _Erzherzog Franz
Ferdinand_, _Teggethoff_, _Prinz Eugen_, and _Viribus Unitis_. These, at
the time Austria went to war, ranged in age from nine years to one year,
and varied in displacement from 10,000 tons to 20,000 tons. The largest
guns carried by any of them measured 12 inches, and the fastest, the
_Prinz Eugen_, made 20 knots. Of secondary importance were the
battleships _Kaiserin Maria Theresia_, _Kaiser Karl VI_, and