esponsible, not
only for the design of ships, but for their construction, in the sense
that he approves great numbers of working drawings of structural parts
prepared at the dockyards. But the director of dockyards is the
admiralty official under whose instructions the work goes on, involving
the employment and supervision of an army of artisans and labourers.
Instructions, therefore, emanate from the admiralty, but the details lie
with the dockyard officials, and in practice there is a considerable
decentralization of duties.

The chief function of a dockyard is the building and maintaining of
ships in efficiency. The constructive work is carried out under the care
of the chief constructor of the yard, in accordance with plans sent down
from the admiralty. The calculations for displacement, involving the
draught of water forward and aft, have already been made, and, in order
to ensure accuracy in the carrying out of the design, an admirable
system has been devised for weighing everything that is built into the
new ships or that goes on board; and it is astonishing how very closely
the actual displacement approximates to that which was intended,
particularly when the tendency of weights to increase, in perfecting a
ship for commission, is considered.

The ship having been built to her launching weight, the duty of putting
her into the water devolves upon the chief constructor of the yard, and
failures in this matter are so extremely rare that it may almost be said
they do not occur. As soon as the ship is water-borne the responsibility
falls upon the king's harbour master, who has charge of her afloat and
of moving her into the fitting basins. When the ship has been brought
alongside the wharf, the responsibility of the chief constructor of the
yard is resumed, and the ship is carried forward to completion by the
affixing of armour plating (if that has not been done before launching),
the mounting of guns, the instalment of engines, boilers, and electrical
and hydraulic gear, and the fitting of cabins for officers, mess places
for men, and storerooms, and a vast volume of other work unnecessary to
be specified. In regard to the complicated details of guns and
torpedoes, the captains of the gunnery and torpedo schools have a
function of supervision. The captain of the fleet reserve also closely
watches the work, because, when the heads of all departments have
reported the ship to be ready, she has to be inspected by the