The New Centurion: A Tale of Automatic War |
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The New Centurion: A Tale of Automatic War (Classic Reprint) James Eastwick No preview available - 2017 |
The New Centurion: A Tale of Automatic War (Classic Reprint) James Eastwick No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
ahead ammunition armour Arnold Foster astern automatic barbette battleships beam belt board the prize bows breech-block broadside bulkheads burst Captain Centurion Charlemagne clear Commander conning-house cordite craft crash crew dead disabled Dupuy de Lôme duty electric gear elevation enemy enemy's engine-room engines ensign Europa Point fighting decks fire flash French full speed fumes funnels gale Gibraltar gone Havock heavy guns Hornet Jauréguiberry keep knew Latouche Tréville lieutenant look main-deck manhole Massilia master-at-arms Maxims melinite middies minute mirror sights motion night officers passed the word pinnace platform decks port Portsmouth quarters quick-firing guns ready roar round Rurik search-lights seemed sent shell shelter shield ship ship's company shot side sinking skipper slide smashed smoke soon spar-deck splinters squall standing starboard steam stood sub-lieutenant subs telephone thing thought told took torpedo Tréhouart turret upper ward-room watch weapons wrecked
Popular passages
Page 14 - Then I looked at the enemy and saw that her colors were gone Her foremast had been shot away and had fallen all along her decks. Her great funnel had been wrecked, either by our fire or by the fall of the foremast, and her upper works had been frightfully cut up. Boats were called away and the first lieutenant boarded her, and soon we saw the white ensign flying over the tricolor.
Page 17 - AB we neared her we cast off the lines and then boarded her, with a great deal of difficulty, for she was almost out of control, and the heavy seas breaking on her sides made it dangerous work to go near her. Once on board we stood dismayed at the ruin that those brief seconds had wrought. Of the destruction of her upper works we had all seen something, but of the state of her main deck we had entertained no conception.
Page 17 - ... difficulty, for she was almost out of control, and the heavy seas breaking on her sides made it dangerous work to go near her. Once on board we stood dismayed at the ruin that those brief seconds had wrought. Of the destruction of her upper works we had all seen something, but of the state of her main-deck we had entertained no conception. She is clad all over, as you may know, with four-inch armour — not thick enough to be of the slightest use against our heavy guns, but just thick enough...
Page 14 - ... of was the task of watching those sights and firing as they bore. The French ironclad swept quickly past, and it was not easy to see one's mark with the bright blaze and drifting smoke of the two great guns always before one's eyes, and the reeking fumes of the cordite eddying round one every time a breech was opened. Presently there came a pause in our fire, and at that moment she vanished from my sight behind the bridge, though I now could hear the Maxims roaring like rushing water and the...
Page 14 - Engage as your guns bear,' said the tiny voice of the telephone from the conning house close to my ear. The words came, ' Fire upon the enemy,' and I fired. Her broadsides sounded at the same moment as our guns, and there was a crash and a rattle somewhere about our decks. All that I knew or could think of was the task of watching those sights and firing as they bore. The French ironclad swept quickly past, and it was not easy to see one's mark with the bright blaze and drifting smoke of the two...
Page 60 - Hard over; continue the firing,' was the word. Alas ! it was easily said, but as for the ship she was like a log, and what a time it seemed before the guns came round. At last we got ours round, and all four swept her point blank almost at the same minute. She swerved and faltered ; again the roar of the great guns and the crash and rattle of the bursting shell thundered out together. There was a shock and a hollow boom somewhere near our bows, and a great column of water spouted up, flooding everything...