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Protected cruiser
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===Breakthrough=== By the start of the 1880s, ships were appearing with full-length armoured decks and no side armour, from the {{sclass|Italia|battleship|4}} of very fast [[battleship]]s to the torpedo ram {{HMS|Polyphemus|1881|6}}. In the case of the latter, the armoured deck was of sufficient thickness to defend against small-calibre guns capable of tracking such a difficult, fast target. This was very much the philosophy adopted by [[George Wightwick Rendel]] in his design of the so-called 'Rendel cruisers' [[Japanese cruiser Tsukushi|''Arturo Prat'']], {{ship|Chinese cruiser|Chaoyong||2}} and {{ship|Chinese cruiser|Yangwei||2}}. By enlarging the flatiron gunboat concept, increasing engine power and thus speed, Rendel was able to produce a fast small vessel and still have enough tonnage to incorporate a very thin ({{convert|1/4|in|adj=on|spell=in|disp=comma}} thick) partial protective deck over the machinery. Still small and relatively weakly built, these vessels were 'proto-protected cruisers' which served as the inspiration for a significantly larger ship; ''Esmeralda''. {{quote box|align=right|width=33%|He believed the ''Esmeralda'' was the swiftest and most powerfully armed cruiser in the world. Happily ... she had passed into the hands of a nation which is never likely to be at war with England, for he could conceive no more terrible scourge for our commerce than she would be in the hands of an enemy. No cruiser in the British navy was swift enough to catch her or strong enough to take her. We have seen what the {{ship|CSS|Alabama||2}} could do ... what might we expect from such an incomparably superior vessel as the ''Esmeralda''[?]|author=Summary of remarks by [[William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong|William Armstrong]] published in Valparaiso's ''The Record''<ref>"[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433070786029&view=1up&seq=253 The 'Esmeralda,']" ''The Record'' (Valparaiso) 13, no. 183 (4 December 1884): 5.</ref>}} The first true mastless protected cruiser and the first of the 'Elswick cruisers', the {{ship|Chilean cruiser|Esmeralda|1883|2}} was designed by Rendel and built for the [[Chilean Navy]] by the British firm of [[Armstrong Whitworth|Armstrong]] at their Elswick yard. ''Esmeralda'' was revolutionary; she had a high speed of {{convert|18|kn}} (dispensing entirely with sails), an armament of two {{convert|10|in|mm|adj=on|0}} and six [[Elswick 6 inch naval gun|{{convert|6|in|mm|adj=on|0}} guns]] and a full-length protective deck. This was up to {{convert|2|in|mm}} thick on the slopes, with a cork-filled cofferdam along her sides. It would not defend against fire from heavy guns, but was designed to be adequate to defeat any gun of the day considered capable of hitting so fast a ship. With her heavy emphasis on speed and firepower, ''Esmeralda'' set the tone for competitive cruiser designs into the early 20th century, with 'Elswick cruisers' of a similar design being constructed for Italy, China, Japan, Argentina, Austria and the United States.<ref>Roberts, p. 107</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=May 2021}} Cruisers with armoured decks and no side armour β like ''Esmeralda'' β became known as "protected cruisers", and rapidly eclipsed the large and slow armoured cruisers during the 1880s and into the 1890s.<ref>Parkinson, p. 149</ref> The [[French Navy]] adopted the protected-cruiser concept wholeheartedly in the 1880s. The ''[[Jeune Γcole]]'' school of thought, which proposed a navy composed of fast cruisers for commerce raiding and [[torpedo boat]]s for coastal defence, became particularly influential in France. The first French protected cruiser was {{ship|French cruiser|Sfax||2}}, [[Keel laying|laid down]] in 1882, and followed by six classes of protected cruiser β and no armoured cruisers.
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