TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Obvious typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

Except for those changes noted below, inconsistent or archaic spelling of a word or word-pair within the text has been retained. For example: gasolene gasoline; waterbed water-bed; air lock air-lock; under-sea undersea; conquerer; to-day.

List of Illustrations:
p xi. 'Tubes Assembled for' changed to 'Tubes Assembled Ready for'.
p xi. 'Built in August,' changed to 'Built. Launched in August,'.
p xii. 'of "Argosy" and' changed to 'of the "Argosy" and'.
p xii. 'Le Plungeur' changed to 'Le Plongeur'.

p 117. 'blank space' replaced by '__________'.
p 194. (caption)'Laubeuf' changed to 'Lauboeuf'.
p 301. 'Schwarzkopf' changed to 'Schwartzkopf'.