The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-06-06 00:00:00

tt Stantbribcte bserber.

SATURDAY, JUNE 6th 1885

SHIPS OV WM?.

"BILITANNIA rules the waves!" has long been
the burden of every Englishman's song '
whenever he has been in his most patriotic
mood. Since the days when Nel9on,
Collin-
wood and old Benhr.v and a host of •• other
mighty nivi of naval war built up Britain's
supremacy on the seas, the sons of the Ocean
Isle have placed implicit faith in the impreg
liability of their bulwarks on the brine.
When clouds of battle have gathered thick,
we havo sometimes thought with no 'little
concern the corn' arative insignificance f
oar gallant soldier band, and trembled ftw
.their fate should the fortunes of war place
them in opposition to an alliance of Vie
countless legions of others of the great
powers. In such an um qual contest even
the men courageens etiorgh ';o make a Bahl-
clava charge would find their dannth.ss
heroism of no avail, and fall More the sliece ,
weight of overwhelming numbers. But wl-1.11
we have turned our thot ghts to our naval
strength our uneasiness I-as fled, for there at '
least, we have felt our difence was sure. And
just as England's confid, nee in what were
wont to be fondly called her"wooden walls"
ha been unbounded, so has her care to keep
her battle ships all-superior been everwatch-
fill and jealous. We have spared no cost in
maintaining the invulnerability of our lev-
iathans afloat ; every new invention of genius
and each fresh discovery of science has be ~n
quickly brought to bear to add to their t -
rible capabilities. The never ceasing struw2 le
for the ascendancy in fighting strength which
goes on among the nations has hurried us on
and on in this matter. No sooner is one im-
provement in battle ships or their armament
adopted than something yet more deadly is
discovered by some ingenious foreigner, a-.d
the British brain again goes to work to de-
sign a still subtler construction and the
British pocket is opened to purchase it. Thus
millions on millions are spentby the Govet it-
ments of the great. powers in simply keeping
pace with each other. Great superseded ships
lie idly in the harbours of England and
other nations, to-day r:garded as almost
useless, which but a few years back were
looked on as perfect. As each new wonder
of engineering skill has taken the place of
its overmatched predecessor, the question f
when the end would come has presented it-
self to the thoughtful observer. And, judg-
ing from the past, who could give a satis-
factory reply? Just now.public attention lin
been especially turned to our ships of w.r.
't
Admiral Hornby's Evolutionary • Squad] on
gathers together a fleet of destructive nu e-
sters such as would have filled the victor ( f
Trafalgar with amazement. Instead of the
'magnificent three-decker with her imposing
lines of death-dealing guns, we have torpeCo
rams without a single mast, and hulls star-
in but but a yard and half above the wave.
Talcieg the formidable Pholvphemus as tte
type nf th., highest achievement in this cl: ss
of naval ar_hitectare, we may see in it a
tray ful onrcome of combined sittCy,
invention, andskill. But when we refic et
with horror upon the destructive capabilities
.of a vesel like this, we are reminded ant
. ever y Government of Europe is 'engaged IL
the manuracture of similar monstrous cc n -
structions. Great guns of one hundred a
ten tone weight are being tumed out at
WoAwic' , intended. to fire a projectile of t ws)
thousand pounds, and requiring a cliarg, t:f
half as much weight in gunpowder. o
ship•gans. designed for placing on board H.
M.S. l3enbow, are fearful to contempinte.

Than there are some improved 63-ton -gnus
which will send a thirteen-and-a-quarter slut
through twenty-seven inches of wrought
iron armour at a distance of a thousand yar.'s.
the devasting powers of new torpedoes
which our Government authorities have been
-experimenting-wi th at Sheerness are well nigh
indiscrihable. The adoption of these diabo:i-
.
ell missies by all the countries of Europe,
and their cons ant improvements, has led
to the employment of a torpedo net to inter-
cept their pro. ress And no sooner has an
ingenious in of hanging out all round a
gut-A,
ship of Nar an arranement capable of t
asid the t, rrible tuTedo come into use-
• than it is discovered that the whola
ing curtain of close steel rings can be ren-
dered valuele ;s by firing one torpedo behind
another with a certain fotee, the first to
damage the n t, and the second to dash
throngh at the .lamaged point and speed on
ond pierce the site of the ship beyond. Time
was when, for some considerable period,
nations were able to keep secret from one
-another the modus .operandi, of their !advance-
-wants in their powers of offence and defem.e
but that in these days Of swift intercom-
munication, is a thing of the past. -- So scien-
tific has the equipment for naval Warfare 11-2-
co.a, and so general is now the knowledge
0-! that science, that superiority is more a
gre:tion of the largest treasury than
thing else. In this partienlat, Erigh nds fin-
ant;al greatness- and her spirit of natural
enterprise would sfll keep her .in the van,
awl Britannia core inite to he Empress of the
Sas. But what of the cost P Somehow, no
matter how low their ekelieinei.s may be,
countries .161 by hook or crook, find the
m•-mey for the munitions of war, even at the
expolise of neglecting all the rest of their
national obligations. '-'0.13 may well ask again
in atted, h•--w will these tYngs end ?If the
'eaca -Seciety coel I sel cc the problem for
us, what an ineitii-nabl 3 boon they would
confer up& the world ! Bat we are com-
pelled to confess to ourselves that, spite of
the progreTs oE Christianity and civilisation,
the time seems far distant when the netions
of the earth shall learn war no more. When
th:, question of perpetual' armament has
grown more end more puzzling, however, and
its satisfactory solution less and lege likely,
we hail a ray of light from a new and unex-
peeted direction. It is the discovery of a
novel protection for ships which has been ex-
perimented upon by French experts just
lately. If th;s "cofferdam" of cocannt cella-
losL, pulverised and in fibre fulfils the promise
i: g,v already, we mazy yet see an aband-
onmJnt casting of giant guns and the
m kin -s. If this buoyant natural
prod, ..ffering the resistance
'•on of the arsenal
7eens let, the
cocoa-
and