The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-07-01
NAVY.
a French Expert Says That Great
Britain's First Glass Ships
Are All Worthless.
DOES SHE RULE THE. WAVES7
They Gan Be Easily Sunk Like the
Victoria By Attacking the
Unarmored Parts.

:. The loss Of the British warship Vic
toria with 400 men brings into startling
prominence the question which every
maritime power has been secretly asking
ever since the bombardmsnt of Alex
andria-is England mistress Of the seas?
Put roughly, the English feet, not
counting admittedly antiquated and USE
less vessels, repre- sents an expenditure Of
4e5l, 100000 for about seventy shipe. The
navy has been built and is continued on
the theory that England must have q
force at sea somewhat greater than that
Of any other two maritime powers It is
for this the English taxpayers have given
their money, and the loss of the Victoria
following upon the disgraceful showing
made IN the jubilee maneuvers seems to
justify the statement that not more than
half of this money has been wisely
spent ss
The Victoria was built upon plans that
represented the best work of the Eng
lish naval constructors. It is an ad-
mitted fact, indeed it was subject Of
parliamentary inquiry, that the plans Of
the Victoria, the Conqueror and the Nile
were privately sold by British officers to
the United States, to Fr nee and to Ger
many. These plans were carefully studied
and unanimously condemned by both
American and French experts, who could
find in them nothing that could be pru-
IDENTIFY used in the construction Of the
new ships of either nation. !.
h Our battleships were built after delib-
crate rejection 'of the theories and results
Of the British admiralty's work, and in
France the Hoche, the Magent8, the
Morceau and the Neptune are each be-
lieved by all naval men outside the Brit
ieh navy to be greatly superior to such
vessels as the Victoria, the Bsnbow and
the other English battleships Of the
first-c class.
Here, for instance, is report made to
the French sdmiralty in June, 1890, by
Lieutenant F. P. Courtois and printed
by Figaro:
There are six classes of vessels in the
modern British navy which may be taken
seriously into account.
The Hector, Valiant, Black Prince
Warrior, Defense, Resistance. These are
old-model ships with armored belt at
water line. incomplete in protection.
The Northumberland, Minotaur, Agin.
court, Achilles, Bellorephon, Repulse
Penelope. These are old-model ships
but with complete, although very thin
armored. belt at water line.
The Monarch, Swiftsure, Triumph
Sultan, Audacious, Invlncible, Iror
Duke, Hercules. These are transition
model ships with complete armored belt
The Dreadnaught, Devastation, Nep
tune, Thunderer, Hotspur, Rupert, Tenn
erarie, Alexandra, Belle Isle, Orion, Su
pe1b. These are transition-model shipt
with complete, thick armored belt.
The Agamemnon, the Ajax, the Infexi
BILE, the Colossus, the Edinburgh, thu
Benbow, the Auron, the Camperdown
the Collingwood, the Bowe, the Rodney
the Victoria, the Sanspareil. These ar
new model ships, with very small but
thick armor belt.
The Hero, the Conqueror, the Nile, tht
Trafalgar. These are new-model, incom
plete armored ships,
Except in case Of direct need the Eng
lish admiralty would not think Of fight
ing the first thirteen battleships described
as "old model They would require new
engines and practically new armament
They are not in any effective sense sea
going, and in confronting modern pro
iectilee they would at once disappear
Their own officers admit the inferioritJ
Of this type. even TO the oheaply buil
Italian models. The transition mode
includes the fifteen most formidable yes
sells ID the English navy, 1nasmucn 9.
these battleehips have at least 9 scien
tiffc il insufficient protection against ram
ming, ana formidable projectiles. Will
new armament, arranged especially fol
modern attack, and with moro powerfu
engines these vessels are practically
equal to the French ships Of the sam,
class, ship for ship,
no SCIENTIFIC PRoTRcTIoN.
Id the new model all attempt at scion
tihc armor protection has been aban
doned, and these seyente vessels which
have cost England over two shnndret
millions lfrancsl are the most costly, mi
s the most inefft ffteetiiyle ships u