Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-04
THE FUTURE WARSHIP
EFFECT OF WAR ON BRITISH
BUILDING PLAN.
High Speed Battleships With Guns. of
Enormous Power Projected for
Coming Fights.
From the Scientific American.

From the Scientific American.
As the ally of Japan. Great Britain is
probably in possession of the facts as to
the behavior of the ships and general war
materiei of the Japanese navy in the pres
ent war and hence the naval program for
the present year, as far as il has been
made known by the British government,
may be accepted embodying. in tie d.s-
tinctIy novel features of the ships to be
laid down, many of the lessons that have
been learned. These changes are exactly
those which the Scientific American has
predicted would be brought about as a re-
suit of the war. namely. a great increase
in gun power. and corresponding increase
In speed. Dealing first with the battle
ship 0he foundation upon which a navy is
built UP. and around which its various eie-
ments are gatheredD we note that the Brit
lsh admiralty are to lay down a vessel
which. II IL proves to be satisfactory will
become the standard type of the battleship
for probably a decade to come. In the first
place. the speed is to be that which only a
few years ago was the standard speed for
armored cruisers, namely, twenty-one
knots-ian hour. This would be a remark
able battleship speed. even if sacrifices
were made In the armor protection and
the batteries: but as matter of fact in
spites of the high speed adopted. the ship
will be considerably larger and more pow
tTIully armed imam any DdLJleSiHD DUH or
building today. exceeding even the Lord
Nelson" type of last year which on dis
placement of 1880 tons Is to carry four
12-inch and ten 9.2-inch guns.
The New Ship.
The new ship will mount a battery of
ten Pinch guns. each OF which will have
muzzle energy of about 10000 foot-Ltons.
All of these guns will be carried in turrets
upon the main deck. There will be no inter-
mediate battery: but for defense against
tOrpedo-boat attack. the new ship will be
fairly alive with high-veIocity 3-inch guns,
of which she will probably carry not less
than two three dozen. Steam will be
supplied entirely by water-tube boilers. and
she will be driven by Parson steam tur-
bineS of 23,00 horsepower. The embod-
ment of such speed and gun power neces-
sarily Implies a great increase In the dis
placement which in the new type ship
will be not less than $4,000 tons. The great
powers of attack of this vessel can be
best understood by a comparison with the
two next most powerful battleships in the
world. the British Lord Nelson and
own Connecticut; for while the total en-
ergy of single broadside from the Con-
necticut is 29T0G0 foot-tons, and that of
the Lord Nelson" 312,C00 foOt-tons. the
seven 12-inch guns of the new batueship
which can be brought to bear on either
broadside will have total muzzle energy
of about 100000 foot-tons. This is the en-
ergy at the muZzle. but since the big gun
nOidS ltS energy longer IMAM the SuldiieT
gun. II follows that at long battle ranges
at which the enga gements of the present
have been fought. say three to six
miles, broadside from the new type~of
battleShip, If every shot got home on the
enemy, would have about 20 per cent more
striking energy than the broadside of the
Connecticut. and about 30 per cent more
than that of the Lord Nelson Further
more because of her excess of speed OF
about three knots an hour. she would have
the weather gage" and could choose the
distance and the position that would be
most favorable to herself.
Armored Cruisers
A similar increase In speed and power Is
to be made In the new design of British
armored cruisers. of which four to be
built. With their turbine engines they are
expected to realize a speed of twenty-five
kuots an hour. AS in the battieships, the
six-inch gun will disappear and with 1t the
port casemate method of mounting the gun;
and a powerful armament of ten or twelve
92-inch guns will be carried on the main
deck. all of them with turrets. Like the
battleship, these vessels will have the
weather gage of any armored cruisers
atioat on the high seas: moreover, as the
92-inch gun Is to be 30 calibers in length.
Its high velocity and great carrying power
will render these armored cruisers a match
for many of the smaller and Older battle
ships. that armed with short-caliber
L.
could. for instance. circle around the bat
tleship Iowa at range at which the
chances of scoring a hit with the low-ve-
locity Pinch guns on that ship would be
rather remote, and because Of the fiat ira
jectory of her own 5o-caliber 92-inch guns
she would be capable, did she carry first
class gunners, of placing her shots with
telling effect. Just here, as showing the
rapid strides made by modern gunnery. we
may mention that the 92-inch 5O-caliber
gun of this cruiser has about the same
muzzle energy as the 35-caliber Pinch gun
of the Iowa. and of course much fatter
trajectory. These four armored cruisers
will constitute a squadron, whose 2o-knot
speed Will enable them to refuse battle to
the modern battleships: close with any
battIeships armed with 30 or 35-caliber
pieces and. by virtue of their long-range
guns have the battleships at a great dis
advantage.
No Unprotected Glass.
In the new British destroyers an even
greater relative Increase in speed Is pro-
posed Two classes are to be built. one for
work Off the coasts. and the other for du-
ties on the high seas. As in the case of
the battleship. type vessel. to be followed
by others IL It proves satisfactory, will be
built. and the estimated speed. with turbine
engines. Is SO knots an hour. This speed
Is to be mere racecourse achievement,
run over a measured mile under favorable
conditions: for the 80 knots an hour trial
speed must be maintained over distance
of nearly 200 knots or for period of eight
hours continuous steaming Five destroy
ers will also be built which must maintain
a speed OF 33 knots an hour for period of
eight hours. The coast destroyers. of which
a dozen are to be constructed. are to have
q speed of % knots hour.
1t is significant that In this program
there Is no mention made OF the building of
cruisers OF the unprotected class, and here
in the Scientific American finds further
verihcation of its stated belief that the
torpedo boat destroyer will grow in size I'M
til Ii has rendered the unprotected cruiser
or scout superfuous type. The new a.
knot ships will probably be OF not less than
1000 tons displacement. and will combine
in themselves the qualities both of the
scout and the DESTROYER