The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-06-25

yard dry dock. The four guns seen r
forward ones are 13-incll; the otht
finished In 1896 None OF the others
dates back further than 1893, eight are
less than five years old and seven Will
be brand new when they take the sea-
This means that while our batueshp
array does not compare imposingly In
numbers with Great Britain's stupendous
line of more than seventy OF all classes
OF bhttleships, 1t does compare crafty
iingly we'll In pointsof modernity and cor
respondinglyg& high efficiency; for less
that twelve of her greatest battleships
are as new as fifteen OF ours.
Tho American battleship fleet OF 1908
will be capable OF the widest action al
most as a unit With the exception Of
the Texas, our weakest battlcship Is
still powerful enough to stay In any
fight that the strongest can take up. In
speed the entire fleet could stay together
in cruise OF 1000 miles ut sixteen
knots which would leave the Indiana
only slightly astern in a "a hours
run, for her speed is little less than
sixteen. The fastest vessels. OF the Vir-
ginta type. are to develop nineteen or
more at top speed.
Problernatical Elements.
1t would be foolish to affirm that they
are perfect. There are problematical ele-s
ments in the best of tho American battle
ships that may prove aunfavorable in the
sudden test Of severe service.
Opinions still differ, for instance. as
to the superlmposed turat :'cs.Ea of the
Kentucky and kearsage class with their
great turrets, each bearing two S-inch.
5cannons built on top of other turrets
4 hat hold y twp 4 3-inch guns. $500
The idea that led to- this, design was
to give all the ships great guns a free
range forward or astern. Before that,
the attempt had been made to achieve
this by training the S-nch guns from
another part Of the ship SO that in case
Of necessity their projectiles could be
fired over the top of the 13-inch gun
turrets but 1t was found that the blast
OF the S-inch battery made the sighting
hoods of the 13-inch turrets untenable.
The Importance OF giving all the big
guns aboard ship free range ahead or
8astern Is growing greater with each year.
OF naval advance, for. the objectRof each
modern ship is to engage the enemy as
soon as gun can redch and therefore
the fight opens head on while the ships
are still approaching.
The supermposed turrets achieve this
radius OF range: but the objection to
on the same line. whereas 1t might be
desirable. in sea fight to train the
heavier guns on the armor belt of an
enemy's waterline while the lighter guns
played against some other part Of the
hostile ship, or even against another
Snip.
Again. it is likely that should the,
lower turret be disabled, the upper turret
with the two s-inch guns would be out
~ t.,y,t ton ~ ,uh {t- a,,t
might be perfect.
These are serious objections; but the
decision to try the superlmposed turret
was reached only after all these points
had been considered If 1t is an ex-
pertinent, 1t Is one that was not made
lightly
[ Have They Enough Powder?
Another objection to the new battle
ships being urged by some OF our naval
experts Is that batteries of seven and
S-inch guns are too light for the modern.
first-class. sea going coast line battle
ship. Great Britain is arming her new
ships with 0-nch guns and It Is being
urged that none of our new great ships
smaller than that BECAUSE the ranges
at which future sea fights are likely
to be fought preclude the effective use
of lighter cannon.
Extreme opinion In American technical
minds is that we should arm the battle
ships Of the New Hampshirestype with
10-inch guns throughout Or even with
l2-nch guns in their entire main bat
teries,
But neither Of these matters imncr.anl
though 1t may be. il OF nature that
would make our battle line radically de-
fcctive.
There Is. nothing in them so grave as
the allegation Just raised In Great Britain
that the great wire wound guns which
are the adopted form OF British main
battery armament arc SO ineffective rs
to render fifteen British battleships prac-
tlcally unfit for service.
1t is known, too, that many Of the most
powerful British cruisers have not full
armament OF modern steel guns ana that
some vessels actually still carry smooth
bores, or did a couple of years ago, owing
to delay In supplying the ordinance for
Which they were designed,
Tho canmito,is failure OF the famous
110-ton guns on the British battleshps
of the first class Is still fresh In tho
minds of naval authorities. The doubts
that have been cast on the French
Nays true efficiency also remain to be
cleared away satisfactorily There WAS
something grave the matter with the
ships In all probability.
No Serious Problem,
There apparently Is no such serious
problem In tho United States Navy
So much for actual conditions. Now
how will our newest type OF hattleship
compare with tho best OF tho foreign
nations, at least on paper and theoret-
ically, assuming that wisdom OF design and
skill In construction Will be tho sans
in Al--;4 generous assumption which cer-