The Irish standard., 1906-12-01
TRICKS THEM ALL;
England Has the Lead by Ten
Years Over
All the Other Nations in Ship
Building.

| Amusement unbounded has been
created in London by the extraordinary:
revelations regarding the secret build
ms of three huge, swift battleships'
for the British navy. 1t has been so
unusual hitherto for the naval and
military authorities Of Great Britain to
keep anything up their sleeves that
their new policy of discreet reticence
is regarded with surprise.
| II will be remembered what storm,
of Indignation was created through
out the country at the suggestion to
stop the building Of one of the pro-
posed new Dreadnoughts. Think of
the satisfaction felt here now when
| it transpires that the three n1ysteri-
GUS "armored cruisers" now approach
ing completion on the Clyde and at
! Eiswick and being 100 far advanced to
preserve the secret any longer, are not
cruisers at all. but hattleships every bit
as powerful as those of the Dread
nought type, and great deal faster.
| The weight of these new engines of
| 11,1oo tons or LAO tons heavier than
the Dreadnought the displacement,
1880 tons, or $50 less than the Dread
nought: length $50 feet, against the 400
feet of the Dreadnought; breadth, 1914
feet; mean draught, Is feet.
The new vessels. which will be
name1 the lnvinctble, the Inflexible and
the Indumitable, are to mount the new
est tyne of 12inch gun, the same wea-
pom AS the Dreadnoughts and will
have neither the ?.2-inch nor the rs
inch or 6-inch weapons hitherto car
ried In armored cruisers. Each of these
ships is to carry eight of the new 12-
inch guns. The Dreadncught has ten,
SO tina, on the face OF things these three
later vessels are two guns weaker.
| This, however. is not really the case.
Rroadside fire is the standard by which
battleships are judged. The Dread
|
on broadside. and, owing to an i'm
proved method adopted i'll the three
vessels of what may he styled the
swift Dreadnought type" they will
bring exactly the same number of guns
to bear on the enemy on either beam.
No existing battleship, excluding the
l 1S,n, ,er1,k of I,,,;,,
than four of it's biggest guns ON to
broadside, and 1t is held that only
big guns will count in battle.
In the Invincible, the Inf'exihle and
the Indomitahle the guns will he dis
posed of as follows: Four in two bar
bettes, fore and aft on the line Of the
keel, as in all existing battleships. with
d. training arc enabling them to be used
on either side: four in two barbettes
placed Ell echelon in the center of
the ship SO as to bear on either beam,
or ahead or astern. 1t will be seen
that mounting eight guns in this man
ner each of these vessels will have the
fire ahead>or astern Of six of these big
guns. and will be able to bring eight
| the whole armament. TO bear either on
port or starbcard. Consequently their
fire in chasing will be as heavy as the
head or astern fire of any three for
eign hattleships. while OH the beam II
will be equal to any two. Moreover,
the new British 12--iuch gun is far
more powerful than any weapon car
ried in any rival fleet.
Whereas the Dreadnought has been
built. for sped of twenty-one knots,
these three new ships are designed to
steam at twenty-five knots. and may
reach twenty-seven on their trials.
They will be the swiftest armored ships
in the world. with speed nine knots
greater than any batteship of the Ger
man, French or American fleet. Apart
from the remarkable differences in
speed. these ships will carry more coal
and oil. and will presumably have a
greater radius of action. They will
carry in addition to their 12-inch guns
a numhet Of smaller pieces for repell-
ins torpedo attacks, and in the con-
struction of the hulls the same prnci-
pie will be adopted as in the case of
the Dreadnought. They will, however
be less heavily armored, and the saving
effected in protection is being utilized
for far more powerful turbines than
the Dreadnoughts Admiral Sir Ed
mund Frementle. discussing the result
of the trials Of the Dreadnousht, did
not display much enthusiasm. He ad-
n,itted that it was satisfactory that the
turbines worked so we'll that the great
i battleship attained so high a. rate OF
speed and that there was SO little VI
bration.
But don't think 1t Is of much use
having one ship Of great speed if we
| don't have more Evidently she is moi