Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1908-10-17
!. Battleshlps Of Tomorrow. :.
EngIand'S DreadnoughtS and Her
Coming Designs,
Two Monster Ships Begun This Year. One Batteshp Of s2O0
Tons With Turbine EnginesEarIy Construction Of
the $4,000 Ton BattIsshlp Probable

ship, new type, built rapidly and
tested with the object of gaining eX
perience for a new class which will
figure in the programs Of 1910 and
1911. Here much will obviously de-
pend on the action of foreign Powers
and whether the reports prove cor
rect which credit the German Ad'
miralty with the intention of build
ing vessels far larger and more pow.
erfulIy armed than any yet designed,
If such an experimental ship is to
be built with great speed to obtain
experience the orders for her guns,
barbettes and machinery will be given
we'll in advance, before she is ever
voted, and they may. be placed in the
summer or autumn of the present
year. The same course was followed
in the case of the Dreadnought.
The new ship will not improbably
carry a new monster gun, the 1856
inch, eight or ten Of which may be
mounted, and will thus carry out the
policy of ut-Dreadnoughting the
Dreadnought." One or two of these
guns, according to report, have beer
building for some months, and the
employment of them in the St. Vim
cent class is known to have been con-
sidered and only reluctantly aban'
doned. All the details are conflden'
tial, but the German naval handbooks
will supply the public with what IL
certainly an intelligent guess and pos
sibly accurate information. Accord
ing to them the new 135-inch gun
will weight eighty-six tons, or near.
ly thirty tons more than the existing
12-inch weapon; will be about fifty
two feet long, and will fire a shell
weighing about 1900 pounds or 400
pounds, as against the 12-inch shells
$50 pounds. Such huge pro1ectiles
would pierce five feet of iron and
tear their way through the best mod
ern armor at battle range.
To mount guns of the size and
length so that they will be able to
fire on either broadside is matter
of extreme difficulty so long as fun
nels remain. But there is some hope
of getting rid of them and thus CIV
ing a clear field of fire. The Belle
Vile Company is said to be design
ing a boiler which needs no funnel
above water to discharge the waste
products of combustion and there is
the bare possibility that producer gas
engines might be adopted. The firm
of Vickers-Maxim has prepared de-
signs for battleships driven by pro-
Queer gas, and it is understood that it
is ready to turn out Dreadnought
using gas forthwith If it finds any
Power adventurous enough to try
such an experiment. The Admiralty.
however, is not at all likely to install
the gas engine in battleships until II
has been thoroughly tried in mer.
chantmen and smaller cruisers. But
that it will finally come may be taken
as certain.
The British battleship of 1910 may
thus be a vessel of $4,000 tons
mounting eight or ten S6-tons guns
which will be so arranged as to fire
on either broadside. She will re-
semble the new Brazilian ships in
carrying twenty 4.7-inch or 6-inct
guns for defense against torpedo at
tack, and will thus be exempt from
the most serious failing of the origin.
al Dreadnought-the entire absence
of a medium battery.-New YorB
Sun.