The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1908-07-22
Increasing Cost OF Battleships.


tleship which is to be as far super
ior to the Dreadnough as the Dread
nought is superior to the best Of
the old class she superseded. Of
course England building such a
warship, we shall have to do the
same. The question OF cost in these
monsters of the sea is what is Of
greatest interest about them to non
naval men, especially at this time,
when our national treasury shows
deficit that becomes larger each
year. This question is brought to
public attention in a recent issue OF
Golfers.
When the Dreadnought was laid
down. only three years ago. 1t was
said that she would reduce all exist
ing battleships 10 the scrap heap
The st. Vincent, begun at the end OF
last December. was said by British
naval authority in burst of rather
tropical enthusiasm to be infinitely
superior to the Dreadnought. In
fnitely' in that case probably meant
about 20 per cent. Now the London
Telegraph asserts that a new type
is to be laid down to eclipse the ST.
Vincent.
The Dreadnought is of 1900
tons and the St. Vincent Of 1920.
The new monster is expected 10
reach $1,000. But size is to be one
Of the least Of her dIstions. She
is to go back to 13.5-inch guns,
abandoned in the British navy for al
ships begun within the past seven
teen years. The modern twelve
inch 5S-ton gun, firing an S5V-pouno
, projectile at 1900 feet per second
, has muzzle energy over one-thlTe
greater than that developed by cre
of the 1875 inch 69-ton guns Of tht
+ Royal Sovereign. y Hhich fires l,Z3t
, pound shell at 2,016 feet per sec
!. ond and it will pierce II inch
. es of Krupp steel armor at thre1
! thousand yards, while th" Roya
Sovereign's guns will pierre onl,
G eleven inchs. The size of guns oscl
4 lates from age to age. Four nun
y dred years ago the Turks had som
o that would have held Mr.. TAFT II
: comfort. They used to fire ston
r, cannon balls that weighed six hun
o dred pounds apiece. Then the piece
grew smaller for ease Of handling
n and when better methods OF hano
s ling wre invented they grew large
. again. At one time the Italian nav
Y had guns of II inches, firing shell
;s that weighed a ton apiece. Th
o last American battlehips to carr
;. 13-inch guns were the Alabama, Ill
. nois, and Wisconsin, launched te
: years ago. The largest since ths
is are the 12-inch. Now it seems ths
@ bigger weapons are to be in fash1o
Y, again.
II A still NOR remarkable innovatio
:. in the new British ship is to be th
. use of gas engines making funne
II unnecessary. Among other adVantas
es, this will remove the teluptati:'
20 for ca::.:lcss Drscns in airsh:rs
ID drop bombs down the smoakstaci
,e Max Pemberton equipped his Ire
10 Pirate with gas engines fifteen yeal
o ago, predicting that this woud be tt
IS motive power for the fleets Of the fl
ir ture-another illustrationd. like
,e many in the. career of Jules Vern
,e of the superiority of fiction over fac
,r The gas engine threatens to end tt
RI reign of the turbine before it hs
Is fairly begun.
E 1t is estimated that the propose
d British super-Dreadnought will CO..
something like s12.500,00o. {
J. course she could not be duplicate
rs in this country for less than SIS
,e 100000, and if we take the lead
t. the competition with 25,Oo0-ton shil
+ as Mr.. Hobson suggests, we mu
I. be prepared to pay at least 0,000
= O00, apiece for them. And about tt
10 same time $4,000 flying machi1
2. may send them al to the Museum
q Observation-Disclosures Herald.