The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-10-30
sArrLssAlps OF TOMORROW.

struetion Of the $4,000 Ton Battle
ship Probable. M
The coming OF the Dreadnoughts, as
all the world knows, has meant
complete revolution in naval con-
struction. In the opinion of most
naval officers the future is to the
Power which possesses most of these
ships and can use them we'll writes
II. w. Wilson In the London Daily
Mail.
Ii will be of interest, then, in view
of the pause which has been made
during the present year in ship
building to examine how the British
navy stands i'm this latest type of
ship and what are the designs likely
to be adopted in the near future.
large battleship and It will scarcely
go back. Nor would II be wise to do
so in view of the fact that almost all
foreign Powers are faithfully copy
ing British designs.
For the present year two monster
ships-a battleship and a cruiser
have been voted. The battleship, con-
trary to the reports circulated will be
similar in all important respects to
the st. Vincents. That is to say she
will displace 19,2O0 tons or there
abouts, will carry ten or twelve IL
inch guns, and will be propelled by
turbine engines actuated by steam.
Thus she will make up the group OF
four st. Vincents, and when she is
completed for sea the British navy
will possess two groups each four
strong of all big gun battleships. The
other vessel will resemble the Irwin
cibles, with improvements, and will
complete the group of four 20 knot
cruiser battleships.
So much for the present. 1t will
be seen that there is nothing sensa-
tional In the design of the ships for
this year which are meant to fill
gaps in the existing organization. But
next year II Is possible that there
may be new and startling departures.
From hints which ministers and 9TH
ers have dropped, the Admiralty will
be compelled to ask for not fewer
than five monster battleships. More
may be needed. but this must neces-
sarily depend ON the progress which
foreign ships make In the next few
months.
Germany II must be remembered
has today building or sanctioned sew
en- battleships of Dreadnought type
against the British eight and two,
or possibly three, cruisers of the In
vincible type against the British
four) And under her fixed program
she will lay down three more mons
ter cruiser next year, the battleships,
1t is believed, displacing $1,000 tons
or even more. A British program OF
FIVE battleships and one monster ar
mored cruiser would bring the Bri.
tish total of Dreadnoughts up TO only
eighteen, as against the German to-
tai of thirteen or fourteen. The Bri-
! tish margin OF four or five ships,
which ii would give, would be far
less than what the strict two Power
standard demands.
The new ship will not improbably
carry a new monster gun, the 1876
inch, eight or ten of which may be
mounted, and viii thus carry out the
policy Of ''out-Dreadnoughting the
Dreadnought." One or two OF these
guns, according TO report, have been
building for some months, and the
employment OF them in the st. Vim
cent class is known TO have been
considered and only reluctantly
fldential but the German naval hand.
books will supply the public with
what is certainly AN intelligent guess
and possibly accurate information
According to them the new 1875 incl
gun will weigh sc tons, or nearly 81
tons more than the existing IL incl
weapon, will be about 81 feet long
md viii fire a shell weighing abou
800 pounds or 1,400 pounds, al
against the IL inch shells $50 pounds
such huge proiectlles would pierce
i've feet of iron and tear their wa!
through the best modern armor a
battle range.
To mount guns of the size ant
length so that they will be able Il
fire on either broadside is a matte
of extreme difficulty so long as fun
nels remain But there Is some hop
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 funne
above water to discharge the vast
products of combustion and there
the bare possibility that produce
gas engines might be adopted. Tn
firm of Vickers-MaXim has prepare
designs for battleships driven b
producer gas, and II is understoo
that IL is ready TO turn out Dread
nought using gas forthwith II II find
any power adventurous enough I
try such an experiment. The Ad
, mlralty, however, is not at all likel
to install the gas engine in battle
ships until II has been thorough