Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-09-03

mounted on a deck below, hinders the
accurate sighting Of the turret guns n
bove.
Mobility Of forces Is the necessity Of
war, and the greater the mobility the
greater the chance to gain a strategic
advantage. This Is represented In speed
and fuel endurance. The tremendous
speed Of the big ship-twenty- knots.
turbine -driven-mekes every battleship
existent crawling tortoise. In action
fleet Of Dreadnoughts can refuse or ac-
cept battle: they can choose their own
range and control the rate Of change OF
range-of great import in present-day
shootinR-and by means of their excess
sive speed full advantage can be taken
of the weather conditions favoring their
own gunnre.
While tho tremendous power of concen-
tratton Invested in the ten twelve-inch
guns of Drea dnought Is the prime rea-
son for the creation of this new type OF
fghting craft. Its cost Is much less than
four little ships having the same power.
IT costs no more to maintain the big
ship than the small-roundly. million
n year. Nor does It require q greater
number OF officers to man II. In fact. 1t
does for oil the guns OF the Missouri.
and the big ship could easily destroy
three Mssouris.
A perfect fleet OF Dreadnoughts, foot
loose because OF their speed, would main
tain the balance of power and the peace
which follows, In combat such ships
would conquer without wasting a single
shot Secure In tho protection OF i'm
pregnable armor. one Of them could de-
scend on her adversaries and. with tho
concentrated fire OF her ten harl-hitting
guns, hammer the little ships to tho
point OF humiliation or surrender. Her
perfect fire control would never permit
| n miss. Silently sweeping across the sea.
| her pointers following the enemy in the
| crosswires of their sights, her guns high
| above sea and spray, would see the weak
| spot of the enemy and BY continuous
| pounding, silence his heavier guns.
In the battle of Tsushi!na, Russian
| prestige was swept into the lockers OF
| the past In one afternoon. The work OF
| the Dreadnoughts Ia more humane-one
hour and n half would have ended the
battle and made the signal for the hos
pital ships. Verify the destinies OF ma
| lions seem to lie in the hands OF those
| who hold the twelve-inch gun as born In
these new destroyers.
| The Hague has not yet become the ar
bitter OF peace. There Is peace abroad
because of the powers of the British
| Dreadnoughts. Brazil. increasing her
strength with three great ships, becomes
| the force in South America. Japan Is
rising in spite OF her reputed poverty
! IN her shipyards little brown men rivet
and hammer on the hulls which are TO
be tho bulwarks of tho Rising Sun.
In 1911 the flag OF tho Mikado will ny
over seven Dreadnoughts and nine
Dreadnought cruisers The United States
| will then command four real big ships and
| the two Michgans-a Dreadnought COM
| promise. Great Britain will add cight
| improved Dreadnoughts TO her navy and
four of the same type OF cruisers, each
carrying eight twelve-inch guns and
maintaining continuous sea speed OF
| twentyfour knots. a feat performed by
the Indomitable OF the Same class. italy
Is building a 19.0OO-ton ship.
| France. once the leader IN naval con-
| struction. secure in tho entente cordiale.
has so far done nothing IN the way Of
practical realization OF the ''all-big-gun
ship principle. Her navy. split by dis
| sensions and socialism, has fallen from
second place to fifth.