The Detroit times., 1908-11-07
s350,000,O00 BEING.
SPENT BY ENGLAND
ON NAVY
PLANS TO HAVE NAVY STRONG
Err THAN ANY TWO NATIONS
IN THE woRLp-AwFuL SUR
DEN OF TAX.

| LONDON, Nov. THE naval pro-
gram OF the British admiralty Is bag
ed upon the theory that, 10 maintain
us supremacy Upon the sea, the Brit
ism fieet must be twice as strong az
that or Germany and equal to that OF
Germany and France, or any other
TWO nations combined. To carry out
TINS program, whenever Germany lays
the keel OF battle ship or q cruiser
Great Britain lays the keels of two
and In doubling the construction plans
OF Germany will be involved In an
expenditure of $4,000 900 or more
Tor new ships during the next few
years and an indefinite sum In .addI.
ton To provide the stores, the ssap
plies and the men that this scheme or
naval expansion will necessarily re-
quire. This Is what the British adj
miralty calls the "two-power stand.
ard" and II means that the navy must
be maintained OF size and strength
that will enable II to conquer the
next two strongest powers In the
world combined.
7 In view OF the fact that Germany
has laid the keels or ordered the CON
struction of ten armored ships OF the
largest size and most powerful arma-
ment, the British government has un-
der construction or has ordered "a
battleships and cruisers of the Dread
nought and Indomitable classes. which
all naval experts concede are the most
formidable fighting machines that hu-
man genius has ever designed. On
me tenth OF September the eighth bait
tie ship OF this class took to the w.
ter at Portsmouth. II was christened
the ST. Vincent. and two more. the
Colllngwood at Davenport. and the
vanguard mt Barrow. almost exactly
duplicates, will be launched during
the next few weeks, making ten bat.
Tie ships OF the Dreadnought type ala
ready afioat In British waters.
The keel of the Foudroyant was
laid down on the stocks at Ports.
mouth as soon as the st. Vincent left
them, and Will be ready for launching-
IN October, 1903. The st. Vincent win
DE ready Tor commission In about
year. IL was a year and a day on the
stocks.
The st. Vincent is considerable,
ahead OF the Dreadnought, and the
Foudroyant will be considerably in
advance OF the St. Vincent. having :
greater displacement, greater speed
-
heavier armament
Each of the three vessels will be
armed with ten 12-inch guns. but those
now under consideration for the Foud-
royant will be five feet longer than
those which are being mounted upon
the st. Vincent. The Dreadnought has
three 12-pounders In addition. the St
Vincent will have four 25-pounders and /.
the Foudroyant Will have 10 25-pound-
ers besides certain newly devised pro-
lection against the attacks of torpe-
does.
The British navy has adopted a new
type of gun which is being mounted }
upon the st. Vincent Since the adop-
ton of the breech-loading principle
the admiralty has had built no guns
with larger bore than IL inches.
That has been considered sufficient
for all purposes. The original 12-inch
guns weighed 40 tons and were 81
feet long, whereas the guns of the
Dreadnought and the other new bat
tie ships weigh So tons, and are 46
feet long The guns OF the Foudroy-
ant will have bore of 1876 inchoGs
will weigh Go tons and be forty-eight 3
feet long.
Ii is believed also that the annual
additions to the British navy viii con
tlnue indefinitely after the years nam
ed, SO that In 1914 the British 6eet
will comprise "A vessels OF the Dread
nought type and better. with 10 arm
ored cruisers of the Indomitabls type
or better, Is cruisers and 1l0 destroy
ers, that will be- capable OF maintain
John Bulls supremacy as a marine
power This will be an enormous bur-
den on the British people. but the
bill will be referred to future genera
tions for payment. Negotiations are
already In progress for loan to car
ry out the present program. The rsvs
enues Of the government are only sus-
fcient for the ordinary fixed charges
and the proposed fleet must be paid
for with borrowed money-by the is-
sue of bonds, chargeable to the nett
generation. The approximate cost Of
the program already adopted, 40 Civ
en- above. is as follows:
"a battle ships .....sL,.. f44oso.0oe
arnored, cruisers 49,. 11.00Q.00o
IL cruisers .........-.... 4SvUv0 4
96 deStroyers ............ s,oVVVV~X
Submarines testimated) :. ESQ 80,