The morning journal-courier. (New Haven, Conn.) 1907-1913, 1908-08-28


spring Of next year with the Dread.
nought they will form an almost ho- /
mogeneous group II four battleshlps
In 1907 three more battloships, the
81 Vincent, collingwood and Van
guard, were voted, 1t Is said that
they will generally resemble In de-
sign the remarkable Brazilian battle
ship, model Of which Is now on show
In the Armstrong section OF the White
city The displacement is 1920 tons,
and the engines will be turbine driven,
The Briaillan vessel has recIprocatlng
engines
For tho present year, two monster
shlps---a battleship and a cruiser
have been voted. The battleshlp, con-
trary to the reports circulated, will be
/ similar In all important respects to the
ST, Vincent That Is TO say she will
dispace 1890 tons, or Whereabouts,
4 will carry ten or twelve l9-ineh guns.
and will be propelled by turbine en-
gInes actuated by steam Thus she
will make up the group Of four ST.
/ Nlncents, and when she Is completed
! for sea the British navy will possess
| two groups, each four strong, OF all
big gun batteships. The other vessel
Will resemble the lnvincIbles, with
some improvements, and will complete
the group OF four superb twenty-five
knot cruiser battleshps
So much for the present, II Will he
seen that there Is nothing sensational
In the design OF the ships for this
year which are meant to All gaps in
the existing organization, But next
year 1t IL possible that there may be
new and startling departures. From
hints which ministers and others have
dropped, the admiralty will be COM
PEELED to ask for not fewer than five
monster battleships More may be
needed, but this must necessarily de-
pend on the progress which foreign
ships make in the next few months.
Germany II must be remembered,
has to-day building or sanctioned sew
en- battleships OF Dreadnought type
against the British eight. and two.
or possibly three, cruisers OF the In
vincibe type tagainst the British
four). And under her fixed program
she will lay down three more mon
ster hattleshlps and one more monster
cruiser next year, the battleships, It is
believed dlsplacing 2l,000 tons or
even more, A British program OF Ave
battleships and one monster armored
cruiser would bring the British total
Of Dreadnoughts MP to only eighteen,
as against the German total of thlr-
teen or fourteen The British margin
or four or i've ships, which Il would
give, would be a very narrow one. and
far less than what the strict two
pocr standard demands
IT. then, we assume that the British
program consists OF FIVE battleships
and one improved Northumberland
nothing less will satisfy the claims of
national security--it is probable tina,
the Admiralty will lay down one group
of four improved St Vinccnts-foui
hattleships, that Is to say. carrying
each twelve 12--inch guns. hut the
NTH battleship may quite possibly bt
an experimental ship. new type
built rapidly and tested with the oh,
ject of gaining experience for new
class which will figure In the pro.
:, grams of 1910 and 1911. Here mucl
Will obviously depend on the actor
of foreign powers and whether tn,
reports prove correct which credit tn,
{ German Admiralty with the intention
Of building vessels far larger an,
:. more powerfully armed than an.
British Dreadnought yet designed
i II such an experimental ship is t.
be built with great speed, 10 obtall
u experience the orders for her guns
barbettes and machinery will be give
well In advance. before she is eve
voted and they may be placed in tn
summer or autumn Of the presen
year The same course was followe
in the ease of the Dreadnought.
Y The new ship will not mproba hi
II carry new monster gun, the 1875
inch, eight or ten OF which may h
mounted, and will thus carry out tn
a policy of outDreadnoughtlng tn
Dreadnought." one or two Of thes
guns, according 10 report, have bee
building for some months. and tn
employment of them In the ST. Vincer
class Is known to have been consider
cd and only reluctantly abandone,
G All the details are confidential, hi
y the German naval handbooks wi
supply the public with what is &c,
tainly an intelligent guess, and pose
- bly, accurate information Accordin
to them the new 1875 inch gun wi
weight eighty-six tons or nearly thirt
tons more than the existing 12-inc
weapon viii be about 81 feet lon
and will fire a shell Weighing abo,
To- 1900 pounds or 1,i0O pounds,
a against the 12-inch shells $50 pound
c- Such huge proiectiles would pier,
%, five feet of iron with ease. and won
tear their way through the best mo-
er ern armor at battle range.
ps' To mount guns of the size Al
NJ length so that they will be able
fire on either broadside Is a matt
:" of extreme difficulty so long as funne
we remain. But there Is some hope
". getting rid of them. and thus givil
~ clear field Of fire. The Rellevil
w company Is said to be designing
boiler which needs no funnel above W
w ter to discharge the waste products
~. combustion, and there Is the bare nc
~ slbility that producer gas engin
=" might be adopted. The firm Of vicke
e. Maxim has prepared designs for be
49, tleships driven by producer gas, and
t., Is understood that It Is ready to tn
500 out Dreadnought using gas fort
=, with II It finds any power adventure
~, enough to try such an experiment. r
admiralty, however Is not at all liz
to " to install the gas engine In bait
49, ships until It has been thoroughly tri
,ch In merchantmen and smaller cruise
M But that 1t will finally come may
RS; ''Meh as ce' .a'"'