The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-01

 naval strength, and the building of the two proposed 26.000-ton battie- ships will put her further in the lead. With the authorizations made last win ter and the proposed authorizations of this winter, the United States will show an aggregate of Is0 twelve and thirteen-lnch guns, or nearly one-third more than the next nearest rival
 Japan and Russia are the only two countries that openly appropriate mon ey for the ferreting out of naval se- crets of ot, countries. Japan Is spending S40.000 a year for that pur- pose. and Russia t65,000. Great secrecy Is being maintained about the designs of the proposed 2e,OO0-ton battleships. The Navy Department insists that Con- gress owes it. to the country to keep the plans quiet, but the naval authorl-1 ties of other countries will likely get an idea of the facts through their secret agent.
 The new battleships will be more carefully protected below the water line than any others ever built. The increasing range of torpedoes, as well as their Increased effectiveness, makes this absolutely essential. But recently an American naval officer designed . new torpedo gun. IL Is nothing less than small cannon placed on White-1 head torpedo. This is started, under five hundred pounds pressure. toward a battleship. When 1t touches the hull of the ship the cannon fires It's small but powerful shell into the vessel. In this shell there are some fifty pounds of dunnite, the most powerful of all light ing explosives, and when the shell reaches the vitals of the battleship It explodes with tremendous havoc.
 Many navies are using the wire wound gun in preference to the steel Jacketed gun. but on the proposed new battleships the American preference fof the stSei-jack eted gun will stfli be in evidence. A twelNe-inch wirc- wound gun can withstand a pressure of twenty tons to the square inch, and 1t is admitted that 1t possesses many advantages over all other guns. But American gun experts think that It's advantages are counter balanced by disadvantages, so the steel-jacketed guns will still remain the American standard. It Is interesting to note the ] process of putting the 34,0o0-pound steel Jacket on, a big gun. This work Is done, at the Washington gun foundry There are. three vertical furnaces. In one of these the jacket is heated for thfrty-six hours to some 500 degress Fahrenheit It Is then lifted over and dropped on the gun. As there is only one-twenty- fifth of an inch between the jacket and the gun, it will be seen what 8 delicate operation Is required to put It on. When the mass cools the jacket l fits skin tight.
 | The new battieships will be equipped | with lattice-work masts similar to those on the North Dakota, which were adopted as a result of the experiments on the monitor Florida. Although the United States was the first to try this Idea. France Is now going to follow ! l battleship Jena, which was sunk in an l accident and afterwards raised. It is expected the French experiments will | decide number of mooted questions of | naval construction. They will also set- tie many things about gun practice that are now debatable proposition.
 Some idea of the bigness of the pro- posed new ships may be gathered by comparison with the Dreadnought They will have e displacement nearly one-third larger than that vessel They will be able to fire tweive-ineh guns on A broadside where the Dread. nought can muster only eight. In short, they will outclass the Dread. noughtrya vessel which startled the Whole naval worldlatxU years ago~+ as badly as the Connecticut outclasses the s1Uwa.ee . Tflefe e4ias Been much con troVersy tABout tlfe @6foadside question. The American navy proceeds on the theory that naval battle will show the two fleets fighting on parallal lines ,l and that the broadside will determine ! the question. Foreign navies are not \ as certain about 1t, and are willing to scarlfice some broadslde fire for added end firing.
 Il The authorization of tn Awo new battleships will give England another rather severe jolt. That country is committed to a policy of keeping a navy 10 percent stronger than the combined naHies of any two other pow CTS. including the United States To build as many and as large ships as the United States and France or Ger many together. has been gigantic task, and to keep them on war footing at all times, even a greater task. But now they are faced with condition that threatens to over- whelm them, and their press is full of protests against such a policy. One prominent naval officer advocates a practical unification of the navies of Great Britian and the United States under iron-ciad treaties of united pur. pose, the merger to control the high seas of the earth. Of course no such thing Is likely to be done, but it sim ply shows whittier the Britons are looking.
 Copyright. 1909. by. Frederic J. Has kim
 TOmOrrOw-PrOgreas at Panama I. The Gatua Dam Controversy.