El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-11
England Concerned Over Ship
Building and Standing Army
v.-VI.-THE BRITISH CRISIS.

! London. Eng July 11-Speed and
Sunpower will be the determining fac
! tors in the next great naval battle,
! whether that conflict shall be between
Britain and Germany or not The uni
versal recognition of this primary fact
forced the naval authorities of The world
| into policy of complete reconstruction
of their fleets when the British ship
Dreadnought made its appearance four
| years ago. The Dreadnought has a ton
mage of $4,000, speed of twenty-one
/ knots an hour and is armed with ten II
| inch guns, capable of a gunfire of $500
! pounds of metal.
! Being four to six miles an hour fast
! er than other modern battleships, the
, DreadnOught, when it first went into
! commission would have been able to en-
gage the next most powerful battleship
afloat, and sink it, before the other ship
! could get within range of the Dread
nought for the use of its complete arm
amcnt. The superiority of the range
! of the guns, the weight of metal they
I could throw, the faster speed of the ship
| all these combined made the new ship
the most powerful and terrible engine
| of war afIOat.
! Immediately it became necessary for
other nations to build ships able to
grapple with this monster. The German
/ empire and the United States were first
| to take up the gage, followed shortly
| by Japan, and, at a slower pace, by the
other maritime nations of the world, in
/ Guiding Brazil and the Argentine re-
| public. But the original Drea dnought
| was not long to remain the biggest and
strongest ship, for its power was soon
! TO be exceeded, although it gave its
name TO the Dreadnought and the su-
i per-Dreadnought classes of battleships
The British ship Neptune, which Will be
/ completed next year, has tonnage of
10000. The ships now being built will
! be armed with guns Of 1875 inches cal
iber throwing shells each weighing
1850 pounds, as compared to the $50
pound shells of the IL If en- guns of the
Dreadnought.lThus the race in the Brit
ish navy alone.
American Ships Followed.
The first ali big gun ships to be COM
pleted outside of the British navy were
the American battIeships Michigan and
South Carolina, each of 10000 tons, of
IS knots speed, and each having eight
u inch guns. These two ships are not
so large nor so swift as the British
preadnought, but they are included in
the DreadnOught class by European
naval experts because of their all big
gun armament
The North Dakota and the Delaware.
II,
bearing ten 12-inch guns, are of the
true Dreadnought type, as are also the
Florida and the Utah, now building,
which have the same arma ment, but
which are 1000 tons heavier The new
Wyoming and Arkansas will be of the
Super-Drea drought class. An English
navy officer remarked that in his opin-
ion the most terrible thing in all this
fierce competition was the proposed new
American ship of 10000 tons, armed
with 14-inch guns, capable of throwing
broadside weighing 1920 pounds as
compared to the Dreadnoughts $500
pounds.
During the year 1909 four new Dread
nOughts were added TO the British fleet,
bringing the total up to seven. These
were the three battleships. BelIerophon
Temeraire and Superb, and the Dread
nouSht cruiser, Invincible. The latter
has a speed of 25 knots, and is armed
with eight 12-inch guns. As the navies
of the world stand today, this cruiser is
ali that its name implies.
During the present year Ifhree new
DreadnOughts will be added 70 his mai
esty's navy. the battleships St. Vincent,
Collingwood and Vanguard. all of which
are now almost ready to be placed in
commission. Each of these has a ton
mage of 1880. The super-Dreadnought
Neptune. and the 49, 600 ton cruiser In
defatigable, have been launched and
will be ready for commission early in
1911.
Eight New Ships Tor England.
Last year, under the influence of the
German war scare, the British govern
ment ordered eight new ships The
Hercules and Colossus were laid down
in July and August, and the Orion and
Lion in November. The first three are
battleships. and the last is a cruiser of
the Invincible class. The other four bat
tle5hips were laid down in April. All
these Will be completed and III com
mission by the summer of 1912 bringing
the British DreadnOught fleet up to |
twenty.
In the meantime, there has been no |
lack of activity across the North Sea. |
The German emperor and the German !
nation are seemingly in entire agree /
ment on the subject of the German navy. /
They believe that it should be large |
enough to protect Germany's great mar /
itifne commerce, that it should be pow
crful enough to maintain Germany's !
dignity among the nations. that it /
should be strong enough 10 know no /
fear. Laughing at British panics and
any desire whatever TO out
strip the English navy, the shipbuild-
ing yards are busy and the Krupp gun
factory is hard at work.
German Navy Program Secret
The German naval progress is not so
Easy to estimate as the British. The
British press and public demand and |
receive complete information. The Ger
nan press and public do net demand |
lnything. and are content with what
5 vOuchsafed from above
Two German Dreadnoughts are COM
Dleted and in commission, the Nassau
md the WeStfalen. They are each of
$500 tons, have a speed of 20 knots !
md are armed with twelve 11-inch
guns. They also have supplementary
lble time, they are put in a killing box
nto which carbOnic acid gas, the same
IS is used in soda water, is turned and
IL