The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-08-22
WORLDS GREATEST CRUISER
EngIand's Latest Fighting Machine in
Class by Itself

The battleship cruiser Lion-the ,
ship of the British navy, re-
Gently. launched at Devonport-will be
a most wonderful engine of warfare, |
More powerful than the most power
full Dreadnought now afoat, and al
most as fast as the fastest destroyer
nothing like her has ever before been
attempted by a British naval archi-
tect. Since she was laid down tow
ards the end Of last year the greatest
secrecy has been maintained regard
ing her most important features, and
she has come to be known as the
mystery ship" of the feet. The Lion
when completed, will displace 26,360
tons. She will thus be nearly half as
large again as the original Dread
nought, which displaces only 1900
tons.
Her armament will consist of eight
1876 inch guns, each capable Of throw
ing shell weighing 1900 pounds. The
IL inch guns OF the Dreadnought only
throw a she'll weighing $50 pounds.
The 1876 inch gun is an innovation In
the British fleet. The admiralty has
been making exhaustive experiments
with these weapons for the last year
or so, and that they have been proved
satisfactory is shown by their being
mounted in four turrets, all placed on
the center line of the ship, and so ar
ranged that four guns bear ahead, two
astern, and the entire eight on the
beam The battleships Of the Hercu-
les and Orion classes-now building
with their ~ inch guns, can fire $500
pounds of metal on the broadside. The
Lion with her eight 1875 inch, will be
able to fire 10,40O pounds OF metal.
The Lion will thus have superiority
in gunfire of 1913 per cent over these
battleships.
This is not all. 1t has been pointed
out that the water line armour OF the
other battleship cruisers-the Irwin
lcibles-was inferior to that of the
Dreadnought by four inches. Since
Ithen however, the side armour OF
British battleships has been reduced
to 9% inches. The Indefatigable now
completing, was given eight inches.
The Lion will have 9% inches-the
same as the battleships of the st. Vim
cent class. Further, 1t will be of an
Improved method of manufacture.
known as the Simpson process, and
II Is claimed that ga inches of Simp-
son, is fully equal to eleven inches OF
Krupp.
The designed speed of the Lion is
twenty-elght knots. and probably
more, is confidently anticipated. The
Parsons turbines will be of no less
than 10000 horsepower.
The Lion is officially an "armored
cruiser" She will not generally be
reckoned with battleships; and yet
she is superior on nearly every point.
Here is a brief comparison Of her with
the st. Vincent. the largest dread
nought now In commission:
DIFFERENTIATION, 26.36O tons;
st. Vincent, 1890 tons.
Speed-Lion, 2S knots; ST. Vincent,
2l knots.
Guns-Lion, Eight 1875 in; st. Vim
cent. ten IL in.
Weight of fire-Lion, 10,40O lbs;
st. Vincent. $500 lbs
Armour-Lion, 9.75 ms; st. Vim
cent, 9.75 ms.
Armour-Lion. simpson; st. Vim
cent, Krupp.
In appearance the Lion will pres
ent many striking features. Her
bows are raised higher than in any
previous ships Of her class, and she
will when at sea resemble a giant
scout more than a cruiser. Her total
cost will be about $10,S75,000
Two ships bearing the name OF Lion
were taken from the Scots by the
English In the sixteenth century,
when Scotland was still an independ-
ent kingdom. In the engagement in
which the first was captured the fam
Gus Scottish admiral. Andrew Bar.
ton, was killed. That was in 1911 SO
that Lion Is one OF the Oldest ship
names In the navy. The British navy
has had at various times Red Lions
White Lions. Rose Lions. Lions
Whelps and even a Two Lions. The
best known Of all. however. was the
Golden Lion. which fought, as flag
ship Of Lord Thomas Howard, at the
defeat OF the Armada. She was OF
500 tons. built In 1882 and carried the
following strange sounding armament
Four demi.cannon, eight culverine
fourteen demi-culverine. nine sakers
eight fowlers, sixteen fowler-cham
bers.
The weight OF the shot fired by
these guns varied from 30 pounds e
TX pounds and the effective range
was about 300 yards. After seeing goot
service at Cadiz In the Armada fight
and on two expeditions to the Souti
Seas. the Lion was rebuilt in 1909
Sixteen years later she was BADLY
mauled In action with Portuguese
squadron In the East Indies. A stronl
boarding party got on board, and bar
/ rlcaded themselves on the poop. Find
ing Il impossible TO get rid OF then
In any other way, the Lions men pu
few barrels of powder round tn
poop and blew OF the stern OF IN,
ship and the boarders with Il. TIL
, Lion managed to get into port, bu
she was tracked down by about TWEEN
~ Portuguese gunboats. Five or al
OF the latter were sunk but the Llo
, then caught FIRE and was blown u
by her own men. Some OF thes
were taken prisoners and the Portr
guese admiral decapitated all excep
one. There was Lion during IN
Dutch wars and at the battles q
., Beachy Head and Barheur, but Ne
son never had one with him In any q
his great fights
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