Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-10
THE
BRITISH
CRISIS

LONDON, June 3O.-Speed and gun pow
er will be the determining factors In
| the next great naval battle. whether that
conflict shall be between Britain and Ger
many or not. The universal recognition
of this primary fact forced the naval au-
thorities of the world into policy OF
complete reconstruction their fleets
when the British ship Dreadnought made
it's appearance four years ago. The
Dreadnought has a tonnage Of $4,000.
speed of twenty-one knots an hour and
is armed with ten twelve-inch guns. cap
able Of gun-fire Of $500 pounds OF
metal.
Being four to six miles faster than
other modern battleships. the Dread
nought, when it first went into COM
mission, would have been able to engage
the next most powerful battleship afioat
and to sink it before the other ship
/ could get within range of the Dread
nought for the use of it's complete arma
ment The superiority of the range of
the guns. the weight OF metal they could
throw, the faster speed of the ship, all
these combined made the new ship the
most powerful and terrible engine of
war af1Oat.
| Immediately IT became necessary for
other nations to build ships able to Crap
pie with this
Other Nations Forced monster. The
to Enter the Race. n,rs and the
United States were the first to take up
the gage followed shortly by Japan. and,
| at slower pace, by the other maritime
nations of the world, including Brazil
| and the Argentine Republic. But the orig
| inal Dreadnought was not long to re-
! main the biggest and strongest ship, for
! it's power was soon to be exceeded, al
! though 1t gave its name to the Dread
nought and the super-drea drought
! classes of battleships. The British ship
| Neptune which will be completed next
year has a tonnage of 2O,5OO. The ships
| now being built will be armed with guns
of 135 calibre. throwing shells each
weighing 1.2JO pounds. as compared to
the so pound shells of the twelve-inch
guns of the Dreadnought. Thus the race
in the British navy alone.
The first aH-big-gun ships to be COM
pleted outside of the British navy were
the American battleships Michigan and
South Carolina, each of 10000 tons. of
eighteen knots speed and each having
eight tweIve-inch guns. These two ships
are not so large nor 80 swift as the
British Dreadnought, but they are in
cluded in the Dreadnought class by Eu-
rOpean naval experts, because OF their
eli-big-gun armament. The North Da-
kota and the Delaware. nearing COM
pletion, of 10000 tons each. bearing ten
twelve-inch guns. are of the true Dread
nought type as are also the Florida and
the Utah, now building. which have the
same armament, but which are 1900 tons
heavier The new wyoming and Arkan-
sas will be of the uper-Dreadnought
class An English navy officer remark
ed that in his opinion the most terrible
thing in all this fierce competition was
tons, armed with fourteen-inch guns
capable Of throwing a broads1de weigh
ing 1890 pounds, as compared to the
Dreadnought's $500 pounds.
During the year 1909 four new Dread
noughts were added to the British fleet.
bringing the
Seven Dreadnoughts total up to
Now in British Fleet. wsre th e
three battleshps. Belerophon, Temeraire
and Superb, and the dreadnought cruiser
Invincibe The latter has a speed of
twenty-five knots. and is armed with
eight twelve-inch guns. AS the navies
Of the world stand today. this cruiser Is
all that its name implies During the
present year three new Dreadnoughts
y
battleships st. Vincent, Colingwood and
Vanguard. all of which are now almost
ready to be placed in commission Each
of these has a tonnage of 1880. The
super Dreadnought Neptune and the 49,
OOO-ton cruiser interchangeable have been
launched, and will be ready for commits
sion early in 1911.
Last year, under the influence of the
German war scare. the British govern
ment ordered eight new ships. The Her
July and August. and the Orion and
Lion in November. The first three are
battleships and the last is cruiser of
the Invincible class. The other four bat
tleshps were laid down in April. All
these will be completed and in commits
sion 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 agreement
on the subject of the German navy.
They believe that it should be large
enough to protect Germany's great mari
time commerce. that it should be power
full enough to maintain Germany's dig
nifty among the nations, that it should
be strong enough to know no fear.
Laughing at British panics and dsclaim-
ing any desire whatever to outstrp the
English navy, the shipbuilding yards are
busy and the Krupp gun factory is hard
at work.
The German naval progress Is not so
easy to estimate as the British The
British pres s
Germany Keeps Her and public de-
cA mand and re-
ceive complete
information. The German press and pub
lie do not demand anything, and are
content with what is vouchsafed from
above
Two German Dreadnoughts are COM
pleted and in commission, the Nassau
and the Westfalen. They are each of
| 49, 500 tons, have speed of twenty knots
and are armed with twelve 11-inch guns.