The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-10-28
,BATTLEsHIP is BEST
International News Service Dispatch
by Archibald Hurd


London, Oct. 28.-Neither words
nor acts have convinced the respon- /
sib1e naval authorities of bhe Unit
ed States that the submarine has
doomed the battleship extinction; nor /
do they agree with those who would /
warn the nations against putting !,
too many eggs in one basket In /
their opinion the great batbleship /
still holds the seas as the supreme
artbiber of the destiny of maritime
powers. This after two Inonths of
naval warfare, during the course of
which the submarine has achieved
no slight success. The work which
the British navy is doing-and
hopes to do-in calculating naval
problems leaves the Americans cold.
Orders have been placed for two
marine had never been heard of. The
construction of these two vessels with
one other TO be paid for partly out
of the money paid by Greece for the
two obsolescenIt ships she acquired
this spring, was, it is true, authoriz-
ed in the last session of Congress. 1t
was anticipated, however, that the
pi1acing of the contracts would be de-
layed until the constructors now in
Europe studying naval events -or
rather awaiting naEaa events really
worth sbudy-had gained all the in
Iforamtion obtainaIble bearing on mat
fters of design. Not at all. The naval
authorities decided to forge ahead
and put i'm hland at once the building
of all three fbattleships for which they
have received authority; the third is
to be laid down in a government
yard. They have determined not to
wait for THE long anticipated battle
in the North Sea, convinced, appar-
emily THAT when 1T does come 1T will
still GeaNe the baittleship mistress of
the sea-despite destroyers, subma-
rines, Zepplins, and seaplames@ aI1l of
them carry deadly aHInam ents.
BUT even more remarkable than
this decision DIS the fact THAT the new
battIeships are to 'flick creation in
size and power, but not i'm speed.
They will displace something APP
preaching twice the amount of water
of our original dreadnough-, COM
pleted only eight years ago, THE ton
mage of each of these mas5odIons will
be NO less than 80 900, whereas our
name ship of the new era was oi
only II 800 toms This ONE compare
son with convey SOME idea of whai
American naval officers htinlk of the
arguments advanced in flavor of ships
of 'fmodlerate dimensions. - Thes
have built ibattleships SMALL and bat
tleships big, and they declare 'tgfve
us battleships bigger, submarine OF
MO submarine
II The increase in displacement OF
THE other side of the AHIantic 11a.
far outstripped anything THAT oul
naval authorities, who have the cred
it of Introducing the dreaJdnough
(hiave proposed. lit was only by sheec
good fortune THAT we got the frs
dreadnougIht affoat. The Americant
had realized the development was in
evitable, had had a design preparet
amid were waiting for Congress ito sac
yes when Lord Fisher SAILED in
laid down -four ships, built them witt
great secrecy, and dhus obtained
dead (which we Ihave never lost
THANK God for our food, cheap foo,
and the BrbUish navy" Credit ough
ito he paid ito the American navy de
partment for it's foresight. 1t jus
missed THE distinction of being frs
in dreadnought construction.
This, however, lis ITO wander ava.
ifrom the subject (which is the inoras
in size of American dIreadnoughts
Thou 9Th IAmerica knows as much abou
submarines as we do and grea
deal more than the Germans. The
will not gisten ITO the arguments has
ed on the danger of placing too man
eggs In one basket. The upwar
movement of displacement on th
other side of the Atlantic has, Indeed
been very remarkable.
AT first the Americans were sal
isf1ed with an 11-inch armoTed bel
now they are satisfied with nobhin
less THAN 16 inch. There were onl
two torpedo tubes in the eardie
ships, and some naval officers urge
THAT there should lbe no more, mo-
there are lfour-all bmerged-fc
the discharge of the 81 inch torpedt
with 800 pounds of high explosive
and range of about 8 900 yards.
Possibly the MOST remarkable ifes
iture of the new ibatuleships- wthic
will closely resemble the Pennsy
vanilla and her sister ship now ON th