The Washington times., 1915-08-04
BRITISH SEAF|GHTER
CALLED M|CHT|ES7
The Queen Elizabeth, Now at
DardaneIles, Ranked First
by Expert.

Which is the most powerful battle
ship in the world?
There are four claimants for the dis
tinction--the California and the Penn
slyvania OF the American navy; the
Toury!lle or any one of her three sister
ships in the French navy; the Fuso OF
the japanese navy. and the Queen
Elizabeth OF the British navy
only one Of these % super-dreao- q. 40
tuaiiy in commission. She is in the
Dardanelles. The others .I., are lenrssnnts unnes
the latest type Of battleship
in the Scientific American by J. Ber-
nard Walker editor Of that periodical
who concludes that. all things con
sidered. the Queen elizabeth Is tne
second, the California third and the
Mr.. Walker's argument Is that IN
judging the power Of hattieship.
allotted to her guns. 80 per cent 70
her armor. 20 per cent to her speed ana
10 per cent to her displacement
AS to guns. the California mas t"else
has eight l5-inch ones. the Tourville has
sixteen 3.4-inch ones and the tnso mas
twelve, each IA inches In diameter.
All Heavily Armored.
AS to armor. on the belts and tur-
| rets, that Of the California Is fifteen
inches thick, on the Queen Elizabeth
Is thirteen inches Of the Tourville has
thickness of twelve inches, ana the
Fusos extra plating is twenve-inch.
In the matter Of speed. the hgures
are as follows: California ~ nnoT Tra an
Vile. % knots. and Fuso. 70 KNOTS r
The displacements. In tons is: Call
fornia. $500; Queen Elizabeth. N,bo;
Tourville $500, and Fuso. 5000.
| these four ships. Mr.. Walker assumes
that they are fighting line-of- battle
| engagement, at a range OF lo.VV yaros,
and that the gunnery OF eaGh d.d.c OK s,nS tns
conditions. he says. the great object rs Is
to shoot as much high-explosive shell
through the enemy's armor as possible
ir given time. and even Tour knots
ter ship to steam across the enemy, 8
course and deliver raking troa adside OF
shot and shell. Displacement. ne holds.
Is of value because the larger snip. the
| more coal and ammunition she can
carry. and the more room she has for
shell -defying bulkheads.
| AS regards gunfire, 1t Is assumed by
Mr. Walker that one-quarter or the
en- nch broadside. two of the Queen Eliza
| beth's eight shells and four OF the
| Tourville's sixteen shells will do their
| work.
With Great Effect.
On the assumption Mr.. Walker be-
lieves that the greater damage will be
wrought by the Britisher's shells. be-
cause, although they total only $3.50
pounds of explosives. as against 5,S2s
from the Tourville's guns. they are
contained In shell that are 80 per cent
larger than those Of the Tourville. and.
! therefore. will burst with far greater
| effect.
Applying his table of proportions: the
| editor concludes that the Queen Eliza
beth should rank as being 9473 per cent
perfect in point of powder. the others
trailing thus: Tourville. 9oO6 per cent;
California, $3.50 per cent; Fuso, S3.57 per
cent.
This ranking. he remarks. was a
surprise to him as he had rather expect
ed the California to lead. with the Tour
| vile second.
1T has to be admitted" he says In
closing. that our results seem to show
| that the British, who have generally led
, in naval construction, must have known
| what they were about when they In
| creased the caliber. cut down the num-
| ber of guns to eight and raised the
speed to twenty-five knots in ship
that possessed good defensive quail
ties -