The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-24
WONDROUS EXPANSION OF
 BRTTAINS GREAT LEFT
nce Beginning of War England Produces Fleet Equal Of America in Fighting Power-By First of Year 15 Great Battleships Will Be in Commission
 Countless Smaller Craft

London, October 14.-(Special Corre- pondence.)- late Admiral Mahan, hat great American naval scientist to vhom all the experts of the world paid lomage, did not invent sea power, but
 e interpreted it. made the world un-
 erstand its meaning and proved tha t ca power is the most vital thing in he world to a nation He showed hat without it there can be no vic cry, that with it, in sufficient quan- ity. defeat is impossible
 If Mahan's reckoning be true. and here is no one-be his affiliations lily or Teuton-who will dispute 1t, ,hen it is difficult to see how Ger many and Austria can ever triumph ,ver England. Russia and France, and great British forces assisting them, nay be battered and trampled on land, put Britannia will ever rule the waves n this War, for there is now takin 2 place, and has been since the begin hing of this great war, feat in naval Expansion such as the world has never teen.
 Two hundred ships of war, at least, Ffot SOoieiii6 tOlf cl tcu rom patrol boats to superdread- laughts. have been added to the Brit sh navy since the commencement of war. Scores of others are on the stocks. To put 1t in it's most strik- nk form this sentence sums up what nas happened in England since the first of August. 1911, when England vas on the verge of participating in he war:
 There have been added to the Brit sh fleet new ships. counting no vessel which was in commission prior to the outbreak of hostilities, which consti- tute a fleet equal In battle power 10 the whole fleet of the United States, which has taken years to build. It con- sists of superdreadnaughts, light crui- ,ers. monitors, destroyers and subma- rines. perfectly balanced fleet in Lself
 Another way of putting 1t Is to im- agine a great naval conflict between he British and German fleets. The British fleet Is able to bring to bear nearly two ships to ono and victory Is, in the opinion of all experts. as surerd If all the resources of the two navies became involved in this one great battle, and considering the fight bnly from the point of view of sheer weight and gunpowder, with questions 5f personnel, efficiency and morale left put. it could be imagined that the British or the Germans, would lose ship for ship. Thus, supposing that 20 German dreadnaughts steamed forth from Kiel, surrounded by submarines and destroyers. conveyed by Zeppelins and aeroplanes, and an engagement ensues, the British bring their whole power to bear. The two fleets lose equal numbers of ships. The 20 Ger man superdreadnaughts are sunk An bqual number of British superdread- haughts are destroyed. Other craft suf- fers in like proportions. And then. with the great loss involved in this battle. the British fleet will still be pf the two-power standard, it will be equal in strength to any two other Fleets of the world. Such is the man. her in which Englands navy is being Increased. It is almost unbelievable. Every shipyard in the united kingdom 1s engaged in constructing ships of war-superdreadn cruisers, de- btroyers, monitors, submarines.
 Of these ships building there is a battleship of new type. The details bf this wonderful new craft are still obscure, but it will constitute a revo- lution in battleship construction which will find counterparts only in the ad- vent of the ironsides and the coming of the first dreadnaught. England will