Evening star., 1915-06-06
tlence OF The Star.


LONDON, May 26. 1915
~ N the same day that the Lusitania.
Il y the pride of Britain's mercan-
~ tile marine, was sunk by Ger
man submarine the most famous of
British warships reached its 150th
birthday. This is the old Victory,
Nelson's flagship. which is moored IN
Portsmouth harbor and is visited by
many Americans. From her main
truck Nelson flew his famous signal,
England expects that every man
will do his duty" That signal has
inspired the nation ever since. 1t may
be read today, painted in big letters.
at the base of Nelson's monument In
Trafalgar Square, together with pa
triotic appeals by the king and the
prime minister of England.
That signal was flown, of course, at
the beginning of the battle of Trafal-
gar and was followed. when the tide
was beginning to turn in the favor of
the British. by another. Engage the
enemy more closely" This momentous
fight, in which the Victory was one
of the twenty-seven British ships of
the line. was the gallant vessels last.
Later she was used as flagship by the
admirals in the Baltic and later still
as a transport. Notably in 1909. when
she helped to bring home Sir John
Moore's army from Corunna, and
year afterward when she carried re-
Inducements to Wellington in Portu-
gal She ended her career as a sea-
going ship when she was paid off at
Portsmouth on November 30. 1872.
X X
Certainly she had done her share, il
ever a ship did. She had led the fight
fno IN, fyrrO ~ ftA
important battles in history-St. Vim
cent was the other, besides Trafalgar
and no end Of smaller ones. Since
She was launched in 1855 no less than
eighty British admirals have used her
nelson was aboard her for two and a
half years, though not all Of this time
as ADMIRAL. Two thousand five hundred
oak trees went to the making of her,
and she cost $4,000. The Queen Eliz-
aoeth, today the pride of the British
navy cost over s11,000.0OO, not reck-
oning in her guns
Launched at Chatham, the Victory
was not sent to sea until thirteen
years later In those days they built
ship and waited for a war. well
knowing that when the war came the
snip would be well able to take her
part IN It, Now. before a ship is
eo'AStIiuB ludL can peat neE
is on the stocks. In this connection
a Iew further comparisons between
Nelson's flagship and the war vessels
OF today are interesting. It is rather
astonishing, for one thing. to discover
that this, first-rate ship of the line,
carrying lO4 guns, is actually shorter
anan a modern torpedoboat destroyer.
Such is the case, however. for while.
the victory measures 226 feet six
lhches from the tip of the figurehead to
.,1 ane >, tafrail aft, the destroyers Of the
- class are 26O feet from stem to
stern. The difference in guns is even
more striking.
When the Victory went into action on
october 21. 1906, she could fire fifty
Two great guns" on her broadside.
put all their shots put together would
NOT weigh within 700 pounds of sin
gie projectile fired from the Queen
Ellzabeth's ffteen-inch weapons When
the Spaniards were trounced in 1888
I. .ne biggest gun in the English fleet
nred shot of sixty-eight pounds. and
,he Victory at Trafalgar, 217 years
iater. could do no better. Apart from
her two sixty-eight- -pounder carron-
ades. she could fire nothing heavier
.nan thirty-two-pound shot. Two
v1ctorys could be built and fitted out
Tor what 1t cost to make the Queen Z
Eifzabeth's guns.