The bee., 1916-03-17
BATTLE CRUISERS
SUPREME ON SEAS
Our Proposed Vessels TO Sur
pass British Type In Speed,
CARRY EIGHT 14-INGH GUNS.

ed IN the Few engagements They
Have Been In Since the War Began.
Now Form First Line of offense and
Defense In English Squadron.
The first authentic description Of the
new battle cruiser that is shortly to
be built for the United States navy has
appeared. Details Of this new type
Of ship have up to the present time been
lacking. Now details are presented
which may be regarded as accurate.
We are told that, profiting by the
lessons taught by the engagements
fought Off the Falkland islands and in
the North sea, this new battle cruiser
Of ours is TO have a speed somewhere
between thirty-two and thirty-fve
knots. Obviously engines of enormous
power are required to attain such
speed, and so we may expect that 100,-
600 horsepower must be generated.
Every additional knot means an inor
dinate increase in engine capacity.
Eight Fourteen inch Guns.
Our unbuilt and unnamed battle
cruiser will have eight fourteen-inch
guns and twenty five-inch guns At
first blush it would seem as If the
Queen Elizabeth's fifteen inch guns
must carry the day If these two ships
were ever opposed. But our ordnance
officers have made the statement that
the new fourteen inch guns which they
have developed are the superior of the
fifteen inch guns at present used in
the British navy, or statements TO that
effect.
The armor protection of the new
United States battle cruiser is to be
twelve inches amidships and four
inches at the ends. The Queen Eliza
beth has thirteen and One-half inches
of steel on the water line. ten inches
above that and a top layer Of eight
and One-quarter inches It is here
probably that we bad to make our sac
rifce in order 10 gain the engine power
and, therefore speed. But if speed
will enable our ship to pick out her
own position and oCr guns have the
| greater range the loss I'm armOr pro-
lection is more than compensated for
The Lion and Tiger are battle cruls-
ers in the true sense Of the word Our
ship will easily outdistance them. In
tonnage there is not much TO choose.
for they displace 10000 tons as against
I the 81 .000 tons of our vessel. In arma-
ment we win be far superior. The
Lion and the Tiger each mounts eight
| fOurteen-inch guns. which are probably
inferior in range to the guns Of equiv
alent caliber on the proposed American
ship The Tiger has twelve six-inch
| guns and the Lion sixteen four-inch
guns But weapons OF such small
/ character play no part in a long range
engagement and are serviceable chief
ly for the repulsion Of torpedo boats.
To prove the battle cruiser has re-
deemed its unfortunate early reputa-
tion it ia only necessary to point to the
| activities Of this fighting craft since
the war began. Battle cruisers brought
Won Specs career to a full stop. and
they were the only big ships which
succeeded in getting into the North sea
engagements.
So it is not surprising that these
monsters the biggest fighting machines
ahOat. are idolized by their officers and
men. A squadron at the opening of
the war, battle cruisers now form the
nucleus Of Great Britain's first line
fleet of naval offense. There are many
new ships among the light cruisers at
tached to this squadron. Virtually ev-
cry battle cruiser in it has had its
baptism Of fire." and the sailors man
ming the craft show the poise Of vet
Grams.
Fastest Fighting Fleet.
When the mist lifted for few min
utes as a correspondent stood on the |
control bridge of one of the British |
battle cruisers the fastest feet capable
Of actual offensive operations ever
gathered together appeared in view.
There were more than 100 vessels in
the feet, arranged in squadrons, with |
battle cruisers, surrount by a screen
of faithful destroyers, lwn to the
humble cOlliers.
1t is accepted as a matter Of course |
that should the German warships come |
out this fleet will be the first unit of |
the British navy to get into action be-
fore the superintendent battleships
reach the scene; hence its claim TO be
the first line Of offense with the super
dreadnaughts second and the pre-
dreadnaught battleships forming a
third line reserve.
Increase in the size Of the big guns
does not worry the officers of the bat
tie cruisers, who say that. since their
1875 inch guns can sink a battleship
as far as the range can be found, any
bigger guns would add to the weight
Of the ship ans reduce the available
space for turrets without sufficient cor
responding advantage. These officers
talked about the much heralded Ger
man seventeen inch gun in a specula-
tive way, but they did not show any
great concern.