The sun., 1916-12-09
OUR DREADNOUCHTS OF BOTH TYPES
MUST HAVE HIGH SPEED. d,
In Order Not to Sacrifice Gun Power II viii BE Necessary to R.d,.
Amor Plate.

The question as TO armor and speed
Of warships reminds one Of Stockton's
%perplexing story of THE Lady or the
Tiger" One thing Ia certain. we can
not have our cake and eat II too; we
once and for all must decide the rela-
tive appearances Of u power, speed
and srmor in our capital ship con-
struction. For a ship Of a given cost
and tonnage II Is impossible to de-
mand "a maximum OF all the above
characteristics: they must be ad-
justed not In accordance with personal
opinions but according to well recog-
nized principles Of naval warfare.
II goes quite without saying that
gun power must not be sacrificed on
board our heavy fighting ships. This
is the end itself. But to decide be-
tween the other two. there Is the
cause of all our difficulties. Superior
speed enables a warship or a fleet to
engage under advantageous terms and
refuse battle under terms OF disad-
vantage: to gain tactically advanta-
eeous positions during battle and ~
tttoio uui'Niy Stuh - iO"SA
enemy. thereby having q wider pos
sible limit Of dispersion. a ship with
its vital parts heavily shielded with
armor Is similar to n pugillst whose
vitals are well protected by his mus
cular development: on the other hand.
we ann pursue the smile any
further. for muscular development does
not decrease necessarily the prize
fighters agility.
by heavily coating a warship with
armor we do sacrifice speed. and in
consequence the group OF which it
will be a unit is deprived Of all the ad-
vantages enumerated above, OF what
use will be u gun power II we can
rot force our enemy to fight except
upon terms Of disadvantage to us?
Can We he sure that our armor will al
ways counterfeit this handicap?
1t Is an interesting historical fact
that this question in a somewhat diff
ferent form arose several cent IL ago
when Great Britain was engaged in
breaking the backbone OF the French
and Spanish sea power. The latter ma
lions sacrificed speed to gun power:
they built their ships of the line to
carry many guns of a large calibrc.
The enormous size OF their ships made
them difficult to sail and especially to
manpuvre quickly. Once overtaken by
a faster fleet they were forced to fight,
but leing able to hurl a greater weight
Of metal from each unit than the en-
envy they were willing t. fight under
such conditions. Great Britain found
that II she built warships Of equal gun
power her enemies would avoid action
except when in superior numbers. The
consequence was. actions between the
fleets Of England and those OF France
and Spain were usually indecisive.
England then began to build warships
that could outsail and outman4uvre
the enemy. once having accomplished
this. the actions soon became decisive:
the faster English ships concentrated
upon Il part Of the enemy line and. as
II Is termed. annihilated II in detail.
England in those days sacrificed Gun
power for speed. 1t is. then. not NJ
all odd that she should In this hour
OF trial. hardening TO a decision which
brough; victory to her centuries ago.
he willing to-day Il sacrifice armor,
not gun power. for speed In order to
accomplish this Identical purpose.
The battle cruiser is not. as many
have claimed. an ofshoot from the
hattleship: 1t is a big sister to all the
cruisers. evolved in an effort To reach
the battleship's offensive and defensive
power while keeping cruiser speed The
consequence has been that its gun
power Is less and armor thinner than
the battleship's. The United States has
not built battle cruisers: her defensive