Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-09-04
.MOLlNE'S SECTION OF THE ARGUS
RULER OF WAVES
is BRITISH PLAN
English Yards are Building Ships
Both for War and for Com
mercial Purposes.

London.-(Correspondence of The
Associated Press There is a certain
small section OF British water front
where more ships are under construc-
ton today than the entire shipbuild-
ing facilities of any other nation
could undertake at one time. They
include every type of craft from sub
marines to battleships and from
steam trawlers to Atlantic liners.
Most governments lay down their.
battleships and cruisers singly. and
the lesser craft perhaps in pairs, but
here battleships loom up as twins,
light cruisers by the half dozen, de-
stroyers in rows of 10, with many
braces of long submarines, and an oc-
casional monitor.
The war feet under the hammer and
the paint brush here would rank in the
naval list above the establishments of
several modest maritime powers It
could demolish the two squadrons
which fought the battle of Manila bay
with one volley, and then steam
against the combined American and
Spanish fleets of Santiago with con-
fidence. And the merchant ships in
the stocks are as many as the Uni
ted States mercantile marine has add
ed to its register in several years.
I'VE have trained crews ready to
step on board all these ships as soon
as they are fitted" a naval officer re-
marked.
Under tutelage of Hugh Law, ma
tionalist member of parliament for
West Donegal, party of correspond
ents spent a crowded day on land, on
water, and on ships in dock, at this
base. They saw some things which
they are not permitted to describe in
detail and many things which they
cannot describe for lack of technical
knowledge; for the ordinary man the
visit furnished mostly illumination
upon the vast scale on which sea pow
er is arranged, and upon the kind OF
men who manage it, and their hard but
cheerful lives.
The general stage setting for this
swift review Of the fighting and IL ad-
ing vessels under construction con-
sisted of several miles Of water front
lines as thickly as could be crowded
with skeletons and bulls. The stocks
carried everything OF the final type
Until next year, or next week, for ev-
cry naval campaign means new ideas,
new devices, new lines Of construc-
ton. Two years of active service un-
der war conditions have brought a
great advance to the British navy al
ready acknowledged to be leader III
most naval matters. Every ship and
every detail of ship. is the last word
in it's class, according to the war;
bought judgment of engineers and
fighting officers. In one noticeable
detail at least British naval architects
appear to have been converted to the
principle of one feature of American
warships.
The monitors make an appeal to an
American because there is suspicion
that other navies were disposed 10
scott at them for years. Yet here they
are with all their superficial changes
and embellishments a tribute to what
the brain of John Ericsson conceived
in the sixties. The monitors have
been very useful to the British navy in
this war. They have been employed in
the shallow waters off the coast OF
Belgium, and even more effectively at
GaIlipoli. The correspondents there
described them fully. Two or three
strata of the outlying hull may be
penetrated by torpedoes, and the mont
tor can still keep at work with her
guns.
Two battleships, almost prepared for
the water, according TO information
rendered are expected TO demonstrate
themselves the most efficient machines
of their family ever commissioned, and
they look it. The battleship standing
i'll the timbers on land with all its
lines revealed, showing its adaptability
for speed, presents a different picture
from the fighting ship seen above wat
er and has a suggestion of a racing
yacht. These had been constructed in
something like half the time consumed
in making a big warship in pre-war
days.