The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-02-03

MoW existing types of battle craft?
va Has the naval strategist any
thing in mind that will be totally
unlike present warships-sOme-
thing that will upset the prevailing
order of battle tactics upon the sea? These ques-
tions are asked by Robert G. Skerrett in the New
York Sun, and he goes on to say that experts an
swer yes to questions two and three. One of the
foremost of American naval officers said not long
ago:
81 believe we can build n ship here that will
make the whole world sit up and take notice If
we want TO do So"
This assertion was brought out by a debate on
the subject of naval increase, when the genesis
of the modern dreadnaught was discussed. An
interesting light was thrown upon the origin and
reason for being of that era-making type of heavy
ship of the line. The disclosure illustrates how
kindred forces may be at work in calling into
being another and no less startling departure in
naval architecture. According to the officer in
question:
England has been criticized for inventing the
dreadnaught type on the ground that if she had
not done so she would have maintained n greater
preponderance over every other navy in her pre-
dreadnaught types, and as the dreadnaught type
is far more efficient she therefore had to start
even with other nations again. The reply to that
is that she did not invent the type, but it was
absolutely forced upon her.
in the days when we were firing at each other
at 1000 or 5000 yards n dreadnaught was not a
logical thing at all, because at those ranges you
could use an e~ight-inch gun with great effect or a
siX-inch gun. But as soon as Admiral Sir Percy
Scott showed us how to train gun pointers with
his new device it changed the situation material
ly. His whole invention was a method of train
ing gun pointers.
1--WE applied it on our side and we talked to
people on this side and to people on the other
side of the Atlantic about it. 1 went over to Eng
land and talked to the gun people there and we
finally, tentatively going from one range to an
other, found out that we could hit a target at
5000 or 5000 yards, which were considered
enormous ranges in those days.
"You cannot hit anything with a six-inch gun
at those distances. 1t was therefore perfectly
illogical for them to build any more battleships
except with all big guns. Accordingly, the all-big-
gun ship had to be built.
eve would have built the first one on this side
If the authorities here had listened to us. Eng
land did not invent the all-big-gun ship. 1t was
Admiral Sir Percy Scott who thought out how to
shoot at long range, and the other fellows fol-
lowed as a natural consequence. Big guns are the
only ones that will do any particular damage at
long range.
"The present conflict has made 1t plain that In
actual warfare the nation with initiative will have
n great advantage, and Germany has undoubtedly
kept her foes guessing. No one knows what she
is likely to spring next upon her antagonists, but
past performances hint at certain possibilities"
Capt. William S. Sims thus describes a thor
oughly practicable, novel order of battle craft. Its
theoretical advantages are so evident to the ex-
perts that the likelihood of its appearing before
long is more than a possibility.
"If you build a ship of 10000 tons that has
nothing but a protective deck. and SO fiat that
nothing could get under 1t, that only has two
towers, one forward and one aft, to control the
ship. and no guns at all. but armed with eight or
ten torpedo tubes on a side, and capable of max
Ing SO knots, / would like to know what a fleet