El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-07-28
By
Rene Bache

o important prOblem-One method they
{ employ, in battle, being TO flood OGm-
partments in the bottom Of the vessel
with water, thus giving her stability
I An idea in this line. offered a while
ago TO our government is said to re-
duce the rolling TO almost nothing,
even in heavy sea, but il has gained
not even trial
In planning our new battleships,
I Just finished or now under cOnstruc-
ton, the navy department has elected
to make them slow battleships This
Notwithstanding the fact that all Eu-
rOpean naval authorities recommend
: speed as a prime element OF eff
cheney in the fighting ship Of the first
T line. But our own navy department
I has chung tenaciously 10 the idea
I that we did not want speed. because
our desire in case of hostilities would
+ be not TO run away, but TO stand up
and fight.
American Vessels Slow.
/ Our newly commissioned Penusyl-
vania, boast Of the navy, has "A maxi
Nmum speed OF y knots an hour The
dreadnaughts most recently built by
] Great Britain, Germany. France and
Japan are able 10 travel IS or %
/ One remembers the story Of David
and GOliah- The giant did not want
to run away; mis- wish was to stand
up and fight But what happened
to him.
( David won his fight with Goliath
because he was able through superior
activity to select his own battle
range, maintaining position out Of
reach Of his adversary's sword and
3 spear-the giant being at the same
time within range of the long range
sling. Goliath had no chance. il was
/ not possible for him to iujure his
more agile opponent
Our Guns OutranEed.
I The naval guns of all the first class
powers today outrange our guns Our
battle fleet, attacked by a mere
squadron Of fast battleships. would be
/ in much the same situation as q whale
assalled by swordfish- The enemy
could steam around and around the
/ fleet, keeping out of range Of its guns
and waiting at leisure for an oppor-
I tuuity to strike a deadly blow.
Up TO now we have declined to
build battle cruisers OF scout
/ cruisers We have hardly any. De-
/ strOyers are not servicea bic as scouts,
( they lack adequate steamiug radius.
I and they cannot maintain high speed
in a heavy sea
The torpedo has importantly mod
flied naval warfare. To be safe
/ against this destructive weapon. a
fleet of battleships must be protect
ed at all times, and particularly at
night. by a screen of smaller and
more mobile vessels. Admiral Lord
4 Charles Beresford recently wrote
/ No guns viii protect a battle fleet
against torpedo attacks at night. The
only effective method OF defence is
{ to employ a number of small crui Users
/ to clear a vide area about the fleet
at shutdown. The cruisers must be
disposed so as 10 form a protecting
screen distant 100 to 40 miles on all
sides"
Lack Of such screen permits
hostile torpedo boat flotilla to hover
about at shutdown like a pack OF
coyotes about a campfire. ready so
rush i'm under cover Of darkness In
Iasmuch as the effective range Of their
Z tOrpedoes is fully 10000 yards, or
I five and one-half miles, IL is obvious
that a battleship's searchhght will
not reach far enough to render them
visible when attacking The torpedo
boat can launch its torpedo while in
visible 10 the gun
/ Now, suppose a case where our bat
tie fleet was assailed by an enemy
squadron that included one or two
/ battle cruisers-those wonderful