Evening journal., 1922-08-23
BRITAIN navy
NOW DWINDLING
Famous Old Seahghters
Have Places in Rotten
Rows"
SHIPS ARE SCRAPPED
UNDER TREATY TERMS
BL DAVID L. BLUMENFELD.

BL DAVID l.. BLUMENFELD,
(United Press staff Correspondent
LONDON, Aug. 23 Omitted
Press) Great Britain Is scrap.
ping her capital ships gradually"
Many people have had visions OF
dockyards. swarming with workers,
dlsmantling the great grey ships
alongside the quays. battering off
guns and searchlight platforms, as
II nothing else on earth mattered.
In England. at any rate this is
far from fact.
In the first place, most OF the
heavy scrapping TO be done by Eng
land Admiralty officials showed is
not scheduled before 1925 when
super Dreadnaughts of the King
George V type come under the
shipbreakers' hammer. or are sold.
minus their armament and imple-
ments Of warfare
After that, the famous Queen
Elizabeth came up for destruction
in 1885 the Royal Sovereign in 1896.
the Renon (already on the reserve
list since the return Of the Prince
OF Wales from his world tour In
1870 and the famous Hood in 1912.
In the meantime sixteen obsolete
vessels have gone 10 the scrap heap.
They are the pre-dreadnaughts
Mars. Caesar. Queen. Swiftssure.
Hindustan, Lord Nelson, and the
Dreadnaughts Bellerophon. Temer-
aire. st. Vincent Dreadnaught (the
original of her type) Hercules. In
flexible, Indomitable, Crescent and
Commonwealth. These ships. II Is
true, were partly scheduled for the
scrap h>ap before the Washington
Conference took place The Treaty
OF Washington sealed their fate and
they have accordingly been scrap |
ped" That is to say. they are no
longer on the actual list OF the I
Navy. Some Of them have been
broken up. others used as targets. /
others again. minus their guns. rest
IN the dry docks OF Davenport and I.
Portsmouth. rotting gradually with
but couple OF caretakers on board /
ships which were once the pride J
OF the British Fleet.
OF the later types schedules 10
20. and already off the Navy''s active
list are the Superb-in a few weeks
10 become a target for the bombs
OF British air squadrons-the Erin
already in the hands OF shipbreak-
ers. the Agincourt. New Zealand,
Princess-Royal and Lion.
But the process is gradual. A
ship which has cost four millions
cannot be broken up in a week. To
destroy a great battleship is an ex-
pensive matter and at least half a
million dollars goes at the foot OF
the bill
Consequently the big vessel for de- /
struction. the crew is first OF all paid
off. and with anucleus crew steams
round TO her last port where she
waits further orders. There are
many such vessels in what is known
as the Rotten Rows" OF the dock
yards. Some OF them will be strip
ped OF all their fittings and their
guns melted down: sod maybe for
reconditioning as freighters in the
case OF light cruisers. others sold
10 such foreign countries as the !
Treaty Of Washington allows.
Many OF the fittings Of these
monster war vessels repay their |
original placing in the battleshlps. |
Range finders can he used in gar
rison forts which overlook the sea.
compasses, w;nches, steam launches, |
hydraulic derricks telephone sys-
TENS. searchlights can and are
being used again in newly built
vessels or sold to the merchant ser
vice.
The actual position resulting
from the conference as regards the
capital ships in service OF Great
Britain and America to date is as
follows:
Capital Ships-America, 81.
Capital Ships-Great Britain. 22.
But America must scrap one bat
tleship and seven cruisers with
Great Britain scrapping four bat
tleships already built. so that in