AM EMPIRE PACIFIC FLEET.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 598, 28 August 1909, Page 5

AM EMPIRE PACIFIC FLEET.

TWO GIFT INDOMITABLES. NEW ZEALAND'S CRUISER TO QO ON CHINA STATION. ' OTHER SHIPS WITH HEADQUARTERS HERE. • The result of the Imperial Defence Conference,.as disclosed by Mr. Asquith's Important statement-reported below, is that British naval power in the Pacific —the comparative weakness of which was a subject of comment at the time of the visit of the United States fleet to these waters qnd to Japan—is to be reorganised and revolutionised by the formation of a new fleet of three units; each unit con-, taimng one Indomitable armoured cruiser, three smaller cruisers, six River class destroyers, and,three submarines; making a total fleet of— Indomitables ... ... j ... ... ... 3 Cruisers (Bristol type) ... ... .„ ... ... 9 * Destroyors (River type) ... ■ ... / ... 18 : Submarines (C class) . ... ... ... ... ... ~, 9

. Total ... ... ... ... ... 39 The Australian and Now Zealand gift-ships,, originally proposed to bn Dreadnoughts, will be Indomitable instead. One unit will be stationed in the' East Indies, the other in Australia, and the third in China. , Of the now Pacific Fleet, the East Indies unit will be provided and maintained by tho Imperial Government. .The Australian unit willj with somo Imperial financial assistance, be provided gnd maintained by the Australian Government, and it will include the Australian Indomitable. V 1 ' ■ , The New ; Zealand Government, unliko tho Australian, will not go in for - fleet or, unit of its own. The Indomitable which it gives to the Admiralty will be stationed with the, China unit. The New Zealand Government's annual contribution to the: Imperial Navy (at present £100,000 a year) will go towards the maintenance of the China unit, some of tho vessels of which will have their, headquarters in New Zealand. But tho New Zealand Indomitable will be stationed in China The scheme might be summed up as a Pacific naval partnership. But so far there is. nothing about the Eastern Pacific and Canada's unit.

THE WORK OF THE CONFERENCE. • MR.. ASQUITH'S STATEMENT. ■ ( (Reo. August 27, 11,10 p.m.) : ■ , London, August 27. In the House of Commons, in reply to t) question by Mr. Walter Long (Unionist), tho Prime Minister, Mr. Asguith, mado a statement regarding the Imperial DefoncS Conforenco \vhioh was listened to with tho groatcst intorest.. ■ "f ::'

i Mr. Asquith recalled, the fact that the Coftforenco was oonvened to discuss the general question of naval and military defence, with , special /reference to recent proposals in Atostrnlia anil Now Zealand, and the resolution passed by the Canadian House of Commons in March approvipg tho development of a Canadian Navy to 00-operate with the Im-perial-Navy ,in maintaining British supremacy' at sea.•. The decisions of the Conference, as far as iihe .delegates of the Dominions wero concerned, woro subject to; the approval of their various Parliaments. "Tho Soutlv African. delegates,did not consider tliemsolves to bo in a position to submit positive proposals

until the South. African Union was an, accomplished fact. . Military Sldo^Standardlsatlon. After tho main Conference •• had 1 been opened,, a; foreign and offensiyo military conference, was held at the'.War-Office,: and led to .an agreement on ; certain ■ fundamental principles, whioh wero embodied in papers prepared by the General Staff for tho delegates 1 consideration. The substanoe of theso papers, which would: bo included among the papers ;to bo published, was a. recommendation;'that; without interfering, with : each Do'minion's'complete control over the ' bp standardised, tho.' Dpmihiins' methods'as regards-the,formation'<if.;units,' arrangements for.,transport,, .pattern, weapons, 'etc.} being -. aii ' far 'as 'possible assimilated. jrith those ■recently? worked out for the British Army. Thus, ..while ■ the/Dominion troops:- in ; each case would bo raised for tho defence of tho Dominion concerned, it would be made read-

ship to Imperial defcnce, eaoh giving a 1 battleship, had. been accepted, with tho sutistitution of tho Indomitable olass of armoured cruiser instead of a battleship as originally suggested. . New Zealand's Indoipitabl'o would be maintained on the China station, Aqs- \ tralia's on the Australian station, ii: New Zealand's contribution {at" pre- ' sent £100,000 a year) to tho Imporial vNavy would .be applied towards - the : maintenance of tho China' uniti of .which some of the- smaller vesseU would-have New Zealand a< their headquarters. , Regarding Australia, tho suggested orj rangem'eut was tliat, with some temporary I assiatanoo .from the Imperial fundsj 1 1 Commonwealth should provide 1 and maintain on Australian unit of tho Pacific Fleet. ' < Separate meetings wore held between il(o Admiralty and the representatiyefl of Canada, Australia, and New . Zealand, and general statements wero agreed upon in eaoh case' for. further consideration by the respective 'Governments of thoso Dominions. AUSTRALIA'S NAVY. COST OF CONSTRUCTION, ,£3,000,000. Melbourne, August 27. The Federal Prime Minister, Mr. De'akin, states, ;in connection ■ with the cable" message giving , the probable strength of tho Australian Navy, that it will involve a constructional cost of something like three millions.

ily,practicable-that, in. case of need, that Dominion, should mobilise'and uso them for the defence of the Empire as a whole.

! Inception of Imperial Ceneral Staff. The Military Conference entrusted a isubconferonco of ,experts from the Army 'Head-quarters-and from the Dominions, presided over ly : tho Chief of tho General Staff (Gen-

eral Sir Wm. Q. 'Nioholson)acting for the first time as Chief of tho Imperial General Staff, with the duty of working out the detailed application of these Thus the Imperial General Staff was brought into active working; it was result of the Imperial Conference held in 1907. Tho snb-i conference reached complete agreement, their conclusions being •. finally approved ■by the I main Conference and by tho Committeo of Imperial Defence. The , Primo Ministeradded:— !• -v : f "''-'-.ir-.' 1 .The result Is a plan of so organising , the forces of tho Crown, wherever they , are, thht, while preserving each Domin-

, . ion's complete autonomy, should the Do- - mlniofis desire to assist in the defenco of tnß Empire In a caso of real -emergency,' their forces,can be readily combined ■> Into ono homogeneous Imperial Army. Subsidy.—Local Flosts.-r-lnterohanga ■ and' Union. . Dealing with tho naval defence aspect of the Conference, Mr. Asquith said that :ho Admiralty's memorandum, which had been submitted, to the Dominions' representatives, formed jtho, basis of ■. the . preliminary conferences; , The alternative. niethods 'which might be adopted by the Dominion Governments. in.; co-operation in Imperial naval defence wero ( discussed. ■ : New Zealand- preferred to adhere to her present policy of, an annual contribution to : tho Imperial Navy; Canada; aad. Australia preferred to lay the foundation of their own floote.

. It was recognised that in building a fleet a number of conditions should bo conformed to. - Tho fleet must be of a oortain siae in order to oiler a permanent career to those engaged, in the service. The .personnel should be trained and • -disciplined under regnktions similar to thoso of tho loyal Navy, ,iu order to allow of interchange and union between tho British and tho Dominion ,services; and,, with the same object, the standard of . vessels and armaments should bo uniform.

Now Paolfic Fleet in Three Units. • The rc-modolling of tho squadrons in the Far East was' considered on' the basis of establishing n Pacific Fleet consisting of three units, to bo stationed as follows; • (1) In the East Indies.' (2) In Australia. (3) In China. V Thoso. sovoral units would each comprise though perhaps' with somo ' variations, the following • vessels: — •, One Indomitable armoured cruiser. ■ Three oruisers of. Bristol typo. Six destroyers of River class, Three C Submarines. | Indomitable, Not Droadnought. ' Mr. Asquith went on to say that the goner-. otis offers—first by N<nv Zealand and" then by Uio ComumwoklUt—to cbqteilmtg ft vair- j

NEW ZEALAND CIFT-SHIP-

THE ! irSES OE THE GREAT ARMOURED CRUISERS. ~l nstead of . n Dreadnought-battleship, New Zealand .is. to ;present- to tho British" Navy a ■Dieatmpught-qruiseri • on§ of those- greyhounds S 12-inch guns,- nowTepresented in the British Aavy by; th(S, Indomitable, the Invincible, and Inflexible, , Out-Gun or Out-Hun. • It 11)11 be noted tlmt in a speech cabled yesterday, Mr. M'Kennn, First Lord of 'the Ad•mmuty that it bo pospiblo to K? t cr . Uls ers raster and more powerful than; the Invincible, type.' ' He. also stated that one ot the two November Dreadnoughts' would- he an improved oruiier,. owing Ito. the ...need' of cruisers., thatwould; be able to 'or to capture the enemy's ships.. ' '.' T ]' o e re . at argument for the Invincible type i : e " i er .Bivo'-.or'.refuse' fight,what, sho cannot out-sun shp - can.' ( outrun! Her armouris not eo ithick as that of a Dreadnought .battleship,, but 'if pressed She Pan run' . b ?/ ore sef'nus trouble: arrives.: -The Paris T0 j e V 1 ' th j s raill .when the Indomitable, made her great rnn across , the Atif tv ' as , t . }' Mr ' The maintained at that _ tune, that the Indomitable was "the only utiip capable of. forcing' an engagement value o S f D ?i, ' fhe greatly reduces the value of .the...armoured cruisers of .all other navies. Owing to her heavier guns and greater fetfi Z W p° Uk \ kc T cp ,oh 0 distance'. from tJiQ tlueenesfc Frenoh, Japanese,'and American vessels of tho same type,- that while her . own flic would be effective, sho would be invulnerable to their fire. Indeed the Tn domitpble could match ' hefeelf against most 1 of li e French _and German bnttleships in comand, is ; superior, .to some of the Bri!

On the Head of the Column. . ' aa -? t^ r writer, tie. object for jhich the Indomitable or Inflexible type has been built is not only -to deal with hostilo to ff compel thfl «fiy ta H?o f v g lm °f. 0r concentrating od the head. .of his line.. By superior speed the cruiser it is argued, could keep ahead. enme-ing-all the _time only the single leading ship ■ Another duty of- the Indomitables "is to be of" I tL I flH,t m b , a . Ule " Ulle M a . t » critical■ moment of-the fight.. This was Nelson's idea when on that °lin told Admiral. Keats fl-tp=t K n m en v -*° ' one diTision of his fastest battleships in a situation,of advantage to throw them into battle in any fronFi choose. The speed of the Indbraitables renders at possible to use' them in this fashion with crushing effect.';' , ■The fast big cruiser would'also figure in a' pursuit, thusA single twalveTnoh shell landed on or m the stoutest battleship in fnrinf 00U fMI to inflict ?uoh injuries as 'would reduce her speed. Her would- either have to reduce their' 8 S 1 keep, near - their crippled ship,', or thefwotild havo^ to abandon her. to her fate. 'If the? adopted , the latter alternative" the able, leaving the lame duck to be retrieved' by the slower battleships, in; her wake, would r°jP €a ' ; ■ the experiment with another of the .ships of the flying enemy. A.?? rn . chase, is proverbially a lone ehiu* ? t l3 no s 60 when the purenar has an ten miles an honr ill speed and when he has the whole length of hisarmrmr'a deck on which to drop hisihell"" ' 3 <n6m^s

Cruisers Building. /The big cruisers now building are tho Tnde fatigahle (British) and tho Von der Tann (Ger- \ "V '}, ntlcl Pftory figures have been published •about them, but' tho performance' of the Invincible shoivß that anticipations may be very much improved, on, Anticipatory , figures are he more to ba doubted in t£e cJe of German the German Admiralty has a reputation not only of keeping its secrets, bu° Hnn"Th lng / n 6 P ubl ; c f? 1011 , rf false information. The following table,..however, gives tho best aval able basis of comparison.; Itgives dofmir« f 6 i , / a . n(i anticipatory figures of the British Indefatigable and tho German Von' der Tann:- . : . Invincible. Indefatigable. Ton'der Tann •• Tonnage 17,250 . 10,000 v 19000 Horse- • ' power 41,000 15,000 44 000' Speed , _ (knots) 28 (actual) 28 (nominal) 24 (nominal) Guns .... eight lain. , eight lain, twelve Uin Broad- _ ' .'. side .. 68001b. wt.- CSOOIb. 7Go£llb.

12-pounders, and were given engine-power sufificient to develop 25 knots speed. Consequent on tho "big ship" tendency which came into vogue niter Sir Phillip Watte assumed office as as director of naval construction, tho tonnage J[' M J vessels of this type was almost doubled. Ihe Bristol, though really a Scout, 1 also rank as a second-class protected cruiser. Her displacement will be 4800 tons, length 430 feet, and speed lis knots. A corresponding increase in armament has also taken place, each ship carrying six 4-inch quick-firers. Tho average cost of vessels of the Bristol typo is slightly, under £3-10,000 each. , ' RIVER CLASS OF DESTROYER. ' . The river class of destroyers is one of the now numerous classes of destroyers in the Navy, the distinctive feature of tho clnss being a speed of 251 knots. Tho class dates from .1903 onwards, and boats of this type - average j 550 tons displacement. Tho original vessels of (ho class were tho Exe, Convent; Eden, Ettrick, Foyle, Itchen, Kibble, Teviot, and Usk.