NAVAL ARMAMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 667, 18 November 1909, Page 7

NAVAL ARMAMENTS.

■£&;'''^SPEED..TRIALS.,-■.-'..'•■■:'/; ■GERMANY'S "SUPER-DREADNOUGrtTS." '■' : p>y' EAPID: CONSTRUCTION. ■... (By. Toteetaph.rPro«B AinMlatlon.-Obpyrlßht.i ' ■ Berlin, November 18. .Germany's third improved Dreadnought, the .Thuringia (over 20,000 tons, and supposed to carry twelvo 12-inch guns), will bo launched at .Bremen on Saturday, next, and an armoured : cruiser of .the Invincible typo in December. All the warships commenced in Germany in 1908 will then-be afloat..■■■■■. ";;".}■■ GERMAN SHIPS DEPRECIATED., : .While'some English writers are complaining of the alleged inferiority of British Dreadnoughts to German "supor-Droadnoughts," at least : one Borlin writer reverses the case. Criticism of the, Gorman "supor-Dreadnonghts" appears in the . "Berliner .Tageblatt" Although the first two, tho Heligoland and the Ostfrieslahd, have only just been launched ■they are condemned as being "old-fashioned and; obsolete" in several points, and are com r pared unfavourably with, the corresponding British vessels. ■' ;! : ' The new German battleships,; the writer complains, are "fatally handicapped" by lacking turbine engines, and are doomed oven before they enter service to be "hopelessly outclassed by Great Britain's faster, larger, and more powerfully armed' ships' of the line. It is regrettable that vessels costing millions, arc, because of tho neglect of the latest technical ideas, essentially inferior, to British vessels of the samo age." ■. ■; .'.'■■; Y ; TWO CLASSES OF CRUISER. JPAST SPEEDS. ~'; '; ■'•>■ ;• London, November 16. The new cruiser Bellona, 3350 tons,. in hei trials attained a speed of 27 4-5 knots an hour. . . '. -Berlin, November 16. ;•'■" The armoured cruiser Bhicher, 15,500, tons, at her speed trial developed a ratoof 25i knots per hour.' . ' .■'■■'; ,' v/; ;.•'. . VARIOUS'.CRUISER TYPES. The Bellona, 3350 tons, is an. enlarged "scout,'; just as the Swift, 1800 tons,' iai .an enlarged: destroyer. The Swift, sometimes called a '"destroyer of destroyers,".; has steamed three knots faster than any l other British warship—that is l to say, about 39 knots an hour. •' '■■■'•■. Tho Bellona's realised speed of • 27- 4-5 knots is 2 4-5/ knots in excess of the contract. The Bellona and her sister, the Boadicea, are both designed for, 25 knots. • Their 1 successors now building are still further enlarged,' being of 4800 tons, with a contract speed of 25 knots,, and will probably ho laiown as second-class cruisers,.. instead of enlarged scouts' • The British cruiser-battleships, or Dread-' ■nought-cruisers,' have reached a speed of over 28 knots (Invincible),; and; an ocean; speed of 2G knots (Inflexible). .The -Germanv cruiser Blucher, 15,500 tons, which has'reached a speed 'of 251.knots (2i knots in, excess-of-contract) is a pre-Dreadnought typo. ■' '"' '■.:'; ' The Bellona is 385 ft,: long,i 42ft. broad, and draws 131 ft. at normal displacement. Her armament will consist of five 4in.. guns, eight smaller machine guns, aid two torpedo tubes. She' was laid down" in Juno, 1908. '•

: SEPARATE BRANCH OF KHUPP'S, Berlin, November 16. ■-~ ; It is reported that Krupp's armament works at Essen is establishing branch works at' Ingolstadt; a strongly fortified town in Bavaria, on the : left bSnk of the Danube, already possessing a royal factory for tlio manufacture of ifirearms and,gunpowder. ' "-y.'.."• ; .. THIRD BRAZILIAN DREADNOUGHT/ >' :'■'■..; .'.'"'■'..■, •■'* London, November 16. ; The Armstrong Company is constructing at ,ihe Elswick .Works a ■ new armour-clad battleship for the Brazilian Government. She will be named the.. Rip' de: Janeiro,; and r will be a sister-ship" of the' Miha3''Qefae's''and*lhe v 'S'ao' Paulo, lately 'launched. "'.-"■' .it [The 'Minns- Geracs . is. reported to-have o; •tonnage of 19,250, a; speed of 21 knots, and an armament of twelve'l2-inch and twenty-two 4.7-inch' gun 5.]...,,.-..,- ■",-.■ , i,FIRST AUSTRALIAN DESTROTBE. ; . ', .'■■"•'• , London, November'. .46.".'. The first.'. Australian destroyer will be launched on December 11. ', V .'•,.. •. .' The. Australian engineers at Glasgow ' who are' assisting in the construction of the. vessels speak well• oi\ their general • treatment.', ■'.; They are quickly gaining .knowledge undor the pro. gramme arranged, to give them complete experience.' :'''. ; '-'- • ;■"; ..^ : ".'.■• , . ■■ ■'■: ,•; ' ','•.." . "'■■.•