SEA POWER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 794, 18 April 1910, Page 11

SEA POWER.

SUPER-DREADNOUGHTS—AND AFTER. - . BY A NAVAL EXPERT. - Mr, Meyer, tho Secretary of the Navy of tho United States, is understood to have outlined, for construction next year . two 32,000-toii battleships equipped with guns. : Tho cost of each of these American super-Dreadnoughts is estimated at .£3,600,000. The 14-inch guns are alleged to bo a success," and the tests to which they have been subjected are stated to bo, completely satisfactory. As a compiemeut tc building of 52,000-ton wzrtho enlargement of the three American dry docks now building is essential. Provision for the purpose is included in the current Appropriation Bill now before Congress. "a? . is .ail open that the British Admiralty have long foreseen ' the possiS i!? 0 in the size and nghting capacity of battleships. Designs .for a vessel of 70,000 tons, without funnels or coal bnnkers, mounting 100.guns, have already been undei consideration, ino cost of , this ship would somewhat exceed five millions of pounds. When we consider that the cost of auxiliary armament and apparatus is always rising, the financial' problem, even ,to the most in* veterate optimist, is no longer soluble by patriotic generalities. The new White-' head torpedo weighs nearly a ton, and is inches in diameter. Its extreme range exceeds 7000 yards, at a speed of 40 knots, its steerage is accurate—nothing is left to chance. The efficiency of the 21-inch ft fl ? ieanS i^ a 6 k*i s costing to-day ' and which next year may not *bo procurable under five million pounds apiece, come within torpedo range at a distance of four miles from the'foe, Taxpayers. Point of View.' L : '-'-'b 6 problem concern^ i t J s xp^"er »'- tho Patriot, the European, and the father of a family. The Dreadnought suddenly revolutionised not , only lighting at sea, but dock accommodation throughout- thd world. It disestablished the Kiel Canal. Jt involved the German taxpayer-in expenditure of ten million pounds to recover the strategical value of. hia canal. The ,financial, effect of improved Super-Dreadnoughts is one that may be discussed without heat or prejudice,-since .the outlook is too serious banalities, of-political conflict. When the Dreadnought . was launched trom Lord Wisher's brain a now.erailjegan. i The Dreadnought might ; have < ad<l|essed her predecessors in the language' of _ Sir Henry Wotton three hundred years before; You meaner beauties of the night,' .ihat | partly satisfy our eves More by your number than your light, ■,J 0 " common people of the skies, Wliat are,you when the moon shall rise? iniiSL'rwW 6 -. of estimating the cost T)rln,[nn I 1 adoption of SuperRriiM' ? u , n "capsulation of the chief British dockyards will enable uTe hffhn r° S f 6 bro^dl y wta' is entailed *L i- \ CD for J ea P°??. r - At Devonport and -h-eyham the ' Uritish taxpayer has recently 6 pent about five million pounds; nf %S°7 ? asm u!°? acres has a depth hlf f for a Dreadnought, but insufhqient for the improved SuperDreadnoughts. Ihe'new German Dreadf"f EerS ; hke the Dreadnought, are alleged to draw two feet more than ™ k1 'f no^, J normal: coil' nf ho . n . oiD ™ l maximum draft ot the.i i3ellerophon, type |is 29 feet, but a compartment • pierced by- shell or tordown brill S' her load line-lower Vast Expenditure. drr ' doolc i-, in S 1 ® new TnfllrlKi am ca i n • Dlve!K)no «Bhts and K®' m w" possibly accommodate the improved American euperDreadnoughte foreshadowed by Mr Meyer. Io bring Dovonport and Iveym Ji lP n - C j ate ' in tho evellt of the i'ni--■S™lr Dr ®??. nou g l its quadrupling or even aonoung their. ..present' > tonnage, a great inoreaso to tho Naval Estimates would be. required.-• The Devonport- yard salary list is £58433 a year:, '. Portsmouth has one dock, that could take a Dreadnought or the length of the deck in question, No. 15, is only 563 feet. The Bellerophon,. remeraire, and .Superb are 520 feet- on the. water line, and 526 feet length over all. Vast expenditure would mf^ ul as elsewhere. The probability- is that' super-Dread-noughts oould not be accommodated at Portsmouth; a fresh construction is en- ' tailed by the new policy. At Chatham one dock can take the. Dreadnought and Jnflexib e, but with the increase and the 81 i Ze v4l. Jl 1 ® units the,other six docks at Chatham require .-enlargement .on.,a soale that' amounts :to -reconstruction. At Sheeraess there is no accommodation for ■ big ships,- At Haulbowline, warships drawing less than 32i feet of:water- and less than-a width of ,91 feet can be acAt -Portland, the present base for the Channel-Fleet,'are 1500 acres of enclosed harbour,, with a minimum depth of 30 feet. There, as at Gibraltar, a large area of harbour -at low water would not be unavailable for improved super-Dreadnoughts. At Gibraltar is one ■ dock able to take any warship drawing less than 35 feet, but if my information is correct—it was obtained on the spotno improved super-Dreadnought oould ever reach the sill of the dock. At Dover, after an expenditure of several millions, we have obtained a harbour of 61U acres, with a depth of 30 feet at low water over half the area4the tide at entrance is very strong, making navigaidon difficult and dangerous to large ' ships;..: the larger . the. ship. the greater the danger. Until Dover Harbour is deepened half of iV in not'available for improved super-Dreadnoughts, although mooring ha-vo been laid down for twentyone battleships and large - cruisers. At Kosyth one dock to take. ; any-warship .is proposed, but in tho interests of the taxpayer, in view of coming fleets of mammoth warships, compared with which the Dreadnought is'a pigmy, it is to bo hoped that ; Eosyth will be abandoned as the destruction of the Forth Bridge would effectually bottle any number of five-million-pound ships that happened to be accommodated' at Eosyth. Practically Wasted. The policy of building brick , and mortar jackets for the Royal Navy is subject to the drawback that,..as a rule, tho jackets do not fit by the time they are completed. The,.enormous expenditure on Gibraltar is 'practically wasted— every dock is under fire' from the Spanish mainland, and if British Dreadnoughts were put out of action from shell fire in time of war it is unlikely thai they would be repaired abroad during the term of the war._ Colombo is the only fortifxod coaling station able to take any warship drawing less than 32 feel. ■ • Hong-Kong can just tako a Dreadnought, but would be unable to deal. with a larger ship. At - Bombay thero is no dry, dook suitable for modern warship*, Aden,. Mauritius, Penang, Singapore, Bsquimaulfc have nothing, after oil our vast outlay, able ta accommodate modern battleships. At Simon's Bay a pew dock able to take any warehlp is building. At Bermuda is a fleatipg doofc that could be used by the Dreadnought. A dry dook at Hallfas, two at'Jienff-Kong and ono at Sydney—the Sutherland Dock—aro able to take largo warships. Of the British private (looks at Homo and abfoad Southampton has'two, Liverpool one, Birkenhead eno, Belfast two, Colombo and Hali- , f«s one eaeh, With regard to Germany, Kiel, WilhelmahaTOn; Dantnio, Gnxhaven, Bremerhaven would require organio ohanges involving cost, tho soope of which cannot; be foreseen.' Jfor is there any praapeet of finality being raaahed whon a Droadnonglit costs five mlllien pounds, ' oarr-iea a hundred guns, and can bo wreokod as the Afantagn was wrecked by an error of judgment on tho part of ene officer drawing less than ,£2OO a year.— "Daily News." I ■