THE MEDITERRANEAN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 811, 7 May 1910, Page 5

THE MEDITERRANEAN.

A STRONGER FLEET. BEST PUB-DREADNOUGHTS GOING . ■ THERE. By Telerraph—Preoß Association—OocyrlghL London, May 5. It is stated that, owing to the increase in naval strength in home waters, the battloships Lord, Nelson . and Agamemnon (the largest and most powerful of British battleships except the Dreadnoughts)' will proceed to the Mediterranean, while the battleships Triumph and Swiftsuro (sister ships of 11,800 tons, carrying four 10-inch and fourteen 7.5-inch guns, launched in 1903) will leave the Mediterranean Fleet to go to the Far East. TWO DEPARTURES. , After the Anglo-Japanese alliance, the British battleships in China waters were, withdrawn, leaving only cruisers and. lesser craft on the .Eastern station —a fact which was a subject of adverse comment in certain quarters in Australia at the time of the visit of the ,TJnited States fleet. To-day's news marks two departures—the return of battleships to the China'station, and the strengthening of the British fleet in the' Mediterranean (where Austrian Dreadnoughts are looming up as a future contingency) by the two most powerful pre-Dreadnoughts. When the Pacific units scheme of. the Defence Conference is complete, there will be three Dreadnought-cruisers in or about Pacific waters.

■ The Lord Nelson and the Agamemnon are each of 16,500 tons, carry four 12inch and ten 9.2-inch guns, and have a speed of 18 knots. The Triumph and the Swiftsuro aro each of 11,800 tons, carry four 10-inch and fourteen 7.5-inck guns, and have a speed of 20 • knots. The commissioning of the new Dreadnoughts for home waters enables this redistribution to be made.