OUR BATTLE CRUISER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1719, 9 April 1913, Page 8

OUR BATTLE CRUISER.

. "WHOLLY A MODERN SHIP." / FULL DESCRIPTION OF H.M.S. : NEW ZEALAND. , (By .DONALD' MACDONALD, in' tho - Melbourne "Argus.") * • ' After admiring the fine'speed lines of cur criiiscr Melbourne, you turn to tkb New Zealand, the first of tho Dreadnought, . typo j -{nafe vlias.. come into Australianwatery now lying • off'tho: Gelli- : brand -Point,/. Willia'mstown,; to", realiso power and solidity'. This,.battle-cruiser, with her, battery of eight. 12in. guns;: and a secondary equipment of , 'Sixteeii">4in. quick-firers, to. deal With'.destroyers' and desperate craft .of that 'sort;' is' diio of thi;. factors by." which the nations- to-day . measure their fighting strength at sea—' ~ii ship that-.can- givo and take hard knocks. in a duel with one of, her own sine. -To grasp,' to appreciate; the'solidity of the New Zealand, you need to • # staud,> firstv'fai-'uway'up torel;op," * and take a ■ giillVtyb view of i tlie. niass of steel below, yolii Even then there, is -suggestion of solidity only in the power to hit; everything that counts for capacity to' hidden; '.You: *. . • must take the designers' aud ship-buiUU ers' assurance that between" her';' vital partj-nnd the outer world lies some 12in."■ : uf steOl armour.;"And'.'when you 'have, ■' -.. from this lofty: look-out, I '■gras'iiid/hl't' 'sol-, ' idity, it comes as something of a- .revelation to'learn that in an emergency this ; , big ship, which runs to thickness and to depth, rather than length, could, outsteam the- Melbourh'c'."She. steamed' 27 / knots on herI.'1.' rKVL'ldpin'g" her engines to the limif; • In an. einerg- ; cncy,_ and wi.tH;s,tiStiiilation, slip!;,(!an, it i> said, do 21) knots. It, seems' : 'indrediblo when you look "at her bulk,' and go down into her engines, wiKi What fine economy of space the turbines are packed away. ' But coal in sufficiency will do almost ', anything, and these-Dreadnoughts are coalJaters. At full speed 30 tons of coal per hour passes through her furnaces. ~On the'ran / across from Durban she used' 8000' tons . of coal. AVhcn she-dropped/anchor in Melbourne sho had just.eight ton&'Of'coiil .-' .-' left. It'soenied to bo-a-nico'calculatibn-— a .Mattel'! of cutting it' dh'ngero'asly.'finebut _hor reserve.of oil'fuel; GSO tons,"is yet intact. 1 ' : 'lt"Ml 'be' seen!lilt; once .that » million, and a-'lialf.df liio'iiey'is not .th'<j ; ouly expenditure that agnation puts into its modern battleship: 1 'The' feo.l 'cost" be- . gins only when -you ! keep "them ' moving, or when they 'have to shoot,-'as well "as ■ steam. . t 1 '• < At present the New Zealand looks a fine target,.'Standing'.high out of. tho wateT. That! is',' wholly /duo ; to ■ the fact' that her coal-bunkers aro. empty. . B.v the. time she leaves Melbourne slie will' I) 6' ;seen in state, lying much . lower in the water. Probably on 'the' run: across to Wellington sho will bo ! , /put to'lier top for a 24 hours' speed, trial. At present they are pouring W.ostport coal:into her—the. famous We.stport- coal, which ANew 'Zealanders'cven vet'remind 'you was, the. bunkers of the Calliopo :• when she'steaiued .through "that Saiiioait '' hurricane ; lopg ,ago;.,an, .event .celebrated, by Kipling in tho lilies— ' .. ,»"iirst.of the. scattered.galleons .-,i ; Uiider a shrieking sky, 1 Dipping ibetween tho , j The'..English',flag goes by.". / .'The 'New Zealand, apai't; altogether from , her .power, ;her significance sion -of-nations,. .must ibo . interesting , to Victorians, because. they-see; in her, a-'sis- ••>••• tpr-ship.to.their own Dreadnought,,Austratia;...; liiv.build,- in armament, in all . the things , that count for the balance . 'in sea-pttrer,' they , were identical,: so,.in :, ~-1. looking at the"New-Zealand they realiso' ' the /Australia'. 1 ! Jiist its in '.'minor'and modern" 'contrivances'tho New . Zealand' is an improvement upoii.. the Indefatigable, so in'turn, "and because of' that 'ceaseless ;. ' evolution.'.iu sea-mechanism'"which makes I navalj 1 dominance costly, tlics •Australia ,: may ifl,s'ome : Tesp'sctslba bet'tei - tliaii the' ; -"New .Zealand. None the less, .our visitor is. wholly : a. ; iuoderji'ship. On lier' bridge, I -'no,tice, -'.among' other"thiiigs,' tho Gyro ; . compass, tho .niOst-reliable steering guido - , yet'invented, because'it has no elements ;. of deviation 'afcja!ll. Whilo she is founded on , and liulefatigables/ . her big'guns, have a much larger''arc offire than'tpsd'earlier-'battle'ciuisers. Thi ; . "two pairs'Jof'turret Xiractic'ally iiblo to'box tho oompass. Tho ' . whole , of , her guns , may .be trained for either-a port or -a 'starboard 1 broadside. Jn. a chase she can practically bring .. six guns', to bear' ahead—to. b'o explicit; \ four ,out Of tho six can bear,ou the.hunted enemy; the pair .of guns-ia. the iaftei. turret, jnay. be ..trained . 140 degrees , past ; .,:, the ordinary broadside .-position,.,. It ivill ■ bo. seen that/oho' object in arming the Dreadnoughts .is. to .have as little ...top jliampei< as'jpossiblo' int<>rferin:»-. wltV tha - sweep'Of the guns. : v A word as to the'guns and their capa.' ; city may. bo intere«itliig. They are dis- ,; posed/ ill pairs 'in four turrets, and, as in ,tlie caso of the Melbourne,'the first im- -. pression' ono is that the Joint is altogether/too .Wo-hayo in the Cerberus' an. illustration of tho V old', type'-pf turret, in" ivhich' the ; concussion of a successful .shot ,by tho cnemyi was to'kill a gun's:.'orew, : and ' ' . in damaging tho'work' of tho turret' to . put a."gun/ out oftaction.-- Captain Semi; - '. enoff; in" his account of the battle pf Esu I. ,-' ; ;fihiiua, gives a vivid and impressive *de- " scriptioh- of ; the Kussian -battleship- turi ' ..rets when the Japanese gunners wero hit- • ting them. In one men sat dazed, and !,. / incapable through, tho horrid nerve-shat- ■ tcring clamour—later ho looked into'tho | turret again, and they were dead. Theso : turrets of yesterday, were too big a mark; ! , even our American visitors of a few years ago wero old aild obsolete as compared with the New Zealand.'- The turlets, with ; some ? inches of armorir-plat-f ing for their protection, 6eem to bo only i enlarged tail-pieces for tho guns. There are no side-openings. You enter through a man-hole at the, top, climb in through a trap-door in tho steel fioorway, and, , once inside—with singularly little l-oofu ! , > to spare—you have, excepting for the ! aperture through which tho 46ft. of gnn protrudes, a steel wall -all about you. : Ono reason why littlo room is required nowadays in a turret is that mechanism has quite, man,.. .handling. ; Hverything that onco demanded power is dOuo by pressure—electrical or,, hydraulic. In tho after or "A" turret of the New Zealand you have a pair of Armstrong . rifles 46ft. in length,,teach to .bo exact, 57 at their best about 'five 1 shells per- minute, " each weighing 8301b., driven by 2601b. of cordite, and travelling, when it leaves the muzzle, at about -7,000 ft. per second. Yet ths recoil oi tho shot, a tremendous force, is all- provided .fori in. a spaeO'Of about 3ft. behind each gun. There is singularly littlo man-power in the tuiTet, lunless it is the'"power" ol brain"—presence of mind ..in hl:i. emergojicies. To begin with, a, liftion tho very flnorway of tho ship grips, thisffi.Olb.j shell, • which may liave either , a.' i spcci l ill nose for armour-piercing, or bo filled with a bursting chargo of l.vddite^one^sort, to,.r a ?,v plods on coiujiaratively slight. slioclc,.an/other only lifter it bus,passed through.<l fair thickness of steel armour. As tho hoist rises lit.,catches .a. second., ono ' on tho next deck and carries tho 'chriTgd of cordite up as well as the shell. On the next deck they are'nrraiiijcd and so 'hoisted to the'breach of'the gun. This all counts foii quick service, bccaiiso with the mechanism the gun can be loaded at any angle of elevation, and it is at its highest for effective purposes when' throwing its shell-over a distance of 11 miles when set as'in the" New. Zeali'mß about 4(ift. above the water-line. The laying of these turret guns really goes on without regard to;ainnmuitiou service, that is almost, if not quite, nuioniidic. The safety contrivances, too, are. interesting. It may be imagined that, with this bic gnn firing straight into tho wind, tho rush of air to tho"vactuini after tho shot might easily,'carry some of the ' burning debris throiiglw the .breach as soon as it is opened, and possibly bring it in contncl witir tlfft ne.ft charge of cordite. But the very act of opening tho breach of one ol theso turret, guns opens automatically valve, through which a fierce blast ol compressed air is-blown down the tub; carrying all dangerous refuse out at th< muzzle, i'iaeh of tho quickfirers in tin secondary battery of tho Now Zealant -, cfcii firo about 15 rounds per minuto; theii breech-blocks aro tho acme of enso com bined with safety. The New Zealand has been a luckj shin thus. far. Fair weather has conn V': with hsr all' tho way. She rolls, as mos of the Dreadnoughts do, in ,\ beam sea

but is on tho whole a satisfactory ship. Her officers and crow speak with enthusiasm of their South African reception. It was wonderful. Even Now Zealand must do something exceptional to brat it. About, 74,000 people visited tho battlecruiser at Qapo Town, about 60,000 in Durban. Upon ono. day over 15,000 pcoplo were passed.-in succession through the .manholes of tho:after-turret. On leavins England a .New,, Zealand resident presented tho ship, with a splendid bulldog, and South African .towns presented the dog m turn with two. silver collars. Durban gave them a monkey, which, wlulo the> coaled yesterday, and grit was abundant, had sole control of the. lore-turret. !1 The,' New Zealand gets her pace from four propellers driven by two sets of tur- ' b'ino engines, and tho compactness of tins 'powerful' instalment is amazing. On their hottest day iu tho tropics the temperature of tho engine-room was nbout ll.tleg. 1 Gangwavs'and ladders are minimised to some ex'teut in tho New Zealand m her service.'of electric lifts, and, : liko ino>r other . things in tho cruiser, the safeiy contrivances in connection with it are ingenious and admirable. The Dreadnought carries' a crew ,ot about 700, a proportion'b.f,,whom'and a'few of the officers are New'Zealanders.