THE KING'S NAVEE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1725, 16 April 1913, Page 7

THE KING'S NAVEE.

FROM THE LOWER DECK.

THE SEAMAN-GUNNER TALKS.

(By "Wi".) A grown-up member of (lie civilian public, craning his neck upwards from tlio deck of tho fussy littlo ferry boat' to tho towering grey heights of tho: cruiser-battleship yesterday afternoon, 6aw a swarnv of school children in full pos-: session of tho New Zealand, crawling about tlio turrets and superstructure like so many ants, or seainporiiig about, the, decks, while good-humoured t>eamcn-guu- ! tiers, and members of tho ltoyal. Marino' Light Infantry, indulgently supplied information in response to their eager ques- 1 tions. "These youngsters are having a great timo up there," said i:ho grown-up civilian to his companion, as tho ferry-boat ranged under tho battleship's rail. "And so they ought," replied the other;' They II lirtvo to pay fof it, like we're doing now." JJven so. That great, grim destroyer that, lies; just oil' tho Queen's Whnrf means 3lis. per liead of our population—: .part of oUr Imperial insurance premium, l tlio price of Imperial greatness,

Millionaire Sport, A siriglo shot from ono of tho eight great 12-inch gnus would send- Jsl> of tho nation's money Hying out of tho muzzle.! Taking tho rate of iivo per gim.pcr minute, and leaving a oonifortablo margin, three minutes of this expensive marksmanship would run the bill up to .£500! Bring all tho big, grim, grey moiiKlt-rs into action for that brief space of time, and in three minutes tho bill would 6tand at • 4,'4&i0. This is vat'. Peiico, though' dear to maintain, is choap by compari-' son.

All-Big-Gun ( Racers. ' 1 From tho shore, tho battleship-cruiser looks a squat, sluggish, grey mass—a slow-moving, irresistible kind of jugger-, naut, overwhelming in its sheer liigncs-s.' A closo view dispels this idea. 'The grace- 1 ful ,swcep of her lines from bow to l stern,! lira' clcan, slim forefoot, tell of latent 1 powers' of speed, ' Ifer specifications in-, sisted. on a . 2i>-knot speed minimum.'! Tho builders took a comfortable 27-knot clip out of her on her steam trials, and could 'have raised lie).' to 30 .with very littlo effort. Having built what is called; tho all-big-gunship, tho Admiralty- then "set to wol'k to build all-big-guii racers. : Tho New Zealand is one of them. "How many men, nil told, does eho' carry P". I asked a &camuii-gunjicr "7158," said he, 1 "But thai is less than tho PowerfulV complement!" ■ "That's right-," said tho ecaman-gunner. "All tho older ships carry tnoro men. The King Edward is much Smaller—about' two-thirds of this one—but slio carries n lot more men." "H-ow do you do it F" "Motors. Men—trained meiir-aro get ting scarce." •;

Ships to Order—But not Mon. "They can build ships ns fast as tlie? ; liko," 110 said, "but tliey can't build trained men to fill thorn." There's tho rub! Tho shortage of men for the Hoval Navy is tho standing worry of the Admiralty Lords. ■ 0110 conceives the possibility of a diligent press gang'in a crisis, but a press-gang _ cannot discover trained men, nnd tho business of sea-fighting is-a higMy-spccintiscd business these days. Listen to. a wamau-gun-ner explaining the mysteries of 0. 12-inrh gun to 011 interested'group of civilians, and this fact tit oik.'o becomes impressive. • "No such thing as a long Spell ashorft these da ; vs," said the neaman-giinnev, with a reminiscent sigh. "In tho old days wo could look forward to a spell of two years' homo servico after wo wero paid off-guard-ship duty, nnd .such like. Now, wr> might get.paid oil 0110 day, go oslioro to tho depot for a spell in tho gunnery school, and 11 couplo 0' ilnys later get: packed aboard again. They can't gel. enough men." . Nor can they, for that matter, iret enough men for the Imperial Army. Thfl future, dim and distant, conceals un-dreamt-of possibilities for the great oversea Dominions of the Mother Country —armies, shins, and :ucu. The call appears to bo inevitable. Alarums nnd Excursions, "llow long does it tako you to clfrnT for nation?" 'Tor buttle? Three minutes." "Where do you stow all tho deck Jumper?" "Everything is stored below. Topmasts come down too." 1 glanced nt tho superstructure. "In a hot fipht, all this! would be reduced to scrap iron in no time," I opined, Tho seaman-gunner nodded., "Of courso. these little fellows"—indicating tho fourinch'guns in the forward battery, and tho 3-inch painting guns—"don't matter much, except for settling torjiedo boats aind 6Uch like." Ami supposo tho conning-IowCT goesP "Well, each o.row fights its own gun independently, judging tho range whero (lis last shot went. "T suppose you've been in one or two! clos" shaves during manoeuvres?" tho civilian asked. The seaman-gunner grinned. "I remember once, in anolher battleship, going down Channel at full speed, lights out, night as dark as a bag. and wo sliced a steamer through tho middle like she wai. a pound 0' butter. Went dean through, and only dented a few plates." "And what became of tho.stonmer?" "Wo found a bit of her sticking io our bows. Another timo wo were steaming, lights out, in line ahead about 1000 miles out in the Atlantic from Gibraltar. We were second, and all of a sudden tho Albemarle, which was leading the line, calno about and hit us on tho bow. Signals: went wrong. We pitched «p fie rnpl: with wood nmd concrete, and went bneft to tho Channel for repairs." ,

Battleships and Forts. My'eye vpslcfi on one of llio big- guns, across which <somo yonnuMcrs wero straddled; "How far can a projectile go nil a free run till she's spentr" 1 aslied him. " 'Bout seventeen miles." lie said. "Effemfcivo ransre isn't that. of course." "WVvo got forts out there at tho entrance. Couldn't n ship like this lie out of range of these torts, [iinl plump shells into the town ?" This is a familiar bony. "Easv," he said, "lint we wouldn't know for certain wliel'lier we were planting them where they'd do most Rood," he added trrimly. "If we emtio close in, we'd l>o a lint lev liU'jrot for the forts lhali the fort* would lie for us. .1 rentembri' there was a biir talk ill; Home nhoul <ir. ill),'' on tow.ns. It was in "<)(!. Mimo-ln <i : were.oh,' and. Wr Will";im May, with (lie Tte<! Fleet, broke throueh h-lwrcn 'Charlie' Bcrosford and. "I'm;' Wilson, fit iulo (lie Chaiinel, and si>nt wen! lo tb» King and Parliament that lie would sheil; every town i\ii the Channel if ho didn't pet a safe conduct Ihroirth (lie Stl'ftili of Dover. It was argu<d Hint fhnl; would: ha' been against the lilies o' wa,r, n»d! tlio newspapers had a big go over It. My" opinion! is that the, rules o' war it. pon'oi ji inillioa wlicn Iko enemy's ou tlio job.".