EYES OF THE FLEET

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2944, 2 December 1916, Page 5

EYES OF THE FLEET

* . BRITISH "ZEPPELINS" BETTER THAN-THE GERMAN. (Treat Britain now has her Zeppelins (says the London correspondent of tho Sydney "Sun"). They aro not intended to meet tho enemy iu the air, for airship can 'no more nght airship than submarine can fight submarine. Nor aro they to bo used, for the present, iu bombarding German cities. They are to bo the eyes ot the Grand Fleet." Admiral JeiScoo has-long wanted them, and Lord Fisher, who had experimented with rigid dirigibles when first in office as First Sea Lord,, and' had.ordered" a great number when he returned.to tho Admiralty after Prince Louis's downfall, believes in fliem. Jellicoo went to Germany shortly before tho war merely to take a trip in'an airship, and ha,s never ceased to proclaim Royal Navy would bo partly bliuoeu until it got them. But tho Admiralty suspended Lord Fisher's experiments because the lirst British eflort collapsed in a somewhat ludicrous mass o? wreckage, ind it again suspended his orders when Admiral Jackson orauime First Sea Lord. Recently Mr. BaTToura'tuittl'd that no decision had caused tho Sea .Lords more regrets, but as a matter of*fact we could not have advanced far on the road of airship construction until .two events occurred. The first was the capture of a German Zeppelin, which was towed into portj the second was the striking use-of airships niado by tho German Fleet during several outings in tho North, Sea this year—such a disconcerting use that all -British opposition to airships ended. . "vTe Ti'ave for long had small non-rigid airships, and these? aro to .bo seen, floating over Loudon on. days. They neven go far afield, for they unmanageable and slow; and they have not yet appeared in serious naval work. Our now rigid airships aro said'to "oe Setter than.'Zeppelins. They are faster, lighter, moro graceful,' and more powerful. So say British and neutral observers who have travelled with tho Count. Wo havo to thank the-Germans for several sccrots, which removed our main difficulties. The, principal troublo in'airship con. structioh is that of valves. In fact, Zeppelin's real secret as his valves, whiqh aro wonderfully adjusted for ingress and egress of. gas. That secret became ours when destroyers hauled iu our lirst captured airship. Oui\ other troubles have been '•'dope,' 1 tho poisonous chemical pasted on to the covering for toughening: welding and design, aiid a supply of aluminium-. The amount of aluminium needed to make a, rigid airship of tho latest Zeppelin size iscolossal. 1 doubt if the full supply in Sydney or Melbourne to-day could p produce one. And in addition to this work wo had to construct enormous air sheds, which involved "starred" labour on a vast scale. Now that, wo havo our ships at work, wo have to pay for learning to handle tjienv but we.'havo. them in-such quantities that'tho loss of ono or two through inexperience will not.iiicoininodo us.