BRITISH "HUSH HUSH" CRUISERS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 102, 23 January 1918, Page 5

BRITISH "HUSH HUSH" CRUISERS

NEW WEAPONS OF GREAT FIGHTING POWER FASTER THAN THE FLEETEST BEFORE THE WAR (London "Times" Correspondent.) Paris, November 5. M. A. ltousseau, tho naval critic of tho "Temps," who has just returned to Paris from visiting the Grand Fleet, has been permitted by the imprimatur of the British Admiralty to give French readers the first description of the famous "Hush Hush'' boats, about which, as regards their characteristics, the authorities have succeeded in maintaining hitherto _ profound secrecy.

We wero passing (writes M. Eousseau) in front of ships of unusual aspect, specially constructed craft for war purposes; monitors, trawlers, and the like. Certain of these vessels caught our attention, especially by their outline and dimensions. They wero very long, with immense decks fore and aft. They appeared to lie low/on the water. Perhaps this was an optical effect produced by their length. They havo two tripod masts, the first of which carries tops apparently armoured, and in the middlo of the vessel rises a very squat central castle, at the extremities of which ara the heavy artillery turrets—turrets for two guns of tho biggest calibre. The secondary artillery, the calibre of which is tho samo on all vessels of the samo type, is at the limit of the average and small artillery. The stem of these craft is tapered, more like tho beam of a yacht than that of a battleship; it is not perpendicular, but curving inwards—to use a sailor's phrase it is "cut-water." Tho shape of the stem has certainly been determined in order to realise very high speed and, as a matter of fact, these vessels are very swift, much fleeter than the fleetest of pre-war cruisers. Those vessels have been created sines the war; I say created, because it was stated to me that they were inspired by the lessons of the war. They were begun in 1915, and have been 12 months in service—an admirable result of the organisation of labour in tho British dockyards. Other vessels of the kind are under construction, their dimensions being yet more considerable.

Wei were received on board two of these vessels; on one, the smaller, the , as wo went through the officers' quarters, I was fairly astonished; two officers were playing billiards. Time, the ship was at anchor and in a roadstead as shut in as possible, but it is my i opinion that the must have fine qualities of stability to have on board a permanent billiard table. On the second, the , the captain invited us to lunch, and afterwards wo visited the fighting quarters—blockhouse, look-out station for submarines, a. turret with its enormous guns which fire two shots a minute, and which, according to the Germans, weigh 96 tons and throw a 885 kilo.;_ (19471b.) shell. Everything is organised to havo the fire control in one and the samo hand, and the laying by one and the samo eye. The system invented by Admiral Sir Percy Scott a few vears ago haa made greit progress. The heavy artillery and the secondary artillery are no longer autonomous; everything acts under one and the samo direction, and if the guns have a fuse fired in the turret itself, they have another electric one operated from a central station. It is a._ truly remarkable system, and one which, beyond all doubt, has produced highly satisfactory results. Its installation on the- new ships shows .that it has stood the test.

The ■ and the are closely related. They are sisters, one being smaller, built to travel together because thev have the same fiehting power, and can carry that power to any distance at equal speed; they are capable of surprise actions, against which the enemy cannot guard himself, and their speed is a ruarnntee against the torpedo. None the less they are fitted with devices to neutralise the explosion as far as nnssible. They are a proof of the confidence, of the British Navy in tho powerful surface vessel, csnnhle of heavy hitting, the only one which anoears able Wassnre ths nv-terv of the seas.

England is building manv submarines, but the development °f fh's new wrxvnon has not affected the theories which havo nrnde the naval nower of our Allios. and this is proved bv tho new building nrocrrammes, which am the outcome of exnerienee.