AMERICA'S BATTLESHIPS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 71, 10 April 1937, Page 11

AMERICA'S BATTLESHIPS

To Stress. Weight, Not Speed

MOST • IMPORTANT feature about tbe' two new inighty bat* fclesbips projected by the Ameriean Navy will be tbeir conformity to tbe traditional Navy emphasis on defensive and offensive power, ratber tban speed. .While four European powers — Biitain, France,. Germany. and Italy— are building new battleships designed for 30 knots, tbe Ameriean ships are officially scheduled-to bave a top speed of only 26 or 27 knots. Tbe weigbt saved by designing for tbe lower speed is to be put into heavier armour and more big guns. Aecording to details made public by Secretary of tbe Navy Claude A. 'Swanson tbey are to carry either 12-14-inch guns or nine 16-inch guns. In eitber case be insisted that all the guns .will be put in only three turrets. Whichever size gun, is finally chosen, tbe new ships will be more heavily ermed tban ,most other battlesbips afloat. Nine guns of tbe 16-inch size would be one more tban eitber Britain or Japan bs£a ever put into a single ship. EacH of these powers now bas two ships monnting eight sucb guns. Several other navies monnt 12 main battery

' guns, but in no instance are these as , large as 14 incbeg. . ' Tbe significant differonco, bowever, will not be in tbe number of big guns, but in tbe armour plating. Tbe Ameriean sbips are designed with particular I tkought to the danger of bombing by aircraff. TKe amount of side armour I will be approximately tbe same as carried in older Ameriean battlesbips — 12 I incbes. But much more is to be placed in tbe protective decks, Fhrther .defensive strengtb is to be gained by greater compartmentalion. By this is meant a larger number of water-tlght compartmenfs, increasing tbereby the power of tbe vessel to stay afloat after being damaged. i I In fact, tbe design of tbe new sbips is understood to xepresent tbe answer of tbe battlesbip protagonists to? those wbo maintain that aviation has rendered sucb sbips obsolete. A succession of tbree armoured decks will theoretically be proof against anything which can 1 come at tbe* ship from tbe air except 1 in tbe rare oecasion wben tbree bombs migbt strike in succession at exactly tbe same point. ,