Big Ships or Aeroplanes

Hokitika Guardian, 12 June 1922, Page 1

Big Ships or Aeroplanes

ADMIRALTY REPLY TO CRITICS. LONDON, April 2. An energetic reply to the champions of aerial development who have piotuicd the British Elect- being bombed out of the water in a few minutes by hostile aircraft was made by Lord Lee, the First l ord of the Admiralty, late this evening. Hi- could not allow public confidence in the Navy to he “bombed,” he said, without, exposing the absurdity of ecu - tain of the claims put forward. Ihe claim that one bomb could sink the most powerful battleship was based on tin- recent, experiments in the Lotted States. These, however, bore no relation to Service or war conditions, and were against stationary and non-resist-inci- targets and from a land bn.se. There had been no experimentacm i nst a. modern capital -ship properly defending itself by action and hv movement, and it was stretching the case too far to draw the conclusions that had been drawn from the case of the old German battleship Ostfriosland and the still older battleship lowa, (which were sunk by lYlited States bombing nero1>L (m b Vhe first day the German ship was hit 13 times hv bombs of from 25011) to 5001 b. and she sank 4 feet On the second day she received at close ranee three more hits from LOOOIb boiiibs .and finally 2 I,ooolb bombs were dropped alongside her and eventually sank her. BOMB OR TORPEDO.

The official report on the experiments staled • “The battleship is still the backbone of the Fleet, and the bulwark of the nation's sea defence. The aeroplane, like the submarine, lias added to the dangers to whirl, the battleships are exposed, but has not made .the battleship obsolete. The battleship remains the greatest factor of naval strength.” , ■ . ~ Dismissing the effect of a “near miss he said a 4,0001 b bomb, containing o 0001 bof explosive, exploding 101 t n.vav from the side of a battleship and under water was equivalent only to a boinb of 2501 b exploding m direct con- * "Defence was developing with attack, and “large experiments” —which were si ill in progress—had made it clear that the new designs of vessels they were proposing to construct would be immune not only from direct hits-by bombs of the size suggested, but also from the potent effect of the "eai miss,” of which so much had been m *These forms of attack by heavy bombs against battleships were possible only from a shore base. The extreme range of these great bombers was dOU miles, and they carried one bomb only, and if they missed their objective the journey would have been undertaken for nothing. ~ » Although it would not he in tho public interest to give details, the Admiralty were hopeful by gunfire alone and the developments of gunfire to make warships of the near future practically immune against air attack of any sort or description.