MYSTERY SHIP

Hokitika Guardian, 13 December 1928, Page 2

MYSTERY SHIP

OF BRITISH NAVY

STEAMING WITHOUT A CHEW

I have been permitted to make n thorough inspection of the Navy’s mos: secret ship (with the naval correspondent of the Daily Telegraph). This is Centurion, formerly one of pm linc.st snpcr-l tread noughts, which n<» v. serves as a target ship for the Attain if and Mediterranean Meets. Condemned to lie scrapped under the Washington 'lreat.v, she was reprieved by being disarmed and converted ip lion-combat ant use. Lying moored ii Cromarty Firth, she looks for all th< world like a useless hulk. )et she is. in Diet, fulfilling a function of tin highest importance. Under radio control, without .. single man on hoard, this great ship of 24.0(4' tons, can he made to travel through water at Hi knots, starting stopping, turning the desired iiumboi of [Hiints to starboard or to port. and. indeed, simulating eu-rv possible manoeuvre of a full-manned battleship. How this seeming miracle L performed was explained to me as I stood in Centurion’s engine room.

'flic system of controlling ships by radio is not new, but it is sale to say it has been developed to the highest perfection by the British Navy. With out going into technicalities, it may be said -briefly that wireless waves from a destroyer steaming about a mile ahead or astern actuate electric motors which control the main steam valves in Centurion, regulate the supply of oil fuel to the furnaces and move the helm to the position in which it is desired the ship shall travel.

On first hoarding this mysterious ship one is confronted with a scene of utter devastation. Above and helow deck there is scarcely a square yard of deck or stun Lure which di.es not bear marks of shell (ire. Ihe funnels are riddled like sieves with shot holes. ’ Shells, hitting direct, or in ricochet, have ploughed gaps and furrows through the thick steel plating on the forecastle. All but one of the anchor capstans has been demolished. Ail tilt- forepart of the ship has suifered heavily: bridges charthou.se sea cabins, even the conning tower arc ripped and pock-marked as though by a super machine-gun firing heavy shell. Both the pole ami - struts of the mighty tripod mast have boon hooked almost through. . Here and there deep indentations and splashes show where projectiles have impinged on the thickest armour interior ol the ship.

Since Centurion ’began her career a* a wireless controlled target every officer s cabin above the main armou 1 belt save one has been demolished u\ shells. Among the compart men is which have suffered severely are tlm captain's cabin, ship’s galley, petty oflncrs' moss, and sick bay, the lalter looking as though a cyclone had struck it. The stout easement armour is punched clean through in half a dozen places. Everywhere are razored ged gaps in the steel plating. Yet, despite the terrible punishment she has undergone, Centurion is nor only still afloat, but her vitals are untouched. Tlie secret lies in the sys tern of protection adopted when the ship was converted to her present use. The whole of the upper dec-k and funnel base are covered with massive armour, while rising several feet above the water-line is an almost impregnable belt of steel.

Centurion has a crew of 250 officers and men. All of these have duplicate cabins or other living quarters. Before every shooting practice the upper cabins are dismantled, all mo\a<ble furniture, instruments, and personal effects being taken below, where they are in comparative safety. The crew leave at the last minhto, being transferred to the destroyer Shikari, where they remain until the shoot is over. The only living creatures remaining on board are several cats, which, after surviving numerous bombardments, now treat the whole business as a bore and refuse to leave the ship. When firing is over the crew return to the ship, generally to find most of their quarters wrecked. Then an army of workmen descend, and the ship is hurriedly patched up and made more or less habitable until it is next exposed to a merciless bombardment he the fleet’s guns of every calibre.

When the ship is deserted, her movements are controlled from duplicated positions in the destroyer Shikari by Centurion’s own officers. 1 was permitted to see the apparently complicated yet essentially simple mechanism by which the deserted battleship can be made to carry out every conceivable manoeuvre while steaming at miles an hour. Although many ingenious devices have boon employed to render the ship uusinkable. it still seems incredible that she can endure such repeated hammerings and remain afloat.