Dreadnoughts not Everything.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 163, 10 June 1909, Page 4

Dreadnoughts not Everything.

In a letter addressed to the chairman of the Liberal Party in Dundee, Mr Winstone Churchill marshals the argument in favour of the assumption that the British Navy is now, and will be in 1912, superior in fighting power to that of any two foreign nation?, and that German naval preparations need

cause Britain no alarm. He protests against any system of comparison which takes into account Dreadnoughts only, and neglects such factors as guns and men, and battleships other than those of the Dreadnought type. Britain, be says, has today, besideß officers more than 120,000 seamen in regular service, more than double the number possessed by any other nation, and more than equal to that possessed by any two foreign nations. British battleships, he further contends, carry 650 big guns to Germany' \ 38-1, Britain has forty first class battleships, of an aggregate displacement of ;"c.V Ml '' tons, against twenty owned by Germany, of an aggregate displacement of 241,000 tons. Britain again has thirty five first class cruisers, carrying ■'. ,•'' guns, against Germany's eight, carrying 112 guns. British battleships carry 152 12-inch guns, against Germany's forty 11-in. gur.s. rm.d Britain's cruisers are armed with sm'y-eight. 9.2 guns as against six German '.<.', guns. On these figur. • :■ Mr Churchill claims that the British Navy is thrice as Strong as the G.-rmau Navy at present. He admits tha* v./s-ds of the Dreadnought class ar-- superior to their predecessor, and r> ''ngr-.n-es that Britain must, to si cure :ii::~»■ 1':* • • sate'y, hold a margin of po-,v. r in, this e ship. "As our tail dimir.-hes in power," he says, "our horns must grow longer, and if. and in ;T"portio:i as. battleships of the Dreadnought type become a larger ; art of modern. navies, so our superiority in. them must be steadily mop-asing. " He ro:;tends, howevt r. that it has not beer, proved, and emmet he proved, that Germany <m:. } urn: a single battleship. much les-: r . sim.ul'anc'-us squadron of battle, hi; ■. :•- mimhN ;m Britain can. Finally hs e'r.ar.v-'.•■rises as a "monstrous error tm- su; ; edition that, there is profoun i aa-agonr-m of interests between Britain :■:.'■ Germany, v.hmh can only b- r< so'.-.-i-d by a. supreme trial of streng'm ,':mh an antagonism, he says. .-!'.' ■.>: :' ar:;e . v. ill <:■• so not through the ■.-.■orki: :m of any natural or impersonal f r--<--:- 1 ut through the vicious activity • : a -em; arativt-ly small number of in iivi iuals in loth nations.