FLYING TONS OF METAL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 638, 28 January 1914, Page 2

FLYING TONS OF METAL.

CLYDE-BUILT BATTLESHIP'S FIRING. SEVEN AND A HALF MILES OFF. After the launch of the great battleship Benbow at Dalmuir in November, two members of the "black Bquad," belonging to Beardmore's and John Brown's, were overheard debating lustily the qualities of that ship, saya the Glasgow Weekly Mail. "Beardmore's Benbow, I tell you," said the Dalmuir man, "I'll knock chips off any o' yer auld German tubs " "I've nae doot o' that," responded John Brown's man, "but we ha'e twa building in uor yaird that could ca' the corner aff yer Benbow, and, for that pairt o' it, two Germans in tae the bargain." Clyde workers are red-hot partisans in the rivalry of their yards as they j are at football. It's bred in their' bone. Ever since the days John Elder built his greyhounda the Etrurias and Campanias, down to the Lusitania—every Clyde shipyard man delights in his yard'B productions, and their supremacy over the world. You can't shut him up with talk about what Belfast or the Tyne is doing. The Clyde is the last word. This discussion about the Benbow's qualities, of which more anon, reminds us of the story of the enthusiastic Scotch stoker who found his way into the stokehold of the Mauretania during her trial trips. He was mixed up with a crowd of Northumberland chaps, and as they heaved the coal into the roaring furnaces of the great Tyne ship, ploughing the seas at the rate of twenty-seven knots, the Clyde man boasted that the Mauretania couldn't come up to what the Lusitania (her sister ship, built at Clydebank) had done He rubbed it in so badly that a big Northumbrian, with the sweat running )ff him like a shower bßth, turned to him and remarked: " Look 'ere, Scottie, we'll beat that bloomin' 'Lucy' of yours, or bust the Mary up." For eighteen months at Dalmuir, 2500 workers have been hammering at the ribs and plates of the Benbow, and at Parkhead Steel Works other 2000 havu been constantly engaged making the materials for this battleship. In John Brown's at Clydebank there are 5000 men working at the Tiger and Barham, and at Fairfield 2500 again on the Valiant. These four Clyde warships are giving work for 10000 shipyard workers for two years and, if you take in the men in the steel works, no less than 20,000 men are kept going for two years. In wages these four monster ships mean to workmen £5,000.000. Battleships are the bread and butter, we see, of a large proportion of people in the West of Scotland. Beardmore's Benbow, which left tbe stocks in November, will cost a full couple of millions. The armour plate, produced by workers at Park head, alone will cost about half a million sterling. The guns will take £200,000. The outstanding features about a big battleship from a worker's standing is the size of guns she carries. The Benbow is to hav» ten of 13.5 inch These five projectiles weigh 14001bs, and the broadside fire of all ten guns is 14,0001b5. As these guns can be fired twice a minute, it follows that the Benbow will be able to hurl at an enemy on less than 28,00blsp er minute. That is thirteen tuns of metal e?ery minute. Then there are 16 6 inch guns. They fire 10001b shells at the rate of ten rounds per minute. Suppose only ten of these guns be used on the broadside. This would give other 10,0001bs of metal per minute, with her heavy and medium guns going the Benbow will accordingly be able to hurl at an enemy 38,0001b of metal every minute —thist is, about seventeen tons of metal in the air every minute.