EIGHT NEW WARSHIPS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1519, 7 March 1916, Page 4

EIGHT NEW WARSHIPS.

In a recent despatch on operations off the Belgian coast, ViceAdmiral Bacon mentioned for the first time the names of eight new vessels that had been attached to the British Fleet. Seven of them, says a naval correspondent, are described by him as monitors, while the eighth, the Redoubtable, is not specifically described, but from the fact that she was commissioned by an officer of the rank of Captain Molteno, a prominent gunnery specialist, it would seem reasonable to assume that she is a craft of some consequence. The rate of construction of the new vessels must, continues the correspondent, have been remarkable, even granting that they are only of some 1250 tons displacement. The monitors mentioned by Admiral Bacon are the Sit John Moore, Ford Clive, Prince Rupert, General Craufurd, Marshal Ney, Prince Eugene and M 25. The navy has always been particularly generous in honouring the army by naming ships after great military leaders or famous land battles. We have at present in the navy list a Marlborough, Black Prince, Blenheim, Ramillies, and Agiucourt, and in olden times there have been Sedgemoors, Worcesters, Boynes, Namurs and a Waterloo. The choice of Marshal Ney for one of the new monitors was a delicate compliment to France which will not be missed by our allies, who are very partial in their own fleet to commemorating their military heroes.