THE LARGEST BATTLESHIP.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 68, 8 April 1902, Page 4

THE LARGEST BATTLESHIP.

. —o — Mr H. W. Wilson, the well-known writer on naval matters, contributes to a London paper a very readable description of a new type of battleship which is to be added to the British Navy. The first of the new vessels, which is to be christened the King Edward VII., will be of nearly 18,000 tons displacement. That is to say, she will he the largest battleship ever built for the British Navy, having a larger displacement than five 120-gun ships of Nelson’s day. No other warships in the world approaches this size, although the latest designs of the United States provide for vessels of 17,000 tons displacement. The King Edward will carry eight heavy guns, which is twice the number usually carried on a battleship. There will also be tvo pairs of-the New Wickers 12in guns, capable of piercing forty-two inches of iron, or thirteen inches of the best steel; ten Bin guns, each firing a 1001 b shot on an average four or five times a minute, and the usual number of small weapons. Altogether, it is estimated that the King Edward should be able to “pump lead” at an opponent at the rate of five tons a minute. This is 15001 b per minute more than the latest German battleship of the type laid down this year will be able to fire, and considerably more tban the largest existing foreign warship is capable of discharging within the same period. A notable innovation is the complete belt of armour which it is intended to place round the King Edward along the water line All the plating of the vessel will be face hardened by the new Krupp process, which renders a ten or twelve inches thickness of steel sufficient to keep out all shots. The engines will give a speed of 18 knots with ease, and for the first time in the history of British naval construction, provision will be made for oil fuel, in addition to the 2000 tons of coal carried by the new battleship. This Is a point in which the British is quite ten years behind some of the foreign navies. The cost of the King Edward, when fully equipped, will be £1',300,000, which, though large enough in all conscience, is £121,000 less than the French Government paid for La Patrie. a warship nearly 2000 tons smaller in size. Three othei* battleships of the same size as the King Edward are’*being laid down this month, and when completed the new class will, says Mr "Wilson, be worthy of the illustrious name it bears.