NAVAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 14

NAVAL NOTES.

|~■ _ » \ Contributed by the Navy League (Otago Brand*.) Britannia needs- &c bulwark, No towers along the steep ; Hear march is o'er the mountain waves.- ' Her home is on v ihe deep. Campbell's "Ye Mariners of England." ME STKENNA'S LATEST RETURN. On July 12 tin First Land of the Admiralty furnished Parliament with the following return. He had been asked a few days previously to state how many ships of Dreadnought and Invincible types, or oi equivalent fighting power, would tie retfdv by April 1, 1912, for Great Britain, Germany, mad the United' States; also how nutnt battleships of »re-Dr«adnonffhi types ■would be possessed by the same Powers which are less titan 10, 12, esd IS years old. And this was the First Lord's answer: — j

Tltis return, in the opinion of the Navy . ComznAtee, shows that in 1912 there via he no i pre-Dxeadnougnt ships less .than 10V 12, or 15. years old to balance a deficiency in iihe. Daeadinought Invincible era, - And after "1912 the position, it is said. Becomes -worse" These figtrres, obviously, knock away the last shreds of hope tihat Great Britain is able to maintain a two-Power standard that .shall exceed by 10 per een*~ -any and every possible combination that might conceivably bs made against her. At tbe same time it has to be remembered that the Liberal (Asqukli) Government Jhas excluded the United States ton its category of conceivable hostile combinations. 1909 AND 1902. To obtain a correct appreciation of the naval situation, measured by relative strengths, as it is to-day, we must, however, fix our attention on the difference in time. Mr M'Kernna's table looks three years ahead. It is in 1912 that Great Britain will bs numerie'ally far i^ehind the oomfcined totals of German and American ships. But it remains true that Great Britain at this ihoua is stronger than the combined naval forces of any two Powers, not excluding the United States. The key to the seeming contradiction must be sought in the fact tpat Germany and the United States are building now more rapidly than was thaug'ht probab'e or possible. Writing on this phase of the question, the naval correspondent d the London Daily Telegraph, in a.n article entitled ""Naval Rivalry" (July 20), said.:— "Of modem battleships we have 43 completed, as compared with 41 for the United Stages and Ger many." This was the conclusion of the Naval Annual early in the year, and since then Britain has completed the Superb and the three swift Dreadnought cruisers, bringing' up the total number to 4-7. Buithese two Powers ha-ve 57, \nohidin^ fihapa building. This statement in itself is conclusive testimony to the hesitation, which has been shown, in joining in this renewed competition DELAY IN BUILDING. The Government has waited to the last moment before ordering ships, in the vain hope bh&b tb-& necessity migti-fc be avoided by some slackening in the pace of construction abroad. There has been no slackening, but in Germany there has bee>n acceleration, and, in addition, a great expansion of her shipbuilding, armour-making, and igun znaniufacturinig' resouices. All the efforts whioh have been made to arrest tins remewed race in naval armaments have been unavailing; they have been regarded a« signs of a weakening on the part of the British people in their traditional naval policy, and abroad efforts have be«n redoubled. In face of British hesitation, rival Powers have put on increased pres* sure, and the time has oonie when Great Britain must wake up, unless the trident v to pass into other hands. But this week (the writer is ief erring to the visit of the navy to the Thames) . British naval power is at its zenith. We are up to the two-Power standard in » 11 type 3of men-of-war laid down prior to the Dreadnought, and we have seven Dreadnoughts in commission when no other country has one. Yet there is a feeling of unrest — even of anxiety EVOLUTION OF THE DREADNOUGHT No more striking illustration of the development of the modern battleship oan be found than that afforded by the growth «nd changes in ships of the Dreadnought type. tA glance at the following list will' make plain how tremendous these changes have beear— Dbeatotovobt, 1675 (Tear of Launching). (10,820 tons; speed, 131 knots; gnns, 4.12 in (35 tons); crew, 440. Cost £619,739.) Tbmebaib*, 1876. Central battery and barbettes. (8540 tens; speed, 13j knots; guns, 4 9.2ir, )4 Bin.) COLLIKGWOOD, 1882. j

( Soft ends. i { Nrus, 18S8. Complete belt. - J Kotal SoYßJunow, 2892. . (Sin guns, unprotected and soft ends.) Minsrac, 1895. (14,900 tons; speed, 17 J knots; guns, A 12in, 12 6in; crew, 737. Cost £841,000.) Formidable, 1898. Improved Magnifioent. DtmcAW, 1901. Swift battleship. Knui Eqwaso VII, 1903. First, battleship with the 9-2 in gun. (16,350 ions; speed, 18$ knots; guns, 4 12in, 4 9.2£n, 10 6in ; crow, 777. Cost £1,499,971.) Lord Nklsow, 1906. First modern ship without 6in- gaas. (16.900 toa«; speed, IS knots; guns, 4 12ia, ; '10 9.2 in; crew, 865. Cost £1,654,096.) j I I DREABirOUG-HT, 1906. I First all-big-gun ship. ' (17,900 tons; speed, 31 knots; guns, 10 ISm; i crew, 750. Cost £1,813,100) j I 'I Sotzbb, 1967. ! Improved Dreadnought of 18,800 tons. St. Vincent, 1908 (completing). Further improved Dreadnought of 19,253 lons. Nbptttne <l*i«l dowr 1908). Further improved I>readnoHght of 20,000 tons. ' EVOLUTION OF THE SEAMAN. Of even more importance perhaps is the change thefhas taken place- in the training and treatment of the man behind the gun. The Jack Tar of a hundred years ago __ and. more has been drawn by novelists and songwriters and caricaturists is a foul-mouthec 1 , savage, blaspheming' ruffian,, and the officers as barely human. How much of, exaggeration or one-sidedness there may- be in this presentation of 'the men who saved and made the Empire it is hard to say. It is more than probable that much of it is tame. It was a brutal age, and the ways of men on sea as well as land were frankly degrading and horrible. But even tilT quite recent times Jack hae, not been treated fairly. It is only within the last 10 years that he has been fed well and rationally. And the country is framing that it paye to do it. THE MEN AND THE SHIPS. Since 1899 the organisation of the navy has made enoTmous strides. The health of the men is better, thanks to the new and improved dietary; the men are more contented, and have a greater incentive to effort, now that the more deserving can be — and are being — promoted to commissioned rank, and are in the meantime better paid. .The efficiency of the ships in shooting and other essential drills has been more than doubled. The dockyards have been 'equipped with modern machinery, and are better able, consequently, to respond to the heavy demands of war. Officers have greater facilities for professional training, owing to the greater scale on which manoeuvres are carried out, and the opportunities offered by the "courses" held periodically at the War College at Portsmouth, and at the' branch establishments at Devon-port and Chatham. Lastly, the Admiralty, the brain centre of the navy, is better manned, '■and the whole business of preparation for war is carried out systematically and thoroughly. THE OLD TAB AND THE MODERN SADIOR. The sailor of Smollett's day is an amazing satire upon the seaman of to-day. Smollett knew his sailors at first hand, and what ha knew he _ drew in indelible ink. His cursing, howling, raving gang, who feared not God nor regarded man, who were drunk when on shore, surly when at sea, ignorant, debased, uninspiring, and with little to redeem them save animal courage and bulldog tenacity — this sailor of the old sohool stands in lurid contrast with the intellectually and physically competent seamen of 1909, who has been seven years in the making. Our men as well as our ships are to outwaTd seeming as far removed from those of 1800 as the two poles. It is in that one essential 'which binds each to each, and that rises superior to all differences in environment and schooling, that we find the clue that enables us to connect the two. Duty, love of country, faith in the nation, carelessness of sell — these are the distinguishing characteristics alike pf the men of to-day and the men of a hundred years ago. NOT TOO WELL TREATED. Army officers have less to do than the men of the navy, and have less " responsibility. Yet the army was once the pet of Governments and society and populu.ee. " Naval officers have to wait Jonger for honours and rewards than do their brethren of the army, eveu at Home. In the distribution of decorations /the senior service is generally cut short by oomjiarißon with the other. . ' . W:th the exception of a very few, naval officers come rarely into prominence, yet they are of' more importance to the Empire by far than any" other body of men in' it. In their severance from home ties they make hard sacrifices, as every sailor knows, though few landsmen realise bow much of the ordinary amenities of life ashore must be forfeited by devotion to the floating service. They pnter the navy youn«r. They come to bf*lorisr to it body and soul in a unique sense Their v;ry absence from land

identifies them more completely wifcfc their own professional environment; hence the naval "type becomes something distinct and unmistakable. And it is the finest general type of the man of action that has yet b?en evolved.'" WHAT HE MUST BE. "Witt naval men leadership is of imcaloulable moment. Not only must every cadet and middy keep before him an ideal of professional efficiency more thorough and severe than that at which the ordinary run of military officers aim, even in the Japanese or German service, but it b possible that the personal genius of another Nelson would still exercise; <decnrive effect upon the immediate movement and issuo of a great fleet action. Tken o*6 inconceivable inferno of a naval fight makes appalling demands upon the directing andr controlling minds in every part of a ship. The whole personnel responds to the swiftness, decision, self-possession, suveness ©I the officers, and the moral fosee which can-* not be weighed tarns the- iron scales of war. To-day the highest of all professions, as every Englishman must think it, makes extraordinary and unprecedented demands Tjpoa all who enter it. High soMavfctfce, and e^^u,fa)«uistio, -traiamg- is beeomJHfc ittdis- . penoable- to -efficiency.? v . - Such in part, is the natare-of the demands thai the- nation to-day make*, upon the life and lonia «nd soul of its seamen. Howmany of us trouble to think how ipe-> eanu help to make their lot easier? ,

Drescbtoughts and Inr viacibles .. .. 16 Pr«-t>readnonght bat tleehips under ten year*? old . .. 9 dumber tui'der 12 yetra old '. . 1* Number under 15 •A § S s o 13 S 12 31 pCQ 8 18 13 is 21 25 venra old. . . 26 18 1C 34