A DESTROYER OF DREADNOUGHTS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 8, Issue 27, 2 April 1907, Page 2

A DESTROYER OF DREADNOUGHTS.

I OrT-HEUODIXG HEROD IN I FLOATING FORTRESSES. | Those who remember the sensation j which was created a few years ago i when Colonel Cuniberti, the famous ; Italian naval constructor, predicted ' that "the ideal battleship" of the future would carry a single type of armament of lOin. guns—a forecast which is fully realised in the Dread- • nought—will learn with astonishment

that from the same source will shortly emanate an idea which is expressed in concrete form in the title, "A Destroyer of Dreadnoughts," In this Colonel Cuniberti will describe a ship which, should the idea materialise, will be an effective reply to all the vessels which foreign Rowers are either building or projecting to outrival the British Dreadnought.

Meanwhile it may be useful to touch, upon fresh points in this battleship. Amongst the noteworthy characteristics of the Dreadnought! a prominent [dace has been given to measures to protect her against destruction by torpedo or mine. Thus her bulkheads are minus doors or other means of ingress or egress, and when it is necessary for officers or men to pass from one compartment to another they are brought to the deck by a lift and taken down by similar means to the compartment which they wish to enter. The shell-rooms and magazines are well away from the "skin" of the ship, the intervening space being protected by armour. The Dreadnought embodies an important extension of a battleship being a floating fortress, as she has five circular forts or redoubts, each containing a pair of 12inch guns. These circular forts are stoutly protected by armour, varying iu thickness from bin. to 31 hi.

\n regard to simplicity of armament the Dreadnought marks a revolution which Colonel Cuniberti foresaw years before the war in the Far l'kist demonstrated the value of a

single type of gun ship, irrespective, of course, of the small 3 2-pouuders for anti-torpedo work. For several years previous to this protests have been made by distinguished admirals and eminent naval experts against the inferior gun-power of British warships, but these protests wore unheeded notwithstanding that at British shipyards vessels were being turned out of hand for the Japanese and other navies superior in their fighting qualities to ships of similar tonnage designed for the British fleet. At last the Admiralty yielded to the pressure of opinion, both from within and without the navy, but it was not until the lessons of the Russo-Japanese War commenced to be revealed that anything approaching revolutionary changes in warship construction, and with them a consequent concentration for fighting power, were introduced.

In this matter Great Britain leads the way, and, having obtained tho lead, it behoves her to keep it in view of the Italian constructor's fertile brain having evolved a design of ship which suggests that neither the Dreadnought, nor any of her foreign prototypes have reached finality in what may be described aa seagoing' fortresses.