BRITISH MANOEUVRES.

Shannon News, 23 November 1923, Page 3

BRITISH MANOEUVRES.

REVIEW. AT SPITHEAD

AN IMPOSING SPECTACLE

Miles upon miles of ships of every shape and size represented Great. Britain’s might at the Spithead revlew ? • , Representatives of the Domimons declared that the evidence of seapower as given by this mighty fleet vvas something that they could never

forget. ’Mr. Bruce pointed-out that the display had a moral for Australia. It was no fair-weather fleet that was seen at Spithead byl-the representatives of the Dominions, or so many of them as were not otherwise occupied. The minelayer Pi’incess Margaret was luxuriously equipped for the occasion, ‘and the waves behaved them selves fairly well in the forenoon, while the vessel passed out of the. harbour a,nd down the lines in which the fleet lay 5 in review order. Standing, on the deck of the Princess Margaret the, Prime Ministers , saw pass before them in stately order the warships bearing , these great names: Barham, Queen Elizabeth. Wai spite. Revenge, Ramifies, Resolu • tion, Hood and Repulse. These marched like an army with banners, marshalling the thoughts of 1 the beholders to g. progress ‘throughsome of the greatest pages of our his tory. The queer huge form of the aircraftgarrier Argus lay on our right 1 as we passed down the lines. Further in toward the shallows we saw the lean, clean lines of the wolfish destroyers, while ahead, through the softening mists, showed crowds of sub- - marines and .other craft and the formidable fighting rows of light cruisers, FOR DEFENCE. NOT DESTRUC- , TION.

We only passed up one and down another of the half-dozein lines in which these SO ships of war were disposed; yet we covered eight sea miles and surveyed who knows how many million pounds’ worth of naval power, designed not for destruction,, but for our defence. .

The Barham toad faded away into the grey mist -which hung froih tho racing clouds to the wind-whipped “sea long before we rounded the Walpole at the end of the line, and commenced to return along the parallel line. Yen gazing back.along- the sea lane, the visitors'gained some impression of the might and majesty of this one section of the British Navy lying along the waters in its silent unmoving strength.

In r.he afternoon the panorama was reversed. The mine-layer lay or rather tossed, at anchor, while the whole At- : tantic Fleet steamed past dri a clock ; work co-ordination of movement. De-> in numbers seemingly innumerable came out of the grey mist ana passed into it again.

' Snub-nosed K class submarines pushed their reversed crinoline* , through the waves, and M. class vessels wallowed along in their cumbrous styles, with 12in. guns cocked at an angle which looked ludicrous, but spells death to a distant foe when the real thing comes. ' These dipped, disappeared, rose up to the surface, and passed on. The “ wasps ” of the fleet passed by and then cable the cruisers in more menacing lines, followed at tlie last by the giants of the battle-squadron, which passed .so close that they almosi s seemed to loom above the watchers. As each ship passed by its guns wero swung slowly and threateningly round till they were trailed relentlessly on the mine-layer. VANISHED IN THE MIST.

Four-score engines of war passect and swung widely away to the semthward, and vanished in the mist; while the vessel carrying the spectators picked up her anchor and steamed out into the Channel, to encounter suddenly rushing out of the veil ahead two flotillas of destroyers executing a torpedo attack. Finally, they raced past the mine-layer, and finished wltn astonishing swoops and swerves round her stern, while they now rode high on the waves and next minute buried themselves under fountains of foam.

The growing boisterousness of the weather at this stage enforced a curtailment of the ' further manoeuvres that had been contemplated. The Australian Prime Minister, Mr Bruce, commenting upon the day’s display, said that he was struck by the variety of craft, which provided evidence of the growth of specialisation, as witness the types of submarines, aircraft-carriers, and the various classes of cruisers, all designed for divergent purposes. Australians, would receive from the British fleet's World cruise some education in the remarkably wide range of the naval defence of our Empire. Although they would not witness the wonderfully, impressive manifestation of the strength and versatility of naval weapons of war Which he had seen that day, they would gain a notion of the breadth of the problem which even the Commonwealth had to face.