The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1912. THE AIRSHIP IN WAR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 45, 17 October 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1912. THE AIRSHIP IN WAR.

The design of the hew RnTi.sii battleship, provided for in the hurfeiir estimates includes a special" feature to resist attack from aircraltj in the shape of a curved armoured upper deck and funnel protection. No more plain recognition of the part the airship is expected to play in warfare could be given. The “Manchester Guardian” states that it is not known how heavy or how extensive this armour is to be, or what form the funnel protection will take. It would seem, however, that anything which will give real protection to the funnels must be on a rather ponderous scale. The funnels of a man-of-war have always been highly vulnerable to projectiles from another vessel or from the shore, and the consequences of much damage to them are serious. Yet so far funnels have not been armoured. If it is worth while to armour them now, it can only lie because it is feared that the jdamage from aircraft may be greater than, or at least as great as, that which is likely to be inflicted from another ship. To guard against that the armour must be heavy, and if the upper surfaces of the vessel are to be similarly protected the additional weight and cost are going to be very serious items in all future naval construction. On the other hand, the new armour, whether for deck or funnel protection, may be nothing more than light screens sloped and curved in the way that has always been usual where it is desired to give extra resisting power to a thin plate, and in the case of the funnels it may be that nothing more is contemplated than some form of overhead protection which will prevent bombs from falling directly into them. The “Guardian” goes on to say: “But whatever form the armour is to take, we cannot but regret the cause which has now brought about its introduction. It is the formal recognition of the airship as a direct engine of destruction. At prestmt there is no international law against the use of aircraft for any warlike purpose whatever, but it has been Imped that before they became greatly developed in offensive power the Powers might agree to restrict their use to scouting—in itself a large and important part of war. Admiralties, of course, must prepare against existing and threatened dangers, but no one can find satisfaction in the prospect of a competition between armour and aeroplanes like that which lias raged so long between armour and gnus, though we may speculate whether the development of submarine and aeroplane may not lead eventually to the disappearance of the present type of battleship and to the substitution for it of a vessel that would lie equally at home on the surface or submerged.”