Wars of the Future

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 32, 30 April 1927, Page 17 (Supplement)

Wars of the Future

Millions are being spent on the creation of new and frightful engines of destruction. The following- article deals with the nations’ mad race for armament.

Great Britain made stupendous exertions and colossal sacrifices in the “war to end war.” Yet this year, the ninth after peace, she is spending £50,000,000 more on armaments than in 1913. The industry o, war is one of the greatest of all industries. The number of men and women working today to produce instruments of death is uncountable —and the League of Nations might be non-existent, for all the restraint there is on the action at spending of money in preparation for war. Britain has the most powerful battle-cruiser afloat; she has the largest submarine in the world —as large as a battleship of 30 years ago; she has the deadliest seaplanes, equipped with high-power torpedoes. and she has tanks and other land-war instruments whose death-dealing capacity terrifies. Germany’s dye-works g.re expanding and flourishing. What use they make of these in war is well known, and it is not to be believed the Germans have mislaid their recipes for deadly gas and explosives. Recently they tested out a new "fog-gas” for naval operations. Japan has learned the art. of chemical warfare from the Germans; and Russia is said to be spending more money than any other nation to discover new and awful chemicals. And Italy, too, is trying to learn all that can be learned of how to kill by this method.

What was done in the last war with chemicals will prove to have been child's play compared with what will be done in a future war in which scientifically and industriallyadvanced powers will be engaged. The nations are competing desperately for supremacy in the air—larger planes to carry more men, larger bombs, canned chemicals, radio control, silence, and speed. There will be veritable flying-cruisers, heavily armed and manned. The United States is finishing the construction of two huge plane-car-riers, one to carry 120 machines and the other 110, at a cost of nearly £20,000,000. Similar, though smaller vessels are being rushed by England, France and Japan. A new U.S. nightbomber carries a load of several tons and flies 135 miles an hour. This is said to be merely the forerunner of a super-bomber with two engines of 2,500 h.p. each. Great Britain is spending £15,000,000 a year on war machinery for the air. Six large airplane carriers are on order and she has enormous new bombing machines, a

torpedo ’plane that carries 25 men; a night-bomber that carries bombs, ma-chine-guns and a 21-in. torpedo; a flying boat with three engines of 2,000 h.p. each, carrying six men and three machine-guns; and an all-metal plane capable of carrying 50 soldiers. But France ranks first to-day in military aviation. She has 2,000 fighting planes. Her huge Farman bomber carries six large “messengers” and two machine-guns and it can fly 3,000 miles at 125 miles per hour. It can ride the waves in the worst weather, like a ship, and it can ascend to an altitude of 10,000 ft. Loaded, it weighs 19 tons; it carries 25 men and has five engines. It cost £90,000. Italy will soon have 1,700 ’planes, which may be used for all purposes, and she has five aviation training schools. Japan is just as wide awake and is now building two seaplane carriers of 27,000 tons each. All the nations are progressing in the wireless control of pilotless planes—to be sent hundreds of miles to drop huge bombs, containers of chemicals and torpedoes on enemy targets. The peril to non-combatants will be immense. Foch recently declared that within a very short time “radio energy will be so controlled that a combatant nation’s forces will change the very air of an enemy country.” Warfare in the air is to become no less terrible than marvellous. On land, the destructive power of guns, shells and tanks have been immensely increased. Foch says that there will be tanks to carry up to 100 soldiers. The British have what are believed to be the most terribly effective tanks yet devised —one being an 18-ton tank which travels, belching death, at 18 miles an hour. Smaller British tanks attain 40 miles an hour. The greatest undersea vessel of the day is the British X-l. She is of 2,780 tons, is 351 ft. long, travels at 22 knots, lias four 4-in. guns on deck, and will shoot 21-inch torpedoes. She carries 120 men and can submerge for 2£ days at stretch. She is the British “mystery” ship which can go anywhere. Britain has also the newest mine-layer, which is 500 ft. long, has a speed of 29 knots, and cost £1,500,000.