Can Defy Bombs and Torpedoes

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 635, 11 April 1929, Page 9

Can Defy Bombs and Torpedoes

NELSON AND RODNEY TWO WONDER BATTLESHIPS (Australian and N.Z. Press AssoclationJ LONDON, Wednesday. j New details of the battleships ! Nelson and Rodney have been officially published. Among the features of these wonder ships are their steel decks. These form the heaviest horizontal protection ever fitted on a ship and will make them the first bomb-proof vessels afloat. Another feature is that the armourplating on the hull and gun turrets is of such a thickness as to be impenetrable under ordinary battle conditions. Thirdly, the vessels have torpedo protection on a scale never previously attempted. The naval correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says: For a time at least naval defence appears to have mastered attacks from airplanes and submarines. It was duo to the lack of deck armour that the main British losses at the Battle of Jutland occurred. Three battlecruisers, the Queen Mary, Invincible and Indefatigable, ships of the type of H.M.S. New Zealand, blew up under the plunging lire of the German guns. . , - In addition to their deck Protection the Nelson and Rodney are clad in steel armour belts 14in thick. Both ships, it is said, could withstand the impact of foui* torpedoes. • NAMED AFTER FOCH NEW FRENCH CRUISER FORMIDABLE SUBMARINES Times Cable LONDON, Wednesday. The Paris correspondent of “The Times” says new warships totalling 30,000 tons will be launched in French shipyards this month. They will include a 10,000-ton cruiser of the Tourville type which is to be named Foch. This cruiser will be equipped with an airplane catapult. Also to be launched are two 1,560ton ocean-going submarines of a redoubtable type, of which France now has 24 either in commission or being built. Each submarine will have 10 torpedo tubes, one four-inch gun and one smaller one. They will have a speed of 18 knots on the surface and of 10 knots submerged. Each' submarine will carry a crew of four officers and 57 men.