NEW BRITISH NAVY.

Taihape Daily Times, 12 February 1919, Page 3

NEW BRITISH NAVY.

ADDITIONS DURING WAR-TIME. THE “HUSH” CRUISERS TWENTY-ONE NEW SHIPS. In the descriptive accounts of the ■surrender of the German ships, the names of 21 additions to the British battle squadrons have been mentioned. Those vessels have all jointed the-Grand Fleet since the Navy 'List for August 1914, was published. Two of them arc of the Iron Duke class, t!he Empdror •'■'of India (ex-Delhi)l, which was completing at Barrow, and the Benbow, which was completing at Beardmore’s They belonged to the 1911-12 programme, as did also the Tiger, battle-cruiser, which was completing by Messrs. John Brown and Co. The 'five vessels of the Queen Elizabeth class —the Barham, Valiant, Warspitc, Malaya and the name-ship, all of which, -were in the programme for 1912-13, are also among the additions in the same period. In the battleship programme for 1913-14 there were five ycssels', which in armament and armour protection were to resemble the Queen Elizabeth class, but on a slightly smaller displacement. They are all in the fleet—the Royal Sovereign, Royal Oak, Families, Resolution, and Revenge.

Then there are the vessels the purchase of which was announced by Mr Churchill in August, 1914, Two of these battleships were owned by Turkey,, hnd were known as 'the Osman I and Reshadich. They were renamed the Agincourt and Erin. Two other battleships were building in this country for Chili, the Almirante Latorre and Alrairante Cochrane; in November Mr Churchill announced that the former had been acquired and renamed the Canada. The Cochrane was not so far advanced as her sister-ship, and the suggestion 'has been made that this is the vessel [launched by Mrs Page, the wife of •the American Ambassador, last June ;.and named the Eagle. The official an-

nouncement, however, merely stated that the Eagle was “one of the largest ships in the British Navy.” That we should be able to acquire these powerful ships and others in an emergency was a proof of the value of encouraging the construction in Great Britain of warships for foreign Powers. By exercising their right of pre-iomption. the Admiralty was able to add promptly several formidable and useful vessels to the British fleet.

The five remaining vessels of the 21 are those familiarly known as the “Hush” ships, because of the secrecy maintained about their design and construction. It was not, indeed until a year ago, when M. Rousseau, the naval writer, of Le Temps, after a visit to the Grand Fleet was permitted to give a description of these vessels, that anything authoritative was published about their characteristics. There are five of these immense vessels—the Renown, Repulse Courageous, Glorious, and Furious — and they are reported to be nearly 800 ft in length, to displace 30,000 tons each, and to be capable of a speed of from 30 to 35 knots. M. Rousseau said, “They iare very swift, much fleeter than the fleetest of prewar cruisers.” They are understood to have formed part of the great building programme which Lord Jcllicoe last February said that Lord Fisher started in the autumn of 1914 Although so huge, they were to have been completed inside a year, while the combination of groat speed with a heavy armament on a comparatively light draft would allow them to be used in the shallow waters of the North Sea and Baltic to catch and smash a retreating enemy. M. Rousseau stated that they were fitted with devices, to neutralise explosions as far as possible, and to afford them apparently eonidcrable immunity against torpedo attack. He instanced them as a proof of the confidence of the British Navy, in tire powerful surface vessel, capable of heavy hitting, “the only one which appears able to assure the mastery of the seas.” It is not likely, until all the story of these ships is revealed, that a full appreciation will be obtained of the brilliancy, of their conception, the marvel of their construction and the extraordinary closeness of the shave by which they missed the complete fulfilment of their purpose. The Furious has been converted into an aeroplane carrier, and from the floating aerodrome provided oy her spacious deck, raids have been made upon the German coast. >