GERMANY'S GUNS. Ships She Could Send Against Us in the Event of War. NOT A VERY FORMIDABLE LIST. Thirteen Armoured Warships and Four Fast Unarmoured Cruisers —Their Guns ana Their Range.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 364, 1 May 1889, Page 4

GERMANY'S GUNS. Ships She Could Send Against Us in the Event of War. NOT A VERY FORMIDABLE LIST. Thirteen Armoured Warships and Four Fast Unarmoured Cruisers — Their Guns ana Their Range.

No one expect* serious trouble with Germany ovd: the Samoa affair. Never theiess, ' as wars beUvoeu the gieat powers havo crown out of events which at. their boginning looked far less menacing, the strength of the German navy is a matter of interest to all Americans. There would be no probability — almost no possibility — oi land operations, but the German warships Mould undoubtedly ntlack some par!/ of our coa^t. To do this Germany could put into action thirteen armourer! ships, as follows : J 1 , tfl 3 2g > £ i-tU it i? Name. JP 2 o •-£{ £ ! i _J"j n_. E_!i n KomerWilholm .. '9.750 8.300! 12 18 of 14 tons Kaiser.. . . ; 7,550 8.000 10 Bof 18 lons I Diiiitschland 7,550 3 OCO 10 Ho!* 18 lons | Fnort'h dor Gros&e 6,600 4,950 9V 40l 18 tons Prcusscn . 6,COD 4,380! 9A 4of 18 tons Baden 7.280 5.6001 lo 6oi 18 tons Haicrn . 7,280 5 600 ! 16 6of 18 tons S-iehscn 7.280 5.600 16 6oflBlon.s WurkMiibcisr 1 7.280 5,600 i 16 6 of lG tons Oldonbunr . 1 5,200 3,900 1 1?. Bof 18 tons l^ncclrich Carl . . . ' 6.000 3 Mo| 5 |16 cl! 9 lons Kronprinz . . { 5,480 a.800! 5 Ob of 91,nns Ilansa . I 5.500 2,960 618 of 9 tons The Baden, Baiern, Sachpen, and Wurtemberg vac the most heavily armoured oi tho German licet, and, like the Konig Wilhelm, are citadel ships ; that is, they have armouied midship ca&emate and a smaller casemate forward carrying the ffiins, and a b j lt of armour thence down below the water line to shield the boilers and machinery : elsewhere they are totally unprotected." The battery isso arranged as to give them a straight ahead fire with four gnns, a stern lire with two and a beam fire with three. The armour extends over only about one-thud the whole length of the '•hip, but a deflective steel deck is supposed to give protection to the remainder ot the hull below the water line. The defects of this class of vessel have been recognised, and, with one exception, Germany has launched no battleships since their construction, apparently prefeiring to await developments. TheFi iedrich eler Grosseand the Preussen are turret ships, companions to the Crosier Kurfurst, which was sunk in the Engli-h Channel bv a collision with the Konig Wilhelm several years ago. Their armour plates are from seven and one quarter to nine and one half inches thick. The speed attributed to them— fourteen knots — X piobally the speed attained on the moasuied mile when their first trial took place, and it is improbable that they could exceed ole\cn knots at the present time. Indeed, a considerable abatement must be made in the spaed of all the vessels in the foregoing table. They are all ships of high freeboard, presenting great resistance to a head wind and a large target for hostile gunners. Double bottoms were not used when they were constructed, and the rapidity with which the Grosser Kurfurst went to the bottom would probably be repeated by any of them should a torpedo or a ram make a moderate puncture beneath her water line. The Kaiser and the Deutschland were launched on the Thames. England, in 1874. They cairy eisjht heavy guns each, and have ten inches of iron armour, but they would be readily penetrated by guns of equal calibre to those they carry. Besides the heavy ships in the above li« fc Germany hag the Arminius, an iron turret ship of 1560 tons and 1\ inches of armour, carrying four 9-ton guns and steaming ten to eleven knots ; atao eleven other iron vessels of 1090 tons displacement, nine knots speed and 8 inch armour, each carrying one 12 inch gun of thirty-seven tons weight. The=eare probably incapable o\ crossing the Atlantic but arc intended for defence of the German ports. Of fast unaimoured cruisers Germany has but four. ~% C tr'} »•» o £ o] 3 Nym,, If I "tj || 5 E w| £ Kli/abeth 4,500 8,000 18! 14 8-inch Adri.ulne. . . a 800 j 8,000 is! 14 8-inuh OhailoUc... 3.3W| . 16| Lorelei. 2,000^^,400 Jl9 * 2 4-inch" Of the slower unarmoured craft~thc~best n the German na\y are included amoncr tho following, the first eight being frigates and Ihe remainder corvettes : "" " ! S S I S r, i Xamk , «S ! & < 7 mB i 2 i o « 3 I JP | - , M Bi-,.iavck. 2.850 ' 2.500 U3 1 16 or 3V tons JMoII ke . . 2,850 i 2,500 d3 J -l]6 of 3V tons titoch. . . . 2,!'00 i 2,500 '13i 16 of 3^ tons Stem .. . . 2,800 ! 2,5C0 ,13£. 16 of 3 V t ons | ' I ol 6 tons ] 'rin re Adalbert 3,860 14,800 15 10 of 3i tons I J eip/:ijr.. 3 860 j 4.000 15 10 ot 3", tons PniicossChttilottc. 3,310 3,000 1b 18 of 4 tons Gncj-cnau.. I 2,810 j 3,000 15 |16 of 31,3 1 , tons Aloxandi me. . . | ?, 330 I 2,400 15 10 of 4" tons ! Aicona... . | 2 330 | 2,400 15 10 of 4 tons C.irola '2,160,2,100 14 10 of 4 tons .vtavie 12.160 2,i00 13' 10 of 4 tons O's?u .... 12,160 2.100 14" 10 ot 4 tons Sophie —.. 12,160 2,100 14 10 of 4 tons s!i' 0?l"^_i-_0 ?l"^_i-_ • ' 22 ' 000 2<50 ° 15 Sof4 tonb In the construction ot sea-going torpedo boats Germany early set an example to other Powers. Ncaily a doj-en years ago oho had the Ziothen built on the Thames tor a despatch and torpedo boat. The Ziothen has a speed of sixteen knots, as have also the Blitz and the Pfeil, more recently built in Germany. Two others havo fcince been launched at Bremen having a displacement of 855 tons each and fifteen knots speed, and the latest— the Greif— has shown a trial speed of nineteen knots. In 1885 the German Admiralty reported fiftyeight torpedo boats completed, ot which f >rty-three were over 100 feet long, and since that time large additions of these fast small steamers have been made to the German lleet. As their transportation across the Atlantic would be difficult, and as we have few ships against which their services would be de&ired, the torpedo fleet would doubtless stay in the German ports. Besidos the foregoing there are fourteen cruisers of inferior speed and four gunboats, none of which would cut any figure in a war. In course of construction there are two frigate cruisers and three corvettes, but no armored ships. Plans for seveial battle ships have been submitted to the Emperor, and they will soon be in the hands f the dockyard workmen. Of course an important feature of the possibilities of war with Germany is the range of the guns aboard the German ironj clads. They are all breech-loading Krupp guns, ranging from 5 to 10.2 inches in diameter of bore, and throwing shells varying between sixty and 500 pounds, or (if the twelve-inch guns of the harbour defence craft be considered) 850 pounds. These : i shells have bursting charges weighing fiom j

two pounds for the five-inch io twentytwo pounds for the ten-inch and thirtyeight .pounds for the twelve-inch. It will readily be comprehended that there would be practical objections to doing business in New York if a German ironclad should be engaged in dropping into the city great conical-headed cylinders of steel three feet long and ten inches in diameter, containing twenty-two pounds oE powder warranted to oxplode on striking. Would such a result be possible with the guns of the German battlo-eliip-t ? Jt is well known that there is a point off Coney Island where five to .six fathoms of water at low tido can be carried sufficiently closo to shore to enable a vessel drawing less than thirty feet to approach with safety to within about eleven miles of New York cily. This being conceded, would the German guns reach the city — s>ny a^ far even as Wall-street ? Those who remember that formidable 12inch Krupp 'run at our Centennial Exhibition in 'Philadelphia with its ominous placardp 1 acard ' Range, 15 mile?,' will probably imagine that the question is .settled in the allirmatn c. According to the 7-eport of the United States Fortification Board, Germany is credited with only three vessels carrying n gun capable ot a range of ten miles. These arc the Salamander, Natter, and Humnoc!, all coast defence craffc, mounting one such gun each. Of vessels carrying guns capable of a range between nine and ten miles Germany has twelve, namely, the Baden, Jiaicrn, Wurtemheig and Sachsen, of four such guns each, and eight coast defence vessels of one such gun each. In other words, the four last-named ships could probably lay waste every part of Brooklyn, and even make lower New York uncomfortable for people of unsettled nerves. They could undoubtedly reach the best part of Portland, Boston and other .smaller places without coming within range ot any gun now mounted. It is unnecessary to add to the foregoing a description of the ships which we could send to meet the German fleet. All our force has been described. They include tor immediate service the Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Vesuvius and Dolphin, and possibly the Baltimore, Philadelphia, Yorklown, Charlestcwn, Puritan, Miantonomah, Amphitritc, Monadnock and Terror. For coast defence the old monitors might do some service, and our wooden corvettes would fairly offset the German cruiser? of the oame type. While we are sadly deficient in fighting ships, it is extremely doubtful whether Germany is sufficiently strong to conduct an offensive war at so great a distance from her supplies. I [The Vesuvius, if she proves to be as formidable as claimed, could quickly send the whole German fleet to the bottom with her dynamite guns].— New York "Herald."