SECRETS OF THE DREADNOUGHTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 166, 7 August 1909, Page 4

SECRETS OF THE DREADNOUGHTS

WHAT THE BATTLESHIPS OF Till'. FUTURE ARE LUvE. People who have been reading about the rapid progress which has been made in recent months in the conquest of the air do not realise that naval development is more than twice as rapid. 'The Dreadnought of to-day is the scrap-iron of to-morrow.

Britain invented the first Dreadnought. She was launched less than three years ago, at a cost well over a milion pounds.

To-day we have at least two suqis of similar design, but which are a» great an improvement on the lira Dreadnought as she was on the types which preceded her, whilst Germany America, Japan and even Brazil huie also 'gone one better," And now we hear that Admiral Percy Scott has invented a means by wluc'/i one man can lire a broadside of guns by electricity, whilst from America comes news ol an appalling lonn oi a giant torpedo which is to reduce mil-lion-pound battleships to scrap-iron at the cost of half-a-dozen lives, and of a new compass which remains true under any conceivable situation.

And all this within the space of a fewdays, i Tlien there is the problem of wireless telegraphy, with which all our Dread' noughts are now equipped, whilst a recording station lias been established at the Admiralty itself, enabling the Sea Lords to correspond almost instantly with vessels far away at -sea. Another startling invention has been credited to the French, lieeently secret experiments of great interest were conducted with a new 2(i-inc'h luminous shell which is likely to prove a vaiuume asset in time of war.

The new shell throws out a rav of light when it strikes. During a iiignt tttack it will indicate the range of the enemy without exposing the linng warships to view by means of their searchlights.

Airships, too, are to piny a great part in future naval warfare. Of the future of the aeroplane nothing at present is definitely known, bat every Dreadnought of all tlie big nation's which goes into actions in the future will carry a complete "balloon section" consisting of a captive military balloon with a full stall'.

Tiiis is rendered necessary by the fact that from a givat height tiie -rea is absolutely as clear as glass, enabling commanders not' only to spot the enemy's batleships from afar, but also 'to obtain timely warning of the approach of submarines and other engines of destruction beneath the sea. How will it all end? When shall we get to the '™al chapter in naval construction! The answer probably is "Never," so far as novel engines of war «re concerned.

Already a well-known naval expert has declared that "the officer of the present era has an average of ten years in which to clear out of the service or seek refuge in a lunatic asylum."

The reason for this is that the result of every gun practice is to unnerve officers and men for twenty-four Hours. The back-blast of the guns is so violent and the concussion so prodigious that eyes swim, ears sing, the brah seems softly to seethe and limbs twitch for a long spell afterwards. If this is so already, what will it be like with the heavier guns which are now being evolvCd? ■v:'l , £i4l: