LAUNCHING OF THE THUNDERER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 261, 25 March 1911, Page 9

LAUNCHING OF THE THUNDERER.

WORLD'S LARGEST BATTLESHIP, XEW~ ZEALANDERS AT THE CEREMONY. ~!.' IMPRESSIVE SCENES. London, February 3. When Llie biggest battleship that the world has even known glided majestically down tlie ways into the Thames on Wednesday afternoon, the roar of cheering which greeted her was not entirely English, New Zealanders, Australians, Canadians, South Africans were amongst those privileged to see the birth of H.M.S. Thunderer, and their voices swelled the mighty chorus of welcome to the new Dreadnought.

It was a happy thought on the part of the builders to invite a number of colonials in London to see ; the launching ceremony. Dwellers in the dominions overseas yield to none in pride of race and loyalty to the Flag. But they have few opportunities of seeing the might of Britain's Navy in the making. For most of those colonials who went to Canning Town on Wednesday the spectacle of a great Dreadnought taking the water was an unprecedented event. And the Thunderer, moreover, is Britain's greatest Dreadnought. The High Commissioner for New Zealand took a party down to see the launch of the Thunderer, at the invitation of Mr. Arnold Hills, trie managing director of the Thames Ironworks) Company, the builders of the battleship. The party of New Zealanders comprised the High Commissioner (Sir William HallJones), Lady Hall-Jones, Mrs. Christie, Lady' Stout and Mr. Stout, Mr. and Mrs. C. Wray Palliser, Mr. Wray Palliser, Mr. and Mrs. H. Hill and Miss Hill, Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Donne, M. and Mrs. T. H. Hamer, Mr. G. H. Seholefield and Miss Seholefield, Mr. and Mrs. J. Whitelaw, Miss F. E. Young, Mr. Edwin Brown, Mr. John Foden, Miss Hutchison, Mr. K. C. Travers, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Warnock, Miss K. E. Isitt, and Mr. H. D. Dansey. It was a lovely winter afternoon, clear and crisp, and the sun came out to grace the occasion with blue skies and welcome light. The dull, dinghy streets of Canning Town looked almost cheerful in the unaccustomed sunshine. Strings of hunting were displayed from many windows, and the dwellers in those dismal regions came out to make holidav and cheer the new battleship. The building of the Thunderer on the Thames has been an immense boon to the people of Canning Town. It has given work to 3000 hands for something like nine months, and about £BOO,OOO has Deen spent in the building operations. The New Zealand guests were accommodated on a stage close to the battleship's massive hull, which towered high above their heads. At such close quarters one could realise her mighty bulk, for to look up was to feel absolutely dwarfed. What would happen if she fell over in sliding down the ways? It was exciting to speculate on the possibilities of being squashed flat! But the workmen assured the timid ones that there was no danger, ANXIOUS MOMENTS;

But it was an anxious time for those m charge, nevertheless. When the wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury severed the rope, and the weight fell with a crash on the la«t remaining dogshore, there was a tense, impressive hush. The face, of the foreman was blanched under the nervous strain. Would the mighty mass of metal move ? For seconds which seemed like minutes the leviathan seemed to hang*motionless. Then came the cry, ''She's off!" At first it was only an eighth of an inch that the great vessel moved; then half an inch; and then slowly, smoothly, majestically she began to glide down towards the water, gaining momentum as she went.

Amid the cheers of a vast multitude, the firing of bombs, the music of the bands, she took the water, and in forty-' seven seconds from the cutting of the rope the Thunderer was forging across the muddy waters of Bow Creek into the Thames. A huge ball suspended over the stern opened out as she went down the ways and scattered clouds of white and blue papers over the crowds beneath. Pigeons flew out from inside the ball and circled high above. Cheer after cheer rang out from the delighted multitude. From first to last the launch had been a brilliant and unqualified success. Afterwards there were speeches of congratulation. Mr. Arnold Hill, the director of the Thames Ironworks, is paralysed with rheumatism, but he was brought to the launch in an invalid chair, and he made a splendid speech after the ceremony.

"MONSTROSITIES." The Thunderer, the world's largest battleship, had been launched in record time, he said. His company had built the Warrior, the first ironclad launched on the seas, and in their yards were constructed the first ironclads of the, German, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Greek and Japanese navies. In his opinion the battleships of to-day were monstrosities, far too big, too costly, and too dangerous if they happened to go down. He had in his house a new design for battleships. This had only been completed a few weeks. The Thunderer was 30 per cent, more powerful man the Dreadnought, and 20 per cent, more powerful in gun efficiency—and that was the true criterion and test of the value of a battleship—than the biggest ships yet built in Germany or France. The design he possessed was, in structural strength, 10 per cent, greater than the Dreadnought, 20 per cent, less in displacement, 20 per cent, less in cost, and at least 10 per cent, greater in battle efficiency. (Cheers). He spoke of what he knew, and he trusted before a new battleship programme came out his design might be considered by a committee of sensible, moderate and' experienced men, so that they might get rid of the monstrosities of the Lion class. £SOO FOR TALLOW. Ten tons of tallow, costing £SOO, to say nothing of many barrels of oil and soft soap, were used to make the Thunderer glide down the launching ways. The figures will give an idea of the costly nature of so great an undertaking. For weeks past, too, dredges had been at work cleaving away the slush from the bed of the river where the huge vessel was to take to the water. Only the shell of the battleship, of course, is ready at the. time of a launch. Another twelve or fourteen months' work has to be done on board the Thunderer before she is ready to lake her place in the British Navy. _ But even the empty hull is an impressive sight, and those colonials who saw ■the birth of the Thunderer will not readily forget the thrill inspired by this vast engine of latent destruction, this "thing of dreadful might unequalled on the seas."—Times' correspondent.