UNSINKABLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 172, 19 January 1912, Page 7

UNSINKABLE.

ILM.S, CENTURION LAUNCHED. H.M.S. Centurion, the latest and greatest of our super-Dreadnoughts, was 'launched at Devonport on Saturday, November 18, by Mrs. Churchill, wife of the First Lord of the Admiralty. She took the water without misadventure amid the cheers of a large crowd of onlookers, who braved the wet weather. The Centurion is, theoretically unsinkable. If she were holed below the waterline by torpedo or mine she has so many watertight compartments that only those immediately struck would be affected. Tliis is our twenty-third ship' of the! Dreadnought type afloat.. She is to be of 23,000 tons displacements Germany has 14 completed or launched. 1 A fanfare of trumpets announced the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Churchill at the launching platform. They were accompanied by Lord and Lady J'isher. The religious ceremony was performed by the Rev. S. Flynn. As .the. vessel began to shows signs of uneasiness before the time appointed for launching, the prbgramme ■was expedited as much as possible. Mrs. Churchill ' smashed a flower-bedecked bottle of colonial' wine against the ship's 1 bows, .at thie. same time, saying, "I bless you and all who sail in you." The Centurion, whicli was laid down on January 16 last, is one of the five armoured ships provided for in the programme for 1910-11, her sister ships being the King George V„ already launched at Portsmouth, the Ajax,, building at Greenock, and the Audacions; building at Birkenhead. . The fifth ship of'the programme is- the .battle-cruiser Queen Mary,, building at Jarrpw-on-Tyne. Both the Centurion and her sisters are of an improved Orion tvpe. Their length is 6MK, find the engines are designed] for a speed of 21 knotß. The armament is 10 13.5 in; guns in fire''centreline ; turrets, the second and fourtli being superseded. She can Are all |hese on a broadside, the weight <of metal being 12,0001b. Protection Will be afforded, bv a complete belt of Krupo steel 12in. thick over the central And vital parts of the ship, arid tapering to Gin. forward and aft.

With regard to the protection of the vital parts of the ship from gun fire, it is no exaggeration to say that, when completed, the. Centurion' will he the most perfectly armoured battleship afloat. A clever combination of external armour will sheathe, almost 'the entire length of the vessel from well.below the water-lme to the level of the upper deck, and she will also have internal bulkhead and deck armour of exceptional thickness. !

The new ship is the ninth British warship to bear the name of Centurion. The last, a small battleship of 10;500 ton, launched at Portsmouth in 1802, was' built at a cost of £(124.402. or less than ft third of the cost of the new vessel. The building slip on which the Centurion has been upreared has been closelv guarded during her construction, and the utnrost secrecy has been preserved in regard her design «nd construction, aiid especially detfiils o? thp rofinv improvements which are embodied in her. Subjoined is an up-to-date list of the world's Dreadnoughts launched or completed:— ■

Britain, 23; Oermanv, M : United States, 8: Italy, 4; Russia. 4; Brazil, 2* France, 2: Jaran, 2: Austria, 1; Spain' 1; Argentine Republic. 2. '

The new super-Dreadnought, which is to be laid down at Portsmouth Dockyard m .Tanuarv, will be lonsrer and have a heavier displacement than the Onfurion.