THE BRITISH NAVY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 144, 5 November 1912, Page 5

THE BRITISH NAVY.

A PROPOSED CONFERENCE.

By Cable—Press Association—Copyright.

London, November 3.

It is expected that Mr. Churchill, in the event of his accepting the Canadian invitation, will visit Vancouver and Esquimau. While there the opportunity will possibly be taken to hold a naval conference, to which Australia and New Zealand will be invited to discuss the co-ordination of the various units for Pacific defence. Naval circles hope that a way will thus be prepared for more frequent consultations, and also advance Mr. Fisher's desire for conferences at shorter intervals. The Ad.miralty denies that the mobilisation at Portsmouth has an ulterior purpose. It k merely an experimental test for the nucleus of flotillas in coal provisioning.

The New Zealand Dreadnought will be right up-to-date (writes a London correspondent). Though the details are still carefully guarded, it is now known that the Admiralty are planning a type known at present by the cumbrous name of "hyper-super-Dreadnought." It will have to be rechristened, but it certainly deserves superlatives. The new ship will be longer and draw more water than the largest super-Dreadnought; she will carry 14in guns, mounted in pairs in barbettes, so that 10 of these enormous engines can maintain an all-round fire; the armor will be thicker than that of the Dreadnoughts, but the interesting feature is that attack by aeroplane will be guarded against. In the new ship "armor umbrellas" will be introduced over the gun-mountings and the funnels, so as to ensure that bombs dropped from above will not affect the immediate fighting capacity. This is but a beginning. At the (present time, owing to the small carrying capacity of the aeroplane, it is enough to shield the men who work at the guns and in the hold. The time may come, however, when larger aeroplanes wDI carry perforating ordnance, and in this event it will not be surprising if the armor umbrella is slowly made to extend over the whole of the fighting ship. The only difficulty confronting this class of ship is that of dock accommodation. At present no dock could take it in, while at the time of complete, about the end of 1914, the sole, available resting place will be the dock now building at Portsmouth. I presume due attention is being given to this fact, for it might well happen that the leviathan was cut off from Portsmouth, in which case she might find herself in serious difficulties after being injured in action. Moreover, unless another dock is deepened, she may be compelled to coal at sea from lighters, a dangerous and difficult operation. Certainly no vessel of this size will ever be effective in the Pacific; even Japan's famous "Kongo" is small by the side of «uch a vessel as this.