THE GIFT BATTLESHIP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 233, 20 February 1913, Page 7

THE GIFT BATTLESHIP.

DETAILS OF THE SEND-OFF OF 11.M.5. NEW ZEALAND. The cables concerning the various functions preceding the sailing of the Dominion's gift Dreadnought gave full reports of the speeches, but left out many of the picturesque details which New Zealanders wonid have been interested in. Cables received by Australian papers, however, have supplemented the reports already published and give some idea of the impressiveness of the occasion. Three hundred New Zealanders were present at the fhst official inspection, and they also had the privilege of visiting the Portsmouth dockyards. While the proceedings were going on destroyers, submarines and many other war craft, old and new, steamed past to pay their respects to the new leviathan, and they formed an instructive object lesson to the visitors of the constant improvement in naval construction which the years have brought with them. It is interesting to. "note that Prince Henry of Battenburg, son of the new First Sea Lord, is a middy on the Dominion's Dreadnought. The bat-tle-cruiser is described as a magnificently impressive craft dissimilar from the new type of American vessel which was lying near by. Her greyhound lines give her the impression of strength combined with speed, and altogether she is a monument of the naval architect's skill. Her dimensions make good reading. She has a normal displacement of 19,200 tons, a length on the waterline of 578 ft, 79y 2 ft beam, a mean draught of 27% ft, and a length over all of 580 ft. Her armor consists of a Krupp belt Sin thick amidships, tapering off to 4in thickness at bow and stern, Sin on her main deck. Tin on her lower dock sides, 10in on her gun-turrets, and Gin on her turret bases. Her fighting power comprises eight 12in 50-calibre guns set in turrets, 20 4-inch-ers, two submerged broadside torpedo tubes, and one stern torpedo tube. Four screws propel her through the water: she is engined with Parsons turbines, carries Babcock boilers, has a designed horse-power of 43,000, and will steam at a minimum of 25 knots an hour. Normally she wid carry 1000 tons of coal, but can take 2500 tons, plus a big supply of oil. which can be used in her stokehold as a substitute for coal. One of the most impressive features of this monster war craft is that the gun turrets are further apart than in any previous ship, an arrangement which permits of the fairly free use of all the eight big guns on either broadside. New Zealanders will be interested to know that the actual cost of building their battleship was £1,547,426.