THE MONITORS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1915, Page 10 (Supplement)

THE MONITORS.

QUAINT CRAFT AT OALIJPOU. IMPROVISING A NEW NAVY. London, October 22. When the German submarines caused our big ships engaged in thn Wardaneles operations to take lcfuge in protected harbours, leaving only small cruisers and destroyers to carry on the bombardment of their positions, the Turks and their German confreres no doubt imagined that they were going to enjoy respite from big gun fire to the war's end. Possibly, indeed, they concluded that the retirement of our battleships presaged an early abandonment of our Gallipoli adventrue. For a couple of months after the withdrawal of the "Big Lizzie" and our preDreadnought fleet the Turks saw but little off their coast except an occasional battleship, some small cruisers and destroyers, and no doubt it seemed to them that the submarine was the master of tho situation at sea, and would, at any rate, render the bombardment of their position by really big naval guns impossible.

They presently had a rude awakening, for no sooner had the submarine menace become clear than our naval authorities set to work to devise craft which could carry the guns of battleships without having the vulnerability to submarine attack. A correspondent at the Dardanelles talis an amusing tale of the arrival of these improvised craft. He •ays:--

"Humour came rippling down the sunny Mediterranean of strange craft having been sighted on their way out the like of which had never been seen in Eastern waters before. One fine day in July the first of them arrived. She was unlike any other vessel ever seen in these parts, having a low freeboard .*lmost flush with the water, a 9.2 in her bows and a long 6in astertr. She looked more like a Chinese pagoda than a ship, but she talked like one all right, aa tho Turks found a few days later when she went out and tried a few shots at Asia for practice. "She was followed by another little bird of passage, even smaller, armed with two brand-new, beautiful 6in guns. . , She was so small and so young that no one had even taken the trouble to baptise her, so she carried a number In lieu of a name. Her crew of seventy can hardly be said to live on her; there is no room for that—they apparently hang on anywhere they can. . . . The Turk# must have regarded her arrival with mingled contempt and amusement after their experience of the mighty 'Q.E.' and others; but they sang a different tune when one fine day she went outside to celebrkte, and they found that this baby of the deep could throw 1001b of high explosive twelve miles without overreaching herself. A STKANGE PHENOMENON. "The ne.vt arrival caused somewhat of a sensation, not only to the enemy, but to onr own troops. 'One afternoon there appeared at the entrance of Kephalos Harbour an amazing-looking object. • She could hardly be said to steam up, but rather wobble into port, like a hu<»e gobse primed for Michaelmas. It was impossible to tell at a distance whether she wa« broadside on or showing her bows or stern, for she seemed to be quite round. Her high side shed aloft an absolutely flat deck, on which nothing showed except an enormous turret, from which projected two guns of enormous girth and length, whilst rising from her centre wan a huge striped tripod, bearing aloft a kind of oblong jewel-box. ■'With great difficulty, steering vilely, she made her way through the crowded harbour and dropped her anchor, with the eyes of thousands riveted on her. No one had ever seen the like of her before. Sensation, in fact, followed sensation. Tier erew began to bathe. Apparently :il! possessed the power of walkiri<f on the water, for, on descending the ladder, instead of plunging into the waves, they walked along them by the side of her, and, having thus distributed themselves, proceeded to dive in, only to climb out again a few minutes later at their will. We set off in boats to investigate this strange phenomenon, and then found that, just below the surface her sides bulge out some 10ft. and then curve under, forming a platform just washed by the waves. This is the secret and the mystery of these craft. In that bulge man lias concentrated his ingenuity to defeat the submarine. If a torpedo strikes her side, it will explode amidst a variety of substances, which I must not mention, and the hull of the vessel will escape injury. These huge monitors carry naught but two 14in guns and some anti-aircraft armament. They are roomy and comfortable. Their speed is, however, very slow, on account of their strange shape, and they steer badly, but at present their development is only in its infancy, and they are interesting because in them you sec the germ of what will probably be the battleship of the future. They can hardly be described as graceful, and alongside of the neat destroyers and elegant cruisers, with a stern-on-view, they resemble a fat old dowager chaperoning some young and graceful friends at a ball."

REINCARNATIONS. "The lirst time one of these monitors went to the mouth of the Dardanelles to calibrate she gave the Turks a horrid shock of surprise. The guns go off with a terriWe roar, and carry over three-quarters of a ton of metal fifteen miles. Later 011 three more of these monitors arrived, giving us eight 14in with which to bombard the enemy's positions, in addition to a large number of smaller monitors of all shapes and aiaes, some with names and some without, but each armed with the very latest weapons of precision. "Then the new fleet began to settle to its work, sallying forth day by day and bombarding the enemy's position, being spotted for by balloon ships and aeroplanes. The Turks and the Huns then began to grasp the sad fact that we had once more regained command of the surface of the seas, and that the great effort which had led to the retirement of our High Sea Fleet had been wasted after all. Later 011 two other strange vessels, the Endymion and Theseus, cruisers, twenty-five years old, aho protected by a formidable waistbelt similar to that worn by the monitors, turned up. It has not improved their appearance, for the protection is hung from their sides by steel stanchions and wire ropes. They look as if they had just survived a terrible gale, in which most of their fittings had been washed away. They and the monitors fear no submarine, and their fat round sides give them.much the same appearance of solidity and security as you get when contemplating the alderman at a city dinner." AN EYE-OPENER. In conclusion our gossiper says:— "The big monitors are as steady as a rock at sea, but they are no beds of roses to live in, for the coal dust pane-

tratfs everywehre, and they are alnoftt impossible to keep clean. When they Are their big guna the ooncussion blow* great clouds of smoke and flame from the funnels, smothering everything astern. They are not really ships at all, but floating gun plitfprms. Nevertheless, they serve their purpose well, and M pn experiment havo proved a great success. You will have some strange experiences if you try and board one in a rough sea. The waves break over the projecting Bides just below the surface, causing a long line of raging surf. Unless you are very careful coming alongside, you may be washed ashore, figuratively speaking. That is to say, you ■may be cast up on the breakwater and dashed heavily againßt the sides. "Thus gradually, throughut the month #f July, our new fleet assembled ready to cover the landing of new armies and to assist its efforts to bfeak through the j Turkish lines by the fire of its guns. It was marvellous that such a transformation should have been brought about in such a short space of time. It gave you a true insight into the extent of our maritime resources and the ability of