OLD AND NEW WARSHIPS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1920, Page 10

OLD AND NEW WARSHIPS.

RENOWN AND GALATEA. When the Duke of Edinburgh visited New Zesfland, like the Prince of Wales, fie was travelling on a warship. The frigate Galatea ■which bore him was one of the fleet in the days when "masts and yards" still provided the principal motive power for the navy. She also .had auxiliary steam power, and was described at the time as "one of the greatest triumphs of human skill it is possible to conceive." The same description of the vessel.gives the following details:— "Tonnage; 3327;. length, 317 ft.; breadth, 50ft.; horse-power, 800; speed, thirteen knots to the measured mile." The Galatea carried eighteen lOin 86cwt guns, four ton guns, throwing cylindrical shot of ,1151b. and double shells of lOOlbs. with a bursting charge of Btb. of powder. A description of the Renown, on which the Prince of Wales has travelled round the world, published at the time she carried him to Canada runs as follows In selecting the battle-cruiser Renown to carry the Prince of Wales to America, the British Admiralty chose a handsome and popular ship to carry a gallant and popular Prince on a tour of good-will. Renown has grace in every line of her, so much so, indeed, that one is apt to forget that she carries six of the most powerful guns afloat to-day. It is easier to credit her speed than her gun power, for she is both long and lean, and in spite of her great size, she has all the sweetness of line aud delicacy of modelling which characterise the yacht How big is she?. She is 789 ft. long. Moreover, she is within a foot or two of being the same length as the Mauretania, although there the similarity ends, for the Mauretania has been driven by her 70,000 li.p, turbine at a maximum speed of 26 knots, whereas the Renown, with her 112,000 h.p., made on her trial trip 32.6 knots, which is equivalent to about 3S miles per hour. As might be expected, m order to achieve this speed, the Renown was given the fine under-water lines of a destroyer. It has been stated that except in her bottom plates, there is not a straight line in the whole of the ship, and to the practised eye, a great similarity is shown between' her .lines and those of the latest destroyers. J.here 13 a suggestion of her fineness in the fact that in spite of her length, she displaces only 26,500 tons, and her draught is only 2a'feet 0 inches. Originally, this vessel aid the Repulse were laid d6\vn as battlnslup, and work had onlyj ju t commenced when war was declared As a result of the success of the British battle-cruisers in finding and sinking Admnal von Spee's fleet at the Falkland Islands, it was decided to build the two ships as battle-cruisers, giving them greater speed and a heavier armament than the existing ships of that class-

LESSONS LEARNED IN WAR. The Renown embodies many of the lessons learned in the war, including a modified bulge below water as a protection against torpedoes. In fact the whole matter of anti-torpedo defence has been well worked out, the protection of the bulge being supplemented by elaborate internal subdivision of the hull of the ship itself. The armament consists of si* 98-ton 15in guns, firing a 1920-pound shell. Both the guns and tho turrets are worked hydraulicallv. One stroke of a plunger located on the gun above the breech block, unscrews the latter and swings it open. The guns arc elevated by the direct action of a plunger attached below the breech. The bringjng-up of the heavy ammunition is also done by dydraulio power. A novel feature is the installation of tjie four-inch anti-torpedo battery in three-gun shield mounts, a compact arrangement which is in line with up-to-date development: An interesting feature is that this secondary battery of 17 four-inch guns is controlled by special director-firing methods from the foretop.

The British system of firing is to let go with only the right-hand gun in each turret, which in the Renown means a three-gun salvo. The next salvo consists of tho left-hand guns in each turret, and tiie third salvo of the righthand pins._ Tho range -for the second salvo 1 is raised 509 yards over the first, and tho third is raised 500 yards over the second; The salyog come'sq. rapidly that when firing at, say, 15,000 yards' range, there will be three of these salvos in the air at the same time. When they land, the splash lays a scale, as it were, down upon the water near or around the enemy, and from the three shots, the fire-control officer can determine the range for the next salvo. It is known as the "ladder" system.

FORWARD FIGHTING TOPS. The three covered-in platforms on the fighting top of the forward tripod mast contain the fire-control instruments, and are occupied by the officers who do the spotting and ranging, by which the position and course of the enemy ships are determined. The motive power consists of water-tube, oil-fired boilers and Erown-Curtiss turbines. The oil is stored in tho double bottom. When the Renown is fully fuelled for a voyage, siio carries 4230 tons.

While the earliest and the most recent Royal visits were made hy warship, the tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York was undertaken in other circumstances. Many people will remember the white and graceful Opliir, the Orient steamer converted into r Royal yacht, in which they arrived at Auckland, This vessel, which was largely refitted for the trip, represented the most modern developments of naval architecture at the time. The vessel wan built 4(i2ft long, 53ft fiin broad, and 37ft deep, with .a. gross register of 6500 tons. It was decided when she was designed that she should be as safe as human ingenuity could ensure. She was fitted with twin screws and duplicate engines. The boilers were seven in number, lfift in diameter, with furnaces at pacli end. Triple expansion engines enabled her to develop an average indicated horse-power of 7200. During her steam trials she developed a speed of 18% knots, but her average was 16 knots under sea-going conditions.