MODERN WAR AT SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 October 1922, Page 11

MODERN WAR AT SEA.

STEERED BY WIRELESS. BOMBS FROM 8000 FEET IMPORTANT EXPERIMENTS. London, August 4. H.M.S. Agamemnon, steaming at 15 knots, controlfed and steered by an officer in the destroyer Truant, has been the ignominious target for innumerable bombs dropped from aeroplanes at varying heights. The exercises were carried out off the Isle of Wight. Without a human being on board the old battleship twisted and turned, directed from the destroyer in a fashion that suggested witchcraft; her fires were stoked with oil fuel, and she appeared as though she had a full crew on board. This is the first time that a battleship with no one on board has been handled by ivireless through a long day at so high a speed. In the American tests ten knots was not reached. The bombs used against her were not of a very terrible character. They weighed 91b. each, not a little different from the 20001 b. bombs dropped in the United States tests against the Ostfriesland. They were arranged to send out dense clouds of white smoke when they hit the water or the ship. IMPRESSIVE SHOOTING. The first act was an attack by 4 D.H. 9 400 horse-power machines. They were each to discharge 24 little dummy bombs from a height of 8000 ft., in pairs, so that each machine had to fire 12 pairs. The operation was not of a very spectacular character. The machines were so high 3 that for a part of the time they were dden in small patches of cloud which drove swiftly across the blue sky. The shooting, allowing for height, speed, and

wind, was impressive. Two certain hits were scored, though some people thought they saw a third. The first five bombs dropped missed the ship by a considerable distance. The sixth scored a very good hit, on the forecastle, shrouding h<- for a few minutes in a white smoke. Then a large number of bombs fell wide of her. The practice, according to an expert present, was so good that it marked a new chapter in history. The machines were at such a tremendous height that they would have been safe from antiaircraft fire, yet they managed, as has been seen, to put in several hits. One of the best bombs hit the ship near the stern turret. It was thought by several observers that two or three bombs had dropped altogether, as there was so much smoke. SNIPING FROM THE AIR. Smaller machines then carried out a more spectacular exercise, representing an attack on an aircraft carrier, with the object of securing command of the air by preventing hostile machines rising from her decks. Four “Snipes” which had been u4ieeling overhead dived suddenly at 120 miles per hour, and when iittle more than clearing the mastheads dropped their bombs. At that easy range only three missed out of 48, so that in a moment the old Agamemon was blotted from view by the dense smoke which indicated direct hits on her deck. When the smoke had cleared away six “Camels” swooped down to within about 150 ft. of the sea, and from them came the hacking splutter of machine-guns as they swept the decks with bullets. Live rounds were used and the havoc that would have been caused was registered on special screens. It should be pointed out that the tests were not planned as any contribution to the aeroplane versus battleship controversy. They were target practices pure and simple, and in the opinion of officers looking on they indicate, on the part of bomb-dropping aeroplanes, a growing accuracy of aim.