H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 76, 31 March 1913, Page 7

H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND

■ — ~ ! I ! ARRIVAL IN MELBOURNE. A WARM WELCOME. (By Cable.-Press Association—Copyright.) (Received 12.45 p.m.) MKLBOL-RXE, this day • m The crui-rr battleship \ PW Zealind I panted ,„ ,he H ri; ,' h nav /^£

THE BATTLESHIP'S MOVEMENTS

AUCKLAND'S RECEPTION,

Melbourne ha* prepared to givr tl,p ol th.- whole (-..mmomvpaltl,. and a propamine ..I iilrrißlnnMi for th, crr4 of the pniiii varsliip h,,- |~, 01 , ~rf.p.lrP(|, rf . p . lrP( | HPM Siitur-lnv v.r. tr: . April an d remain* Iher- until the j L ',,d. ~„ which dstn nVpnrtnre i- 1,, 1,,. mtitU . f or Al]l( . k . land. Napier unil (ii.-U.rne aro to be vinfd .mi miKp, ; ,,i.| |[.M.«. \,. w x ra . land rnarlip- ihr W.iiternnta on -Vpril 2!)tli. ii.li--] n-nmins until May l*th. Tv !-<■ -.-pi ~,n prn ? rarnmp'Hi Auckland provide- fur an nfrVinl wok-omp at the Town 11 HI lit noun mi the !i On hndii:-j al i In- nunii ~n , l n f Queen Street wharf the ..flirc-rs will ho fcirmally ivplcomed T >y ilu> porl authorities, nnd the party will then In- driven straight to thi- Town U»iII. After the reoc-ption Captain Ilsi-!pv. the i-ommander of the chip. iind hi? ofiiepr- will be pntprtained at luncheon at thp Northern C'ltrh. A citizens' ball will be held wliilp the hiUthvhip is in port, and Thursday. May Ist. i- the datp likely in hp dpeided upon for t\\\- function. A visit to Rotorua will nl.-io ho arranppd for thp officers. i: i- proposed to pntertain I.OOC of itlic nun nt luncheon at ihp Town Hall on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. April riOth and May Ist'am; :lrd. Tram trip.- round the pity, a run into the •Nihotapit hush, and athletic sports, are included in thp entertainment programme for thp men 'if the ship. The battleship will lip open for inspection while in port, and it is intended to i lake provision for thousands of school fliiidri'n visitirej the vessel.

'. iti/.ens have been invited to assist in decorating the city. The Harbour Board U -pending £400 in decorating the ferry ■buildings and wharves, and the Reception C-ommittpp estimates that the cost of lunching tTie men. providiug sports, excursions, etc., will run into another fl.ooo.

Tlk> details of tilie cruieeT may be cumEiai"irM?d as follow: — (Built by tbe Farrfteld Shipbuilding and Engineering Company. Govan, Glasgow, in ;'ip charge of the Govenniren't of New Zealand. Laid down June, IP.IO. Launched July, inn. '"ornmiesiorie-d at Oovonport by Captain Lionel Hafeey, November 23, 1!)12. Length. r>9oft. Beam, SO-ft. Draught. 30*f.t Displacement. 19.000 inns. Main armament, 8 12in B.L. Mk. X. 4octlibre flT.in«. Weight of bro-adskl-p. (LSOOll*? — 3 tons. Auxiliary armament, 16 4in B.L. Mk. Til. 50-calfHe guns. lArmour protection, belt 12ft wide. 4 to Gin thick. Tw-o isutnnerigod tor-podo tubes. Eight twin searchlights. O-mnpleTnent, 7SO officers and men. Turbine engin-es. four propellers. 44.000 horse-power. 31 boHens. Speed. 27 knote —311 miles per hour. Ship carries 3.200 of co-al ,md 830 tons of oil fuel. Con. £2,000.000. As becomes the first of Tmperi;iJ ships, ill* Xew Zealand is manned by memibe.re of the Briti&h navy and by New Zeaianders. Two o-f her officers were l>orn 3n the Domiriiun. und 40 or 50 of he/r crew. Captain Halsey himself win be remembered as Kla,g-<\ipt.aJn on the Australasian Kia±irvn—sparo, wrry. aJ«rt, and nitoget-her c-ompctent. Comiirander Grace, tlip second in command, and a eon of the Tfdonbt:i.Mp and worid-fauiotis "WjG.," is a clrip of the old Mock. Offiwre, waTra-nt-officere. and wn. from the Jiigbest to the i(rwef~t. a.]] bear iha-t hallSiark whioh if> characteristic of the British navy.

DEATH-DEALING I*.KMLaMENT. The control of the armaments of the giant craft is marvellous. To such a pitch of perfection has crurmery ; been broaght that these huge guns, " -which drive a shell weighing ]J2OOK> to a dislanoe of seven mijes. are practically foolyroof.

Kxorpt for handles and -le-vers. which » child could operate, none of their vital parrs has to be touched. The shell down in the bunkers in the magazine is lifted fry a little hoist, which carries it along to a lift, which, again, deposits ; t in the casement in a compartment, frrim which it rolls into a kind of slot, and from tic slot is pushed up by machinery into tile lireec-h. Rammed home, tire breech i.s closed and the gun is tired. At a trial of the ship, the operation took, from the moment the men -were told to "star.d ready" until the trigger was pulled. IS seconds. So there is every reason why it is expected that three rounds a minute could be fired from these monster?. The 6m. guns, with their lesser charge and their lower penetrating power >;irry grim evidence of their death-dealing qualities. The super-Dread-Bouerht of to-day has her battery of puns bo arranced that she can rain "practically tie whole of ihem on arry giv'>n object at the same time. The only exception are the two Bin. guns aft. which, in consideration of their nature, are circumscribed in their arc, and could only 'be used to fight a rear-guard action, or to drop a p-irtinf: shot on to some opponent ** tlie war-hip was swung rooind for another broadside. AN ELECTRIC NETWORK. There are telephones everywhere. The modern warship has become a kiud of electri'-a) laboratory. Everything is done j by electricity, from the cooking of food to ■ the blowing of the lire in the blacksmith's j chop. the firing of the great guns to the j lioitiri2 at the captain's stove in his sit- ! tingrmini, the working of the lifts to the j hoisting out of the boats. There is appar-! entlv nothing that an electrician ctannot j d" with this strange power. When once j the order is given to •"clear decks."" there- ! fore, every part of the ship instantly becomes in closest contact with even - other part by this network of eleeiriciil linos, aid lid ehanes are taken. If the enemy should nloiil tin , ciinnini tower, niul vender it np.eewsary for tho gun tire to b< , directed and controlled from some safer place, then- i= a room embedded in the armour forward, where this work can be tarried out without the slightest break!

m the contrnmty of operations, a7ld if IDt v.° thia den ' there » a **t 1D amidalli Ps, an emergency «*m, fitted with every requisite, wheri lor a th,rd tfcme the trains of thp ship nail of death raining outside. SMTJB-I*OSED DISASTER. Destruction. disaster, desolation, despair, and death lurk in the shell magazine in the centre of the ship, yet they ook to thp unrnstroeted. PV p liarmtese lumps of iron. They are" frreat long cylinders, with iron rihell ami snub noses. t-ormerly they vrere n>adp with pointed tips, hut it was discovered that the snnb-ncee has an even better penetrative power than the point; and -within those iron oases lie three kind* af death— death by a solid smash of iron, death by .shrapnel (wiiieh explodes, shrieks, and screams like furies let 1-oose from hell), and death by Jyddite. timed iby a fuse to explode at a {riven distance. and if the distance bp right, rtufflcipntly disruptive to bear the jrrpatest battleship that man has made to tho bottom of the ocean. SEARCHI/TCHTS TAKE SUNS. The search Lights are an amazing a.chipvempnt. The heliograph has disappeared in thp British navy, for it is no longer rpquirvd. Thesp plectriv suns, («ch of 25.000 eJi.p.. throw a beam of light up thp sea as if it were day for a dis-tanc-p of four miles, rendering it almost impossibU for tbe fastest aud smallest i:r;ift to approach a battleship without detection, and thp searchlights serve a double purpose. They are not only e.niploypil to sweep the sea to prpvent the enemy creeping up without mitice; they are also used for signalling other ships of the (lept. A quaint shutter-like apparatus is worked by hand, and blinks out .Morse signals across thp waters. The men's quarters do not allow of a person of Oft high standing upright, and are constructed so that only the man of comparatively small stature can waLk about with any freedom. Off it are the officers' cabins. Delightful places they all are, with bedstead bunks, and writing tables, and reading desks, and reasonable accommodation for clothes and laundry and books. Beyond these, again, are the captain's cabin and the captain's sittiDgroom. They are the last word in gentlemanly bachelor luxury at sea, and the captain's messroom and the officers' messroom and the middies' messroom are each of their kind excellent and pleasant to the eye. The men's sleeping quarters are in the men's eating quarters. They have their meals and they seep in the same place between decks. The tables are fairly high off the ground, and not very far from the roof, so that there is not a great deal of space for the hammocks, which are fixed when the last meal, supper, has been eaten, and there is no great elbow room between the hammocks, and of fresh air there- is not much, becanse the port-holes are almost always awash when a battleship is at sea, and "therefore the men's quarters are almost always lighted with electricity.