ANTI-SUBMARINE CRAFT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 310, 30 December 1915, Page 2

ANTI-SUBMARINE CRAFT.

NEW MONITORS: THEIR DESIGNERS AND BUILDERS.

There lias been lifted by the official correspondent in the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force a corner of the veil which lias very properly shrouded in secrecy the features of the design of our new warships. It may therefore not be inappropriate to refer, so far us such revelation renders possible, to the magnificent work done, firstly, by those responsible for design at the Admiralty, from the Director of Naval Construction downwards, and, secondly, by the shipbuilders and engineers who have so expeditiously carried out the construction work. In this latter category we, of course, include all workers who have, perh-.ips with some regrettable exceptions, shown a devotion to duty and displayed a degree of patriotism which arc highly to be commended. The particulars given apply to the new monitors designed at the Admiralty. In num- ! here, in size, in importance, n.nd in the originality of the design, of the fighting qualities, they are only representative of a vast amount of work done for the increase of the invulnerable strength of the British Navy. The publication of the particulars by Mr. E. Ashmead Bartlett enables the monitors at the Dardanelles to be taken as examples of the work done by those responsible for the Admiralty design and for construction. Without accepting as technically accurate the somewhat picturesque details published, it may be assumed that the Admiralty designqrs have succeeded in producing vessels with the heaviest of guns whieh-are practically immune to torpedo attack. Some mount twin 14----in guns in a central turret, others have one 9.2-in bow and one 0-iu stern guns, and othere, again, two 0-in guns. The 14-in guns fire projectiles, of three-quarter-ton weight, and the range is 15 miles. Our 6-in gun, it is stated, "throws 1001b of high explosive 12 miles without overreaching itself." The vessels are not of great specd —monitors for amphibious warfare need not be. The particulars given establish the efficiency of the design, and vest with gratifying interest the fact that only six months elapsed from the time that the demand for their design was made until they fired their first shot. The advent of German submarines in the Aegean Seas, and the possible dangers to our modern ships of the line, with their long-range guns, suggested the need for craft with corresponding gun-power, but involving less risk of personal and material lose. It is a great credit to all-concerned, notably to the workmen in the shipyards, that this need was so promptly . Inet. Such acknowledgment is"the liiore: justified as the achievement is typical of much that has been done in connection with new construction since the outbreak- of the war. and regarding which nothing can yet be wri'.ten. —''Engineering."