SERVICE NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 244, 15 October 1925, Page 14

SERVICE NOTES.

* PREPARING THE DIOMEDE. | J 3TE"W COMMITS SIPS'. OFFICERS APPOINTED. I j ■ 7r/)m •V-γ '"..orresijoiKieiit., SeT> r .4aiher 3. The crvuser ly-omede, Cap"-i.a. C. £- ■ Kennedy-E~i7---.s. juac am"-j<i a.; ■ Portsmouth —aer 2ome port —rromtnei China. station, v. ~!iera wen* J. Cctcfaer. ijui:. >n ma.dan :c3iai:aI sioa. Tie Diomede will ao-v be ' off after practically tirse Tear?' foreign 3*ir~rlcii, 2.r.;i ■s'l.l be rjt a. tour service oa the Zeaiaad Dvnaiou, tie Xe-w Z<i2.i2.rui iiavinj offered w maincaia EW'O j cruisers—'.he other being the ! no*y on the divi^-ioa —'.3 fth.oßß watera. la the nieaat.aie. the t Diomeds haa teen replaced on the China. I station by tae cruiser Concord, from J the Medicerraneaa. The following appointment* been mads to the j craiaer Di n : — Lieut.-CommandeT H. A. RmrTej. Lieut. =i. L. Bateson. Lier.t. R. V. Fo-.hergiH. Lieiit. V. F. B-'-ls. finb-Lient. H. B. C Holmes. Engineer-Oi:i::r..3.:idar F. w. G. ' Smith. 'E.aT.tiee.r-TAdTi'r.. -T. V. Sha.w. Snrjjeott-Comaiaader 8. F. D-idlej. C.8.E." Parma* t*rOttnma.Bfiftr C A. Cook*. Pajaiaater-indaiiipjnaa X- D. XVini s , , ! Commissioned Engineer E. E. man. D.3.C. _ | Warrant-Engineer W. M. Boiston. Sch<jo4rr.a=tcr J\ ITartlti. i i The above appointments a' 1 . <ia".« j from Or-,-. '-pr 1. from which da-e the officers -xi'l he "Tent to the. New Zea- j The annsnniwinfflt that the nptw J <*rniaer baf.dinsj prozra-rnrnft : j . to h** ■ hes">>?i hy the cor.strnctimi of two of , the' '•raisers in Govsniinen; dook- | yards and raro wiich will be ?"■' out | for private tender is hardly accTra.te. : Oil one hand, the Royal Dockyards are] 1.0 ba/fly off for Tcork that the bnfld- | tag of fotlT r.<rw cruisers wouM hardly give employment to ev»n their pr»--x-ar i establishments, and of course private ahiphtiildine ontn-paniea ar» anxlonsly I atwaitinsj the ias-ne of tender , ?, which | i-wanld help their yard-'. It now Reema that the Go-vernment ia of a mind to have the hulls of the «onjtrncted in the Govennn«it. dockyards and give the orders for the machinery, I borers and other portions r 'f she5 he ! T internal equipment, to the private , yards. Tn addition a nurnher of the J amaner enrisen to be tail* will he 2i-7.ii to the private yards. Or emrria. the foregoing has not vet been finally : decided, and'may depend Iftss or more on political contingency. The Aatomatic Rifle. Apparently the anticipated progress | in the perfecting of an aatomatic rifle has not advanced. The trouble seems to , lie in seeming a. compact and handy weapon of the desired powers in I face of the fact that atich cannot be j very well obtained without trie Inclu- j 1 Mon of a cumbrous cooling apparatus. A rifle capable of discharging 800 to 700 j 1 bnlleta per minute would so heat up ac , to become U3elesa, while the metallic foaling would add to the trouble. Although experiments are still is pro<rre3s, it is hardly likely that an automatic rifle will become the service rifle of the British. Army in the future, i Various aTmies have tried self-feeding , riSea, toit these proved so cumbrous and , inconvenient "to handle that they never became a practical factor in offence or defence. Even during the late war, the Germans, whose inventiveness waa then at ita maximum, failed to produce a B&tisfactory automatic rifle zave in one or two patterns carrying steel-pointed projectiles with sufficient force behind them to puncture the thin skin of a tank. Meantime, exKauative experiments are going on in conjunction with the contemplated new service riSe, some particulars of which have already appeared in these notes. While it is admitted that a new service cartridge i 3 really necessary with the contemplated rifle, the ctiTae of economy- seema to hang round the War Office. The little circle of officials apparently deem it better to fire off the surplus ammunition left over since- the war—of which no doubt there are tremendoue stocks —than to fcoldly lannch into experiments designed to get all that can be got out of the improved ballet. There is such a cartridge in existence, and according to what haa been officially stated it i 3 a much better one than the service cartridge, the explosive doea not corrode the barrel ?.o quickly, and the bullet itself haa a natter trajectory, a high speed, and is a-beolutely without "wobble" in the final phases of it 3 journey to the objective. The reduction in the weight of the projected rifle is another element in ita favour, but why, in the name of common sense, do not the officials throw this false economy to the winds and turn out a few millions of the new cartridges? In the end, a cheeseparing policy proves the most expensive. Some time ago I forecasted that, as there were not enough battleships to go round amongst the captains qualified to command them, such periods of command would have to be shortened. Some recent appointments show that the Admiralty has been driven to adopt this measure, there being only eighteen battleships presently in commission. Latterly the average period in command of a battleship works out at sixteen months, gave in the case of flagships, where the full period, of course, is permitted. The command of cruisers is similarly menaced, for we have now under fifty in commission; nor is it likely that the above figures will be expanded to any great extent in the coming three or four years. Just at the moment the outlook for full-pay employment amongst our senior officers is anything but rosy. The new battleship Kelson, which was to -be launched to-day at Walker-on-Tyne —Sir W; G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Company's yard—is one of the postwar battleships laid down in 1922, following the terms of the Washington pact. The Nelson, and her sister ship the Eodney, will be of the following dimensions: —Length 703 ft, beam 106 ft, mean load draught 30ft, with a displacement of 35,000 tons. The main armament of these battleships will consist of 16in guns, and, though lighter in displacement than the Hood, will bo more powerful weapons of naval war than she. The launching ceremony of tho Nelson was performed by Damo Caroline Bridgeman, D.8.E., wife of tho First Lord of the Admiralty.