SERVICE NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 49, 28 February 1927, Page 3

SERVICE NOTES.

TANKS AND ARTILLERY. NEW BATTLESHIPS FOR TRANCE. PROBLEMS OF PLUGGING FIRE. i From Our Special Correspond® i.) LONDON, January 24. Captain H. E. Dannreuther, D.5.0., who has been lent to the Royal Australian Navy for three years in the capacity of Captain Superintendent of Training, is one of the sis survivor; of the Invincible, battle-cruiser, when she was blown up by the German shell-lire at the Battle of -Jutland. Captain Dannreuther entered the Royal Navy in 1595, was promoted lieutenant in 1002 —taking three "firsts"—antl was appointed to the Invincible as her gunnery officer in August, 1913. He was with the Invincible in the same post when she and her consorts left Portsmouth to seek Von Spee's squadron, which, after destroying Cradock's squadron off Coronol, was itself destroyed by Admiral Sturdee off the Falkland;. Captain Dannreuther was mentioned in dispatches and received the D.S.O. for his services at the Falkland'. On that terrible May 31, at Jutland, Commander Dannreuther fought his guns magnificiently in his encounter with the DerilinKr, but a salvo from the latter on

Q turret communicated a flash to the magazines and the Invincible blew up. Of the 61 officers and 955 men who went into action with her, only Captain Dannreuther and five men survived. " ' It i« thought by some that-it is now merely a matter of time until the Royal Tank Corps will become part and parcel of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Recent demonstrations of whippet tanks at Aldershot showed that these light tanks can travel at anything up to 35 mile; per hour, as contrasted with the twelve miles which their prototypes speeded at when they were first introduced in the field of battle. The crews of the tanks are selected with the greatest care, both physically and intellectualiv.

More than one-half of the infantry reliefs detailed to move during the trooping season of 1026-27 have taken place. The crisis in China may have some effect upon movements not yet made. Ar already mentioned, the Second Battalion Suffolk Regiment, stationed for some time a: Gibraltar, is now en voyage to Hongkong. The War Office apparently has abandoned the idea of converting the streamline bullet into a service bullet, whjie still open to consider suggestions on the subject. Apparently the experiments in this direction in the last two years have not been a success, sanguine as some of the small arms school experts were when they began. French, German and U.S.A. experts are still working on a somewhat similar problem.

From mcst recruiting areas it is reported that there is no lack of recruits, but that a considerable percentage fs.il in the physical standard and the educational test, the latter being now considered more important than ever. An illiterate soldier is not of much service in these days of scientific warfare. ,

Further advances are being made in the mechanical traction of field batteries and medium batteries and ic is believed that during the current year the number of horse-drawn batteries will be reduced in favour of mechanical traction.

After being interested in nothing but the doctrines of the jeune ecole practical!)- ever since the war, French naval opinion is suddenly concentrating on capital ships. Under the Washington agreement the French have a surplus of capital ship tonnage which they can make up, and it is increased by the fact that the battleship France has not yet been replaced after her wreck in Quiberon Bay. The French navy appears to incline towards the battle-cruiser, a type with which it has not yet experimented. If such a ship were built she would probably be of Mediterranean design—that is to say, designed with light-scantlings, very big gun-power, high speed, and comparatively small fuel supply. Such a vessel would be exceedingly useful in carrying out the main function of the French battle fleet in the Mediterranean —the preservation of the trade lane by which food and troops can be drawn from the North African colonies. It is m,ost unlikely that the French would design a battle-cruiser for work in the Xorth Sea, for they have committed themselves to a definite policy of maintaining their Atlantic fleet with submarines, destroyers, flotilla leaders, and a few cruisers. The majority of .the-big-new submarines will be based on Brest and the other Xort'n Sea ports, but we are not likely to see any capital ships there. As I pointed out last week, the talk about ten new cruisers for the U.S. Xavy, was merely a bit of Yankee bluff. The naval construction estimates passed last week by Congress did not contain any reference whatever to the ten cruisers. As far back at December, 1924, Congress approved of the building of eight cruisers and retired that the construction of the group should begin not later than the midsummer of this year, with the immediate construction of three. For so far not a cent for the construction of these three has been passed by Congress. One of the problems which naval" constructors have to take into consideration is not only protection against ae.ial attack, but also protection against plunging fire, a subject which I treated in these notes nearly two years ago, but which is again attracting attention. At •Jutland three of . our finest battlecruisers, viz., the Queen Mary, Indomitable and Defence, fell victims to the plunging fire or the smaller German gun, the shells of which pitched on our ships' decks with most disastrous results. Plunging fire is a very old form of artillery wariare, it having been used as far bac.% as the second siege of Gibraltar, when red hot projectiles dropped on the decks of the Spanish and French battering ships destroyed them. It is understood that in the ships under process of construction or about to be constructed plunging lire has been taken into account, particularly in view of the great angle or elevation which is being given to tile modern big gun. The Germans were the first to introduce high angle fire in the late war, their guns having an elevation of anything from 25 to 35 degrees, while the maximum of ours was between 12 and 15 degrees.