A WORLD NAVY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 49, 21 November 1907, Page 7

A WORLD NAVY.

THE KAISER'S GREAT PROGRAMME.

BIG BATTLESHIPS. ) > ' TONNAGE DOUBLED BY 1914. I fll Nf.EGlurn— PRESS ASSOCIATION—COriKIQM, . (Rcc. Nov. 20, 10.45 p.m.) Berlin, November 20. Germany in 1914 will havo thirteen battle--1 ships of upwards of 19,000 tons each, twenty--1 four other battleships, and fourteen largo cruisers. Tho total tonnage of the German fleet, now below 320,000, will then be 700,000. BRITISH CONSTRUCTION. London, November 20. The "Times" anticipates that tho. eighth Dreadnought will bo included in the next Naval Estimates presented by Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of tho Admiralty. Count Ernest von Rovontlow, the well-known German naval expert, discussing, in June last; tne German Dreadnoughts, declared that they have caused perceptible unrest and uneasiness in British naval circles, because their completi°n _in 1909 and 1910 respectively will'tend to upset the balance of naval power. Henceforth, says Count Rovcntlovr, each singlo British ship will no longer bo superior to each German ship, but a certain proportion of tho German fleet (and this proportion will grow larger year by year) will be,equal in strength to the same n'imber of British ships. The Count considers that the uneasy feeling created among British naval experts is fully justified, because the construction of'the German Dreadnoughts will soon render it difficult for Great Britain to maintain the two-Power standard. He says:— ;Tli° decision of the German Admiralt.y/to bund Dreadnoughts literally caused consterna-tion-in. England. So long as the Naval Act of 1900 was not supplemented by, provisions extending its scope, British naval experts admitted that the German fleet could no longer be ignored, but refused to regard it as a real monace. They knew that the individual superiority ■of the British ships, combined with the numerical superiority of the fleet, would suffice to cope with evtry possible hostile combination. But now it is a fact, to which we must attribute considerable importance, thnc an uneasy feeling exists in various quarters in Eagland. The English see that the time has como when, in the event of an Anglo-German war, the British Fleet would not be superior all along tho line, but when a certain number of German battleship's would bo equal to the same number of British ships. "British naval experts hoped that Germany would novor construct ships equal or superior to those of tho Nelson and Dreadnought class, and tho. fact that, in spite ( of these expectations, Germany is now constructing such ships has created a far deeper impression in England than is commonly supposed. This is due to the fear that great difficulties and enormous sacrifices will have to bo incurred in permanently I maintaining tho two-Power standard."