BIG BATTLESHIPS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 87, 6 January 1908, Page 7

BIG BATTLESHIPS.

.. . .. . —-—- - GERMANY'S FIRST EFFORT. , BAYERN TO' BE SHORTLY LAUNCHED. BT XBLEORArH—PSESS ASSOCIATION—COPTBIOHT^ - Berlin, January, 3. Germany's first Dreadnought, tho Baycrn, r, ..will bo launched at Wilhelmshaven at the r end of Fcbruary. , One of the latest contributions, to tho conid troversy as to how far the Gcriaou building _ programme is gaining ground on-.the. British, b is from : the pen of ■ the : well-known naval V writer, Mi 1 . 11. VV. Wilson. Jle r.evjews all the io Gorman Navy Bills, including that under tho offeetive lifo of a battleship is jo 18 dured from 25 to 20 years, and lie observes :— d "Instead. ' of. seven ' German Dreadnoughts . being begun in tho.: next four years, twelve will be'taken in hand. .This, describe it how 5- we may, is a colossal increase. And it must bo n rernqmijerod that duriiig these four years, under tho : existing Navy-Acts, Germany will lay down four gigantic cruisers, larger than the British Invincible?, faster, and more powerfully arpied. Thus sho .wilj, on the . average, begin each year four capital armoured - ships, and her vote for' new construction alonemust slowly advance to, £10,000,000 annually. Only twice in recent years has the British Navy appropiiatcd such a sumforsuch a purpose,, and this was 'in- the financial years 1983-f and - 1904-5. ; "If the British . Navy adopted such a law w , as that , which is to bo passed by the Reich; stag—and sucli a law should be adopted withn ont delay—the effect would be as follows : For a every lar„'e battleship and armoured cruiser now on the " Navy 'List" a new unit, would be begun twenty years from the date on which the first vote was given, for the vessel to be f replaced. As England laid down in the period , from 1883 to 1597 2?' battleships, 25 first-class f , cruisers, G2 smaller cruisers, and 130 torpedo / craft,, she must ley down paph year: for tho next decade: 7 ; 3 battleships,'. - ' s ,•2 or 3 armoured cruisers of Invincible type in alternate years,' . , -- ; 0 medium cruisers, ,■ 13 powerful destroyers.' 1: ' s "This would be'double tho programme of the i- last two years, and would involve an -increase i in , the Novy Estimates from- £30,409,000, : #t which'theystand to-dayy. to: £36,000,000 or x £38,000,000. If this expenditure'is shirked, tho British Navy will be composed of ships older than and inferior to the units in the German Navy. The two-Power standard .will havo vanlshed. like a dream, and with its disappearance the very existence of the nation ana the ' .Empire will be in danger.. "And it must bfl understood that German programmes hre ,not like French or, Russian 1 ones. Tho ships sanctioned in them are al ways built, and usually quickly built. The date of completion is fixed long beforehand, • and ,in the pa.st -has been observed' in' most ,' cases- to the month. There has, it is true, ; bo.en some delay with the ships which were 1 to have been laid down 1 last summer, but this . was due to a change in l their armament and :design, and it is a feature which is not likelv ' to recur. Thorcr is no single instance in Gerl man -history of a ship which' luis been t voted in a Navy Act ,being abandoned;"