NAVAL DANGERS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 658, 8 November 1909, Page 7

NAVAL DANGERS.

0 BERESFORD'S CHARGES RE-AFFIRMED GENERAL UNPHEPAREDNESS. DECLARES THE EMPIRE IS IN PERIL/: .lllj . Toleirraplii-I'reaa' A*aueiatl6n — Copyrlcbi.i .. . (Hoc. NovemW 7, 5.5 p.m.) London, November 0. : Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, in a letter to Mr. Lloyd, Unionist- candidato for Rhondda (Wales), declares that the. Navy is not properly organised nor trained, .no plan of campaign exists, and it is dangerously ( short of many units. Admiral Beresford declares, that,: unless the country -awakes .shortly, to, tho great- necessity ef adequate naval defence, there is-no doubt that the Empire will be a thing of the past. ; He states that thinking--pooplo of other countries see the ganger of the position of Britain more clearly than yre do [Admiral Lokl Charles Beresfords charges as to lack of war flails, unreadiness for war, etc., were investigated by a Sub-Committeo of tho Cabinet, which reported against tliem.] ■ FIRST BRITISH SUPcR ; DREADNOUGHT. BIGGER CALIBRE GUNS. London, November 5. Tho "Daily, Mail" states that the Orion, a feupor-Dreadnought, is about to bo commenced at Portsmouth. Tl|e Orion will be 560 feet long and of 86 feet beam, and will steam 21 or 22 I knots an hour. She will carry ten 13-inch guns.; V i i [Details of tfie race in : Dreadnoughts . and I ■super-Dreadnoughts were published on Satur-1 i day, in connection with the United States ships, i Britain has afloat or completing' seven Dread-1 noughts, with a broadsido of eight. 12-inch; guns I (weight of snell 68001b.), against Germany's four [Dreadnoughts, with a .broadside of ten 11-inch Rims (ostimated weight of shell 60001b.). 1 Gerwsny has followed np her four Dreadnoughts With sis, super-Dreadnoughte (thre© laid down this roar; three last year), cach reported to have a broadside of twelve 12-inch'gunsV estimated weight of shell 11,7801b. The British eighth, ninth, and tenth Dreadnought—the recentlylaunched Noptune.and two others—are no sum cienfc reply to the German -.super-Dreadnoughts, for, if roports are correct, their" main advantage over the first seven is the possession of a ten ,12-mcn gun broadsideinsteaa of a broadside pf eight 12-incK irtins. Tho Orion; on this calculation, will boßritainV eleventh; Dreadnought— fourth ship of Neptune type is. to be built—and her first su\er-Dreadnoughfc.- Her armament. has boen stated to be; t'eri 13.5-irch guna, giving an tetimated Broadside of 13,000ib. tteißht to the German bro&dside of 11,7G01b. The particulars .as to, suner-Dreodnoughts are .based largely on the assumption of naval'writers; for the Gefman Admiralty, if not the British, well preserves its secrets..- .A.strong.point urged by critics of; the British Government is thatGermanj, has a- lead in super-Dreadnoughts, having 6ix in;hand, while Britain is now only laying down her first "Dreadnought" in these calculations is used only in tho battleship sense.]