SEA POWER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 701, 29 December 1909, Page 5

SEA POWER.

*" j GERMAN AND BRITISH BUILDING. NO SLACKENING. By Tologroph-Press Assoriation-Oopyri&ht. (Rec. December 28, 11.30 p.m.) .Berlin, December 28. Dr.! Paul Rbhrbach, one of the Gorman Government's severest critics, in an article blaming it for alleged pusillanimous concessions in Asia Minor and m llorocco, started a rumour that'an understanding had been reached with Britain to slackon the dovolopmont of tho navy. A semi-official statement issued in Berlin declares that this rumour is baseless, and reiterates that Germany doe 3 not intend to recede from the shipbuildng programme established by the German Navy Law. DREADNOUGHT PROGRAMME. i THE NAMES. tendon, December 27. Two Dreadnought-battleships being built by contract are included in this year's programme. They will be named Hercules and Colossus. Tho name Orion will bo given to the Dreadnought-battleship being built At Portsmouth. The name was introduced in the Navy list in 1787. .Tho names of the four extra Dread-nought-battleships will bo Conqueror, Monarch, Princess Royal, and Thunderer! ■ p • The Lion, a Dreadnought-cruiser, being built at Dovonport, is tho fifteenth ship of that name in the Navy's history. The other new cruisers will bo named Falmouth, Dartmouth, Weymouth, and Yarmouth. [The Neptune, launched not long ago, was tho. eighth British Dreadnongntbattleship. Presumably tho Hercules and Colossus will follow her, then tho Orion, then the four extra Dreadnoughts. According to previous cablegrams, and to forecasts published in English papers, tho Dreadnought-battleship Orion and the Drcadnought-crnisor ' Lion compare as i under: Length ....'.'.... 560 ft 670 to 700 ft. Beam 86ft — Tonnage 23,000 20,350 Big guns „ Ten 13.5-inch Eight 12-inch Speed '.. 21-22 knots 28 knots The Orion and those , coming after her oro' expected to bo of "super-Dread-nought' typo.] THAMES IRONWORS, COMPANY; . (Eec-December 28, 10.20 pjn.) London, December 28. The Thames Ironworks, Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, in view of the Admiralty's provisional order for a superDreadnought, has decided, to issue an additional ,£50,000. worth of debentures. [According to a recent cablegram, the company was asked by the Admiralty to provide .£BO,OOO as a guarantee that it would complote the work by 1912, but this the directors were, at that time, unwilling to give.] I ' ■ > TWO-KEELS-TO-ONE POLICY, ALL UNBELIEVERS TO BE DEEMED ' "TRAITORS." ' London, December 27. The Navy League has issued a poster to the effect that every candidate refusing to accept tho two-keels-to-ono standard is a ■ traitor to his country. It urges the electors to drop party, and \oto for a supremo nayy. SHORTAGE IN DESTROYERS. DELAYED. PROGRAMME. ' •■■ lLondon, •December 27. Mr. John Middlemore, Unionist mem-' ber for Birmingham North, declares that while all the. German destroyers on tho 1909-10 programmo have been ordered, and threo completed, none of tho British destroyers on tho 1900-10 programme have been laid down. The Government's conduct, Mr. Middlemoio adds, is treasonable, since Mi, MTienna (First Lord of the Admiralty) in April did not deny that Germany had ninety-six destroyers under twelvo years of age to, Britain's eighty-three. RUSSIAN. CREDITS REFUSED. ' (Rec. December 28,- 9.10 p.m.) ' St. Petersburg, December 28. The Natibn.il Defence" Committee .of the" Duma rojected'the credits asked by the Government for new Dreadnoughts, on the ground that sums already voted had Jnoi yet been expended.