SEA POWER

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 753, 28 February 1910, Page 5

SEA POWER

GERMANY'S U MILLIONS FOR NEW V/;';/'/7 .ARMAMENTS., :';'" ■']■': .''.',; ! By Telegraph—Press Association— Coryrlklit. • ]'■'■' • '"'. ,/-'/.'' Berlin, February 25. \' The Budget 1 .Committee of the. Reichstag passed, without-debate, the' Admiralty 'Estimates, 1 , totalling, four : and a quarter millions sterling, for ■ iiew: armaments. - < ■ ■/.; /'. ''.■'-:. '~ '■-' ': ■ [GormanyV total new.construction and armaments vote for 1910 is reported to be ■£12,100,000,• as compared with. Britain's for. 1909-10.] / ; 7/; . '■';' TWO'DREADNOUGHT PROGRAMME: ';/: ENDORSED BY MR. TAFT. // : : '': ! ■■-..} '/.'/ ,'i' New York, February 25.7 v. President ■ Taft, speaking in ' New York, said, he favoured the .building annually :pf .two battleships of 25,000 tons; each until the completion{of the Panama Canal ■in. 1915..;- '■■",:':■'■:■'■■■■ ' /■ "'■/''.'

/THE AMERICAN/14-INCH GUN. ; /In -President Roosevelt's, time' ceVeral attempts' were made/to get/Congress to pass ,a;;four-battleship programme; but. Congress'' .persistently cut it' down/ by ■half. 'President Taft''now accepts the 'position;.;: :■:■.:' : / ■; •.; '.'.■',. ■'■;■';'-!.'•'.; : j' ,' - Perhaps tlio' latest-thing, in the \Umted States Navy, apart"/from the :North :Dakota's' notable: turbine ..feats in the. way of'.'speed and economical; coal, consumptio'n,. is-the' new;-14-inch .gun,,which, .is' ! now, at,.the Washington Navy. Yard.for. the purpose of; being..rifled and having ;its ": breech'i mechanism. fitted; '• It -. will; weigh\about,63 tons, and will fire a projectile.'weighing, about ; 14001b.;.with a charge 0f,3651b...0f, powder./' It will bb. much more 'powerful than 'the', present 12in./'navy gunj /its'/extreme range 'at maximum elevation, will bo over 25' miles, aiid-it will penetrate'the, heavie6t armour nbw;.used..at:. ; the.; greatest'. distance Vhich-accurate■■ aiming is possible. .This gnui as soon.'as completed, wiH'be tested at the'lndian .Head./ Maryland, -, pTovmg grounds^; An 'army' gun of :■ the' same: size, but with' much lower velocity .and;power,, will.' sboniibe;'tested' at.the Sandy, Hook, New, Jersey./prbving.' grounds,. , The present 12in.'.guns, ;with a, muzzle velocity of-2500ft. ier/second, lost their: accuracy by/erosion after about 80 discharges, but ;it, is/estimated that 'this'new/14in; gun; having a velocity of only about 2000 ft. per ;sccond, .will/stifl IbeVserviceable,after,3oo uUschaTgesV;/;./;//,/;;./'-.' : ,'■;" -~:.;,'.,