HITTING POWER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 755, 2 March 1910, Page 5

HITTING POWER.

THE FOUR EXTRA DREADNOUGHTS, I NOT YET LAID DOWN. ' By ToleEraoh—Press Association—Oooyrteht. (Rec. March 1, 10 p.m.) London, March 1. - In the House of Commons, in reply * to a question by Mr. A. Burgoyhe (one of the new Unionist members, and a naval'critic) the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. MTCenna, admitted that the four contingent Dreadnoughts referred '- to in the 1909-10 Navy Estimates were f not yet laid down, but said that they 0 would be completed, as promised, by !- March 1912. 1 [The Navy Estimates of 1909-10 indi- ' cated that the four contingent Dreadt noughts would be laid down, if required, e in April 1910—that is, in the next financial year.] UNITED STATES DREADNOUGHTS. SUBMARINES FOE PACIFIC. (Eec. March 1, 10 p.m.) Washington, March 1. The United States naval construction j programme for 1910, submitted by the Secretary of the Navy, Mr, Geo. Von L. , Meyer, provides for a total appropriation j of .£26,000,000. - . [As the United States Navy Estimates I for 1909-10 wero £28,750,000, there is an apparent decrease of .£2,750,000. The Ger--1 man Navy Estimates for 1910 total i ..£22,155,520, an increase of .£1,240,85-1 over . 1909, The British Navy Estimates for , 1910-11 aro expected to total .£40,000,000.] i Tho programme for 1910 includes two 27,000-tpn battleships. In 1011 there will ■bo laid down:(as previously cabled) two i 32,000-ton battleships, costing 18,000,000 i dollars (£3,600,000) each, to be mainly . armed with 14-inch guns. In addition to tho two battleships, the i 1910 programme includes five submarines, which are intended to be stationed on the Pacifio coast. OUT-OREADNOUGHTING. The latest typo of battleship afloat in the United States is the North Dakota, of about 20,000 tons, carrying ten 12-inch guns, which can bear on either beam, the heaviest broadside at present in commission. . I ' . The improved type now brfldiug in the United States is tho Wyoming, 26,000 tons, carrying twelve 12-inch guns (two more than the North Dakota), which, it is anticipated, will bear on either beam. , Evidently the 27,000-ton ships of 1910 are but a slight advance on the Wyoming. Probably they will have the same armament. The 32,000-ton ship of 1911 marks the advent of the 14-inch gun. With a less tonnage, ten 14-inch guns coijld have been mounted, but the authorities were apparently of opinion that twelve 14-inch guns were needed to really silence the twelve 12-inch of the Wyoming type. Hence it is considered almost certain that the United States 32,000 tonners will carry twelve I'4-inch guns. WTio will go one bettor? :