UGLY CRUISER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 988, 1 December 1910, Page 5

UGLY CRUISER.

THE LATEST IN WARSHIPS. The battleship-cruiser Indefatigable will bo undocked at Devonport within the next few days, and after bunkering 2000 tons of coal and 500 tons of oil, will proceed to the Channel to carry out her speed trials (writes a London correspondent on October 14). . Great interest attaches to these tests, as the Indefatigable is expected to exceed her contract requirements considerably. Her turbines are designed ostensibly to develop 4-1,000 i.h.p., and give a speed of 26 knots, but tho engineering department of the Devonport Dockyard is calculating on an excess of from two to three knots on this. The Indefatigable will displace 59,250 tons on her trials. Her hull embodies some striking departures of design, From her stem to about one-fifth of her length aft she is bnilt as keen as a wedge. No racing yacht has such knife-liko lines. As sailors put it, she has no shoulders nt all. There is a twofold ■• purpose ■in this. Keenness is essential to sneed, but it must not be carried beyond certain limits for seaworthiness. The Indefatigable is not intended to be seaworthy. She will bo driven through tho waves, not over /them.

Her immense freeboard forward renders this possible. Where a smaller vessel would drown her. herself the Indef atigablo will merely 1 throw a smother of spray. The idea-of minimising, her lifting power is that she shall not lose Tier speed by plunging in heavy weather, and that she shall prove a steadier' (tun-plat-form. Enormous bilgo keels will reduce her rolling: In appearance the Indefatigable will mark a further step in that ugliness which seems to be inseparable from warship development: ■ Her funnels,'three in number, are all of different desisra, and at unequal distances apart. Added to this, the forward funnel is 20ft. higher than tho other-/two.. The purpose of this is to carry the' fumes clear of the fire control station on the fore tripod. The effect is sadly to mar the 1 symmetry of the■ship. Eight 12-inch guns of 50 calibre are mounted in four turrets, the wing pair beintr echeloned, so that all the guns can be brought to bear on oither broadside, and six ahead or astern. The topsides of. tho Indefatigable aro so_ barren of superstructure that practically she- will bo permanently cleared for action. She will burn 000 tons of coal per 24 hours at full power. Pour prooellers drive her— absurdly small to look. at. but verv high-pitched. She carries less than half the number of' wator-tubo boilers of tho Powerful to develop twice the horsepower, a striking illustration of the efficiency of tho turbine.

"Swish, zing" is the song of the-P.N. 21 h.p. Light Weight Motor all. Otherwise it runs as silently as an electric fan and just, as easy. It requires no pushing or shoving to make it start, the rider takes his seat as if he were mounting a bike, and off tho P.N goes at tho touch of the lever. It ja n joy to ride, and is a Motor Cyclo a man loves to feol under him. Come in and inspect it for yourself. Wholesale AgentsK. Reynolds and Co., Ltd., Wellington — Advt. A verdict of death from natural causes was returned at Rochester on George Stevens, a labourer, who died while lanching at ajoko told by a friend.