UNSINKABLE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1335, 12 January 1912, Page 5

UNSINKABLE.

H.M.S, CENTURION LAUNCHED. MIGHTY BROADSIDE. H.JI.S. Centurion, the latest and greatest of our super-Dreadnoughts, was launched at Devonport on Saturday, November 18, bv Mrs. Churchill, wife of il. Ti lrst Lorcl , of the Admiralty. She !u iT° without misadventure amid the cheers of a large crowd of onlookers, who braved the wet weather. 11 T^ un ' ur ' on is theoretically unsinkrt. wero ho ! ed below the waterlino by torpedo or mine she has so many watertight compartments that only those immediately struck would bo affected. IMS is our twenty-third ship of the afloat ' sha is.to be of ii.UUU tons displacement. Germany has 14 completed or launched. A fanfare of trumpets announced the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Churchill at the launching platform. They were accompanied by Lord and Lady Fisher. The religions ceremony was performed by the Kev. b. I'lyun, As tho vessel began to show signs of uneasiness beforo the time appointed for launching, the programme e -JP ot "ted as much as possible. Mrs. Churchill smashed a flower-bedecked bottle of colonial wine against the ship's boivs, at the same time saying„"l bless you and all who sail in you." The Centurion, which was laid down on January 1G last, is one of the five armoured ships provided for in the programme for 1010-11, hor sister ships' bei s Gcorgo V, already launched at Portsmouth, the Ajax, building at ureenock, and the Audacious, building a.t Birkenhead. The fifth ship of the programme is the battle-cruiser Queen Mary, building at •Tarrow-on-'l'yne. Both tho Centurion and her sisters are of an improved Orion fvpe. Their length is ojblt., and the engines are designed •in 0 J ; nots. The armament is 111 ld.oiu. guns in five oentre-line turre.s, the second and fourth being superPpsed. She can fire all these on a broadside, the weight of metal being 12,5001b. 1 rotection will be afforded bv a. complete belt of Krupp steel 12in. thick over the central and vital parts of the ship, and tapering to Gin. forward and aft. W i tli regard to the protection of the vital parts of the ship from gun fire, it is no exaggeration to say that, when completed, the Centurion will be tho most perfectly armoured battleship afloat. A clovwr combination of external armour will sheatlic almost tho entire length of the vessel from well below the waterlino to the level of the upper deck, and she will also have internal bulkhead ami i?n C armo,l: ' pf exceptional thickness. The new ship is the ninth British warship to bear the name of Centurion. The last, a small battleship of 10,,"00 tons, launched at Portsmouth in 18D2, was built; at. a cost of or less than a third of Ilw cost of the new vessel. The building slip on which tho Centurion has boon uprtarcd has been closeIv guarded during her construction, and tho utmost secrecy has been preserved in regard to her design and construction, and especially details of the many improvements which are embodied in her.

Subjoined is an up-to-date list of tho world's Dreadnoughts launched or completed :-

Britain, 2,1; Germany, U; United States-, R; Italy, i ; T?,,ssi«. 4: Brazil, 2; Franco. 2; Japan. 2: Austria, lj Spain, 1; Republic, 2. The new super-Dreadnought, which is to be laid down at Portsmouth Dockyard in January, will be loncrer and have a heavier displacement than the Centurion.