BRITAIN'S FIGHTING FLEET

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 69, 16 December 1918, Page 6

BRITAIN'S FIGHTING FLEET

GROWTH DURING THE WAR

ARE BATTLESHIPS OBSOLETE?

A cablegram published last week makes some very interesting statements with reference to udduions to tut Brit.sn LSatiie Fleet during the war period. .Between August, 1911, and November, 1918, no information was permitted to be published regarding the growth of tho Jimisli Navy. Tho warships did their work almost entirely behind a veil of otiieiai secrecy, ■ ana the. stupendous results of that work alone inuicated that the fighting ships were proving themselves equal to every task imposed upou them. The information that is now mado available tlirows light upon questions that have remained without official answer for over four years. The naval correspondent of the London "Times," the cablegram states, has named twenty-one battleships that joined the Grand Fleet since the pre-war Navy list was published. "Two are of the iron Duke class, the Emperor of India and the Benbow," ho states. "Five vessels of the Queen Elizabeth class include tho Barnaul, Valiant, Warspite, and llalaya. Ftye others of the same class, but of slightly smaller displacement, aro the Royal Sovereign, the Royal Oak, the Uaniillies, the Resolution, and the Revenge. Two Turkish battleships have been renamed the Agincourt and the Erin, and two Chilian vessels which were also taken have been renamed tb-; Canada and the Eagle. Theroi are five other familiarly known as Hush ships, including the Repulse, the, Courageous, the Glorions, and the Frivolous. They are all eight hundred feet long, of a tonnage of 30,000, nnd with a ,spced of from thirtv to thirty-five knots."

A comparison of these names with the 1914 Navy list reveals a significant fact. Great Britain appears to have laid dwn no now battleships during the war. The battleship. .?s n fHiting machine, may not bo obsolete. That is a point on which only''experts ninV speak with confidence. But it is known that .the battleships were deprived lo a considerable extent of free movement .by tho submarines nnd the mines, nnd the British Admiralty evidently did not. consider it was necessary to lay down additional ships of this type after the ontb,"",k'«f war.

The Emperor of India and tho Benb.ow were laid down in May. 1012. Tlicy are 25,00f1-ton ships, with 13.5-inch side armour, armed with ton 13.5-in'ch guns. The Queen Elizabeth, the Warspite, the Valiant, the Barham, aiiil the Malaya were laid down in 11)12-13. '[hey- aro 27,500-ton ships, burning oil fjol exclusively, and capable of steaming at 25 knots. They are protected by 13.5-inch armour, and carry a main armament of eight 15-inch guns. The next group consists of the Royal Sovereign, the Royal Oak. the Resolution, the Ramillies, and the Revenge, laid down at the end of 1013 and early in 1014. They are about 2000 tons smaller, and rafhftr slower than the Queen Elisabeths. They ore heavily protected, and carry each eijrht IS-inch guns. The Chilinn and Turkish battleships mentioned by the correspondent happened to be under construction in Britain when the war started, and they were taken over by the Admiralfv. They do not fit easily into anv British squadron, and were acquired nnlr under stress of circumstances. The Chilian shins laid down at Elsw'ck in 1012-13 have"a displacement of 28,000 tons and a nominal speed of 22 knots. They have 11-inch side armour, n.nd carry each ten U-inch guns, a calibre never adonted by Britain. One of the exTurkish ships is a 23.000-ton battleship, armed with ten 18.5-iucb guns, and the other, laid down originallv for Brazil, lias a displacement of 27,500 tons, and carries fourteen 12-ii'eh guns. The maximum thickness of the armour is 12 inches in the one case, and 9 inches in Hie other. The battleships just mentioned account for sixteen of the twenty-one additions to the battle fleof. during the war period. I But the 19U Estimates, issued V'fnre the beginning of tho war, provided for the construction of four battleships, while the battle-cruiser 'Tiger was then under construction. £>The design of the Tiger could not have' been varied. But the four battleships, although ordered, had not been laid down,-and they evidently became the "hush ships" of which so much—and so little—has been heard during the last four years. The correspondent says that they are 30,000-ton ships, 800 feet long, with a speed of from 30 to 35 knots, and he adds that, they "have a combination of great speed with' heavy armament on a'conipnratively light draught." so that they could be used in the shallow wafers of the North Sea. and the Baltic, [t seems certain, in the light of the"se. facts, that the "hush ships" are more light.lv armoured than the battleships of 1912 and 1013. and that they five, in fact, improved battle-cruisers. A comnarison between the battK'Tuiser Tk'er, launched in December. 1913, and the "hush sh'os" as described by the naval correspondent is interesting:— Tiger. "Hush Ship." T,"ngth-VOO feet 800 feet Displacem.3nt-28,000tons 30,000 tons Speed-30 knots ' 30-35 knots Armour—Sin. max. — Guns-813.5 — If the new?r ship enrries 15-inch guns and lins increased engine power, and at the same time has reduced displacement, the designer almost certainly will have hnd to cut down the weight of the armour. The "hush ship," then, may bo described as a "super-battle-cruiser," able to strike tremendous blows and to choose her own position and rango by virtue of her great speed, but unfitted to fight in the line of battle beside the floating forts that aro built to receive as well as give shattering blows. Will any more battleships be constructed? Or have the submarine and the mine caused the battleship to bo out of date? The answer will come with,the Naval Estimates of the Great Powers during the next year or two.