GERMANY’S MYSTERY WARSHIP

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 81, 29 December 1928, Page 7

GERMANY’S MYSTERY WARSHIP

A REMARKABLE VESSEL CRUISING RADIUS OF 10,000 MILES

(United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) (Rec. December 28, 11.25 p.m.) London, December 28. A complete description from official sources of the German mystery ship —the so-called “pocket” battleship—is now first published in the “Daily Telegraph,” which, says: “The new ten-thousand-ton ship laid down at Kiel will be the most remarkable warship afloat. No other will have such large cruising radius at high speed. She will carry enough fuel oil to drive the ship ten thousand nautical miles at a speed of twenty knots, and could probably at a lower speed cruise from Germany to China on one load of fuel. The Ersatzpreussen, as she is provisionally designated, though probably she will be named eventually after von Scheer, will be driven at a speed of twenty-six knots by twin sets of Diesel motors developing fifty thousand horse-power.” The estimated cost of the warship is four millions sterling, due to superfine quality throughout. Three similar ships will follow. The engines which are being built at Nuremburg are of novel design regarding which the strictest secrecy is being observed. It is known that one feature is their extraordinary lightness—their weight is 550 tons. The construction of the hull by the use of supergrade steel, and the adoption of electric welding instead of rivets, is another feature. The armament includes six 11-inch guns firing 6701 b. projectiles at a range of thirty thousand yards. It is evident that the Ersatzpreussen has not been built for service in the Baltic, and the North Sea. The great cruising radius constitutes an important strategical advantage because the vessel will be fast enough to escape any capital ship except a battle cruiser, and will be strong enough to overpower any type of warship below a Dreadnought.