FRENCH NAVY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 80, 6 April 1910, Page 7

FRENCH NAVY.

TWO MORE DREADNOUGHTS. hj Telegraph.— Press Association.— Copyright. (Received April 6, 10 a.m.) PARIS, sth April. The French Chamber of Deputies, by 428 to 131, voted for the laying down of two Dreadnoughts in August. The vessels are to be completed in 1913. The relative positions of the sea Powers have- altered during the last 12 months, and, if we reckon either by number of armoured vessels of tho Dreadnought type, or in tonnage built and building, Germany now stands be- I lore the United States, these being the ' two strongest sea Powers next after I Great Britain. France and Japan run one another close for the fourth place in the list. All the principal Powers have (says The Times) _ now accepted the Dreadnought design — that is, the type of vessel which carries as her main battery guns of one calibre only— for their battleships, but the displacement continues to increase, higher speed is asked for, and heavier guns, both for main and for torpedo defence batteries, are being adopted in the leading navies. The armoured cruiser of the Inflexible design — actually a battleship, in which some other qualities are sacrificed to obtair still higher specd — is being built only in Germany and Japan as well as in this country. Protected cruiser construction is mainly confined to the same three Powers, and takes the shape of very fast, and relatively lightly armed scouts. Torpedo craft — destroyers torpedo-boats, or submarines — form a prominent feature in many of the programmes of new construction, and the sea Powers, following the example of Great Britain, are adding to the number of their fleet auxiliaries, repair vessels, mine-layers, and the like.