THE CAPITAL SHIP

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 49, 26 August 1922, Page 12

THE CAPITAL SHIP

NAVAL DESIGNER'S VIEWS.

In an interesting paper on the subject |of warship design, which he has contributed to the Paris meeting of the Institution, of Naval Architects (says "Fairplay"), Sir Eustace d'Eyncourt say's that, after weighing all the facts, competent authorities generally admit that, as long as ships of any kind sail on the surface of the Seng, the most powerful surface craft will always'be the principal unit of any fleet. So far as defence goes, experiments and actual trials on the full scale show that ships can be made reasonably secure against under-water attack from mines or torpedoes or from bombs dropped in the water alongside. Further, Sir Eustace considers that the decks can be so thickened as to be able to withstand modem gunfire at. long range, or any bombs of weights which can at present be carried, provided always that too great demands' are not made upon the naval arohitect to carry an abnormal weight of artillery, or that the ships should at the same time be capable of very high speeds. No experience of the war or experiment since the war shows that it is possible to do away with capital ships and to devota all the money available to the .construction of cruisers, submarines, destroyers, and other types. All these types are, no doubt, necessary adjuncts, but the most powerful capital ship it is possible to construct still remains, the prime necessity of any first class navy. *