BRITAIN PREPARES

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 122, 26 May 1938, Page 9

BRITAIN PREPARES

NEW BATTLESHIPS

TWO TO BE LAUNCHED

I understand that two of the five new British' battleships may be launched in the autumn—the Kins George V by yickers-Armstrongs at Walker-on-Tyne and the Prince, of' Wales by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, writes Hector C Bywater in the "Daily Telegraph." i Bo,th were laid down on January 1, 1937, and every effort has been made to accelerate their completion. While definite arrangements for their launching have yet to be, made, it would cause ho surprise if the King George V were named and sent afloat by a Royai sponsor. Of the remaining ships of the»class, i the Anson was begun by John Brown and Co., Clydebank, in May of last year, the Beatty by the Fairfield Shipbuilding Co., Govan, in June, and the Jellicoe by Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne in July. They are therefore unlikely to reach the launching stage before next year. Outstanding features of the King George V type are exceptionally strong protection and high speed. They represent the reply to the menace.of modern weapons, including the heaviest air bombs, torpedoes, and mines. While the unsinkable ship is a chimera, it is certain that .these ships ; would be able to survive punishment i which would have been fatal to any battleship of the Great War era. As' compared with the Nelson, de- | signed in 1922, the percentage of weight devoted to underwater protection is increased from 4.5 to 5 per cent., that of horizontal armour, from 11 to 15.2, and that of anti-aircraft defence from 3.5 to 4.7 per cent The weight of protective material is 40 per cent, of the total displacement —a record. As the Nelson's horizontal armour is 6Un thick, it follows that'the increase of over 5 per cent, in the weight of this protection in the new ships will enable jthem to stand up to heavy aircraft ; bombs. I The King George V and her consorts are understood to be engined for i a speed of 30 knots, with a margin in reserve for emergencies. At full power, (therefore, they may equal the 31-knot iHood. now the fastest capital ship in j the world.