THE NAVY

Evening Star, Issue 14117, 21 July 1909, Page 6

THE NAVY

FOUR MORE DREADNOUGHTS

THE GOVERNMENT GIVE WAY.

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright

LONDON, July 20.

■ 'The Times' states that the Government have determined to proceed immediately with the construction of the contingent Dreadnoughts. Mr M'Kenna (First Lord of the Admiralty), replying to Mr Craig, said that £150,000 A-ould be paid in thirty years, at the rate of £5,000 annually, for the Auckland -ivy dock. The subsidy has been granted with a view to getting" the dock properly equipped. The only other subsidised dock is that at Colombo. THE FLEET IN THE THAMES. DISTINGUISHED VISITORS* LONDON, July 20. (Received July 21, at 9 a.m.) The Lord Mayor and Corporation, the Lords of the Admiralty, and the Turkish pirliamentary delegates visited the fleet at Southend, PREVIOUS VISITS TO THE THAMES. Tlie jiresent imposing array of naval strength in the Thames estuary", consisting of the combined Home and Atlantic Fleets, with, the torpedo craft and submarine flotillas of tlie Home- Fleet,, recalls to mind how few of recent years have been the occasions on which the principal fighting units of the Royal Navy have been seen in that locality. Minor craft have froin time to rime anchored in tlie Thames. The No re destroyer- flotilla some vears ago, when cruising, frequently made' Greenhithe their week-end headquarters, and only last year the Stungate Creek torpedo boats made a popular visit to London itself, some of them anchoring in the vicinity of Blackfriars Bridge. Squadrons, however, have rarely been seen above the Nore. 'Nearly forty years a<jo the then Channel Flee't node a. voyage as far as Thames Haven, in order to greet the arrival of the Czar of Russia, but owing to a hitch in arrangements, consequent upon a breakdown of machinery after leaving Flushing, the Imperial yacht Livadia landed His Majesty at Dover instead of at Gravesend. In August, 1887, after the Jubilee review at Spithead, a squadron, under the command of Rearadmiral the Hon. Sir E. Fremantle, made an "attack" on tlie entrance to the Thames. The squadron " captured " Falmouth, and eluding the opposing force, under the late Vice-admiral Sir W. N. Hewett, then commanding the Channel Fleet, made its way up Channel, through the Strait of Dover, wheie there were only eoaßt defence vessels to oppose it, ;md appeared off Shecmess early one morning m battle formation. Sir W. N. Hewett. however, followed, and with a superior force compelled a raising of the blockade before the eight hours' period had elapsed, and ReaT-admiral Fremantle, finding he w;is cut off from steaming into the. North Sea, took his ships up river as far as Thames Have , where he anchored for the right, returning next day, and rejoininrr the 'Vice-admiral's flap off the Nore The next visit of a squadron was not made until some six or seven years ago, when the then post guar.l- - division, drring one of its customary cmises. anchored for a couple of days ofT fcotfthend pier. Single Iwtileships" and cruisers have, of course, periodically been seen in the river. Amount others of large size, the Duncan, Cornwall is, Albion. Black Prince, and Blenlieim were built by the Thames Iron Works Company at their yards at Canning Town, while the Magnificent, on a comparatively recent occasion, went to Gravesend for a coaling test. That tlw present visit will prove a popular one goes without saying, and, accompanied as it will be by the discussion of vote 8 of the Navy Estimates in the House of Commons on the 22nd inst.. public interest in the senior f,ervice slwuld thereby l>e greatly stimulated.