NEW DESTROYERS FOR BRITAIN

Evening Star, Issue 22913, 22 March 1938, Page 15

NEW DESTROYERS FOR BRITAIN

SPEEDY **TRIBAL" GLASS RECORD COMPLETION All the 16 large destroyers of the new “ Tribal ” class ordered under the British Navy Estimates for 1935 and 1936 were launched between June and December last, and are expected to be completed in almost record time for ships of their type, states the ‘ Observer.’ The first batch of seven should be ready for sea between March and June, and the second nine before the end of the year. These ships are virtually small cruisers, with speeds of 36 knots. On a standard displacement of 1,'850 tons, they mount eight 4.7 in guns, eight smaller weapons, and four 21in torpedo tubes. Primarily gun vessels, as compared with our new destroyers of other types mounting 10 torpedo tubes, they will be able to keep the sea for extended periods. ADMIRALTY CONCERN. Their intended construction was announced by the then First Lord—Lord Mousell—in February, 1936, when he said that the Admiralty viewed with “ some concern ” the building of large destroyers by certain foreign Powers. He was referring, no doubt, to the 32 French “ contre torpilleurs” already built or building—ships ranging between 2,126 and 2,884 tons, armed with s.lin or 5.5 in guns, apart from antiaircraft weapons, and six to 10 torpedo tubes. Le Terrible, completed in 1935, with a designed speed of 37 knots on a horse-power of 74,000, is said to have attained a record speed of 45i knots on trials, whi'.ij.. all the five other ships of her class exceeded 43" knots, with 100,000 horse-power. France did not ratify the London Naval Treaty of 1930, which laid down an 1,850-ton limit for destroyers in general, and stipulated that not more than 16 per cent, of the total destroyer tonnage allotted to any one Power should be used in ships of more than 1,500 tons. Naval nomenclature nowadays bristles with perplexities for the layman. Vessels which are “ contre torpilleurs,” or destroyers, in France are as logically rated by Great Britain as “ light cruisers.” Italy, on the other hand, classes all high-speed vessels of 2,000-3,000 tons as “ esploratori,” or scouts; destroyers of between 700 and 2.000 tons as “ cacciatorpediniere ” torpedo boats less than 700 and over 200 tons as “ torpediniere ”; and those under 200 as “ torpediniere costiere.”

The old British .term of “ flotilla leaders ” has also vanished, these vessels now being officially classed with destroyers. MORE CONFUSION. The London Treaty of 1936 produced yet another bewilderment in the shape of “ light i iirface vessels—sub-category C ” for ships which do not carry a gun larger than a 6.lin, an i.the standard displacement of which does not exceed 3,000 tons. The result is confusion worse founded, for included under this generic heading in the official list published by the Stationery Office are Japanese and Italian light* cruisers of 2,900 tons odd; the 32 French vessels already mentioned; all destroyers, small destroyers, and steam-driven torpedoboats ranging between 1,850 and about 600 tons; besides certain escort vessels, small minelayers, an old Japanese gun-* boat, and a few submarine chasers, of between 2,172 and 182 tons. Other escort vessels (lately known as sloops) patrol vessels, river gunboats, gunboats, coastal mine* layers, and submarine chasers of between 100 and 2,000 tons, which do not carry guns larger than 6.lin, and (are not designed or fitted to carry torpedoes, or for a speed greater than 20 knots, are officially “ minor war vessels,” while motor torpedo-boats, patrol boats, river gunboats, and submarine chasers of under 100 tons are “ small craft.” It would be far simpler if smaller ships of war could be classified under headings describing the purpose for which they are intended, rather than under the arbitrary tonnage, gun calibre, and speed limits enshrined in treaties either obsolete or moribund. The man in the street can imagine whafi is meant by a coastal torpedo-boat, but is completely nonplussed by the term “ light surface vessel—sub-category C.’*

The American who said Englishmen; are good losers changed his mind when he heard one lose his collar-stud.