BRITAIN PREPARES

Evening Star, Issue 22975, 4 June 1938, Page 13

BRITAIN PREPARES

NEW BATTLESHIPS TWO TO BE LAUNCHED 1 understand that two of the five new British Battleships may be launched in the autumn —the King George V. by Vickers-Armstrongs at Walker-on-Tyne and the Prince of Wales by Caramel! Laird, Birkenhead (writes Hector C. Bywater, in the ‘ Dailv Telegraph ’). Both 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 no surprise if the King George V. were named and sent afloat by a Royal sponsor. Of the remaining ships of the class 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-Tyno, in July. ' ■ They are therefore unlikely to reach the launching stage before next yvear. Outstanding features of the King George V. type are exceptionally strong protection and high speed. They represent tbe Admiralty’s 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 which would have been fatal to any battleship of the Great War era. As compared with the Nelson, designed 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-nircrafi 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 6iin thick, it follows that the increase of over 5 per cent, in the weight of this protection in the new ships will enable them to stand up to heavy aircraft bombs. The King George V. and her consorts are understood to be engined for a speed of 30 knots, with a margin in reserve for emergencies. At full power, therefore, they may equal the 31-knot Hood, now the fastest capital ship in the world.