The Warships of the World.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 63, 5 November 1887, Page 3

The Warships of the World.

Commenting on the reeeut issue of Lloyd's Universal Register, the Broad Arrow quotes the following interesting ijetaili in oegard to the warships ,of the woHd ; — Commencing, then, with the. heavy ordnance, it appears that Geaat ' Britain has six guns capable of pshetriiting 86in. ef unbacked iron, and 16 others which can penetrate 28in. of the same material. Italy has jlO guns which can penetrate 33tn. of Iren. Prance has 14 guns which can biefce 27in. and 14 others able to penetrate Min. of unbacked iron. Russia has 10 guns and Spain 2, equal to the penetration of 24in. of iron, and no other Power has any guns capable of an equivalent result. In other words France has 20, Russia 20, Spain 2, and Great Britain 22. regarding the speeds of their warships, we find the several Powers stand as follows: — Ships of 20 knots and above; England, I i Ffaface 1; Italy, 10; Spain, 2 ; and bther European nations, 4. Of 17 kno't speed England has 11 ships, Stance 10, .Germany 3, Italy 2, and bther nations 3. Of 18-knot ships England has 5, France 7, Germany 2, Italy 8, and other nations 6. Uur supremacy, however, is chiefly seen in 17-knot ships, of whieh we have 25, mounting 181 guns ; France, 4 of SO guns ; Italy, 5 of 40 guns ; and other nations, 4of 19 guns. England has II ships of 90 guns that can steam 13 knots i whereas France has 8 only, of 68 guiis;. At 13 knots France beats tie With 16 ships of 214 guns, as compared with our 12 ships of 126 guns; pnd at 14- knots Fsance has 28 ships of $34 mtns; whereas we have only 15 ships of 242 guns. Summarising these figures, it appears that with speeds aboae 14 knots we have 80 ships of 793 guns. France 69 of 699, Germany 93 01 283 guns; and Italy 41 of 201 guns. It is, however, necessary to nave the tables before one in order to realise their true value, and gather from them she information which they SOntain in the many and useful forms jh which it is pfesehted. The tables toll hn interesting tale, and one, too which is not without its significence. Out of a total mercantile tonnage now afloat of 20,943,650, Grea Britain and her Colonies own 10,536,136. The total steam mercantile tonnage of the World is 10,531,843, and of this Great Britain and her colonies own no less than 6,595,871, or nearly two-thirds of the whole. This is the work of British enterprise and industry; but British prudence and patriotism, in order to preserve this vast amount of wealth and influence provides itself with only 80 warships of above 14 knots, while France with but a little over a million tons of merchants shipping, and few colonies has no less than 49 ships. If due attention is called by the tables these melancholy deficiencies in onf naval defences, aud the utter inadequacy of the country’s insurance premiums upon its com- ; merce and rood supplies, a most valuable purpose will then be served.