THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7th, 1917. AMERICA’S NAVY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 349, 7 February 1917, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7th, 1917. AMERICA’S NAVY.

Although there is, of course, no certainty about the occurrence of the “overt act” on Germany’s part that President Wilson says will bring America into the war, probabilities point strongly in that direction. There is therefore something more than mere speculative interest in considering the naval strength which the United States can bring to bear on its decision. For the time being her military strength is a quite negligible quantity. According to the latest available information the Americans have eleven completed Dreadnoughts and Super-Dreadnoughts, with a twelfth so near completion that she may even now be ready for commission. Of battleships dating from before the Dreadnought era. there are twenty-two; of old battleships, capable of doing coastal duty, there are three; of armoured cruisers ten; of cruisers twenty-four; of destroyers 62; and of submarines 47. Besides these there are various other ships that could be pressed into service for local and patrol purposes, and a host of the fastest motor-boats in the world, which would be of inestimable value in submarine hunting. The naval assistance which the United States could render to the Allies is thus by no means contemptible, more especially when it is remembered that only enemy raiders of one kind and another would have to be dealt with. The British Navy can be depended upon to attend to the German High Sea Fleet should it again take heart of grace and come out from the snug security of its mineprotected havens of refuge. For many years there has been a strong agitation among America’s naval men for the strengthening of her fleets, but the influence of blind pacifists, considering that distance from probable centres of international disturbance made the Republic immune from attack, prevented the adoption- of any extensive programme of construction. Last year, however, on the eve of [the presidential election, Congress was so far impressed with the EuroIpean situation that it readily acceded to the heavy constructive proposals submitted to it by the President. It was calculated bj’ the General Board, when it put forward its programme, that an expenditure of £100,000,000 would be necessary to carry it into effect. But Congress rejected that estimate as inadequate, the cost of construction having gone up very materially, and the legislature demanding that the ships to be built should be the largest, sw’iftest. and most powerful I ever designed. Mr. Archibald Hurd, the naval writer, tells us in an article contributed to the “Fortnightly Review,” [ in the opening year of the present century the battleship Missouri was begun for the American Navy; she displaced 12,300 tons, had a speed of 18 knots, mounted four 12-inch guns and sixteen 6-inch quick-firers, and cost just under £1,000,000. She was about tne same size as other ships then under construction elsewhere and was regarded by the Americans with satisfied pride. At the present time America has under construction —some perhaps are already completed—six battleships each of which displaces two and a half times the amount of water displaced b.y the Missouri of sixteen years ago, mounts twelve 14inch guns, and is costing, or has cost, about £3,000,000. These are larger ships than any in either the British or the German Fleets. But America is not halting at this, for we are informed that, although official details are wanting, it is reported that each of the new battleships about to be laid down will be of about 40,000 tons, will cost about £■4,000,000. and will mount, in place of the 12-inch gun, a new 16-inch weaporf, of which eight will be carried. The 14-inch gun, Mr. Hurd says, is regarded as adequate up to fifteen thousand yards, but the 16inch can be used effectively up to about seventeen thousand. The 12inch American gun fires an 850fb. shell, the 14-inch gun one of 1,4001 b., but the projectile of the 16-inch gun weighs no less than 21001 b. In displacement, cost, and size of gun the American Navy thus proposes to take the lead. It is also in advance of the pre-war practice of European navies in the weight of armour to be carried by these latest seamonsters. The battleships of the early days of this century carried belts with a thickness of eleven inches, whereas the new American ships have 14-inch belts. In battle cruisers, too, it is intended to produce something to beat fill previous records. They are to have a speed of 35 knots, with engines of 18,000 indicated horse-power, will be about SOO feet long, and mount eight 14inch guns in association with a number of quick-firers. Congress has also instructed the Navy Department that the scout cruisers and destroyers must have “the highest practicable speed” and the greatest, desirable range of action; and, while no details are given of submarines, they are to embody all the lessons to be learnt from the war. When it comes to the question of manning what is virtually to be a new fleet, it is found that, while in 1905 Congress voted 978 midshipmen and 37,000 enlisted men, the last session of Congress voted 1473 midshipmen and 78,200 enlisted men. In fact America has started out on a programme which, when completed, will give her a navy second only to that of Great Britain, and possibly containing units of even greater destructive power.