BRITISH AND GERMAN FLEETS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 12 August 1914, Page 7

BRITISH AND GERMAN FLEETS

In an article contributed to the Evening Post, Mr A. Spence says: Only one method is reliable in calculating the battle efficiency of a ship or fleet. I hat method is to work out what is termed the "fighting co-efficient." Beiore i9oo, when the ships of one nation very much like the ships of another, the mere adding up of displacements or broadsides was sufficient. Since then so many kinds of guns, armor, and types of ship have arrived that experts hare discarded the old rough-and-ready way. Having shown how co-efficient's are worked out he says that the full tables for both the British and the German battle fleets, at the commencement of the war, stood a s follow •— BRITISH FIGHTING CO-EFFICIENT ENT. " ' Class of Hitting battle 1 t Pr. . Power. Armor. Power 4 Kmg Ge«rge \. 70 5 MOO * Oiw.s 70 4 U*o 2 Colossus GO 4 480 1 Neptune GO 4 240 1 « v mc u nt 4S 4 s<« d JJellerophon .... 40 4 4^) ! 1 Dreadnought ... 40 4 jqq \ 3 Qaeen Mam ... 5G 2 336 1 o lndomitables ... 40 1 ]9(> 2 Lord Nelsons ... 35 3 2ll'' 8 King Edwards 20 * 3*o I 2 Swiftsurea 19 j 33 | 2 Queens 1G 2 01 ; 5 Duncans 10 1 gQ ' 3 Londons 10 2 SO ' 3 Implacable^ It) 2 \n]] 6 Canopus 12 1 79. j 9 Majesties 12 1 10S 5 Minotaurs ]7 1 .5] i 4 Achilles 14 1 5(5 i 2,Black Prince ... 12 1 94 | 4 Good Hopes ... 4 1 je j 6 Cressvs 2 1 12 2 Turkish Dreadnoughts about GOO British battle power 6938 GERMAN FIGHTING CO-EFFICIENT Total Class of Hitting Lattle j _ Ship. Power. Armor. Power i 2 Jh ai I&°i" s G0 6 18"°----2 Oklenbiirgs 4S 4 768 4 \\ estialons 40 4 G4O 1 Goeben GO 2 I*o 2 Molkes GO 2 240 1 Yon der Tann... 40 2 80 5 Deutschlands ... 12 3 igo 0 Bra-unehweig ... 12 2 I*o 5 Wittelsbach 8 2 80 5 Barbarossa 4 3 3(5 2 Brandenburg ... 4 2 10 1 Blucher S 1 yj 2 Cneisenau 8 ] i:; 2 Roon 8 1 i ■'• 2 Prinz Adalbert . 4 2 ";■", 1 Prinz Heinrich 2 2 1 German fighting co-efficient ... 41 SO For battle purposes, therefore the ratio of the whole British fighting fleet to the whole German fighting fleet at the beginning of the war was about G') to 41. This is not .so large a margin a,s most people Mould have supposed, Jyut it must not be forgotten that if the comparison is confined to the Dreadnoughts (which may determine the war at sea) we are much better off. Besides tins, E^land has some magnificent ships building, and these are much closer to completion than anything building in the German yard's. Our full strength from all sources must be nearly two to one. that is to say, uhen certain ships which are now com-