THE NEXT GREAT NAVAL BATTLE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 10482, 20 October 1894, Page 3

THE NEXT GREAT NAVAL BATTLE.

Mr W. H. Wilson, in tb.a "United'Service Magazine for August, has a very interesting paper describing the naval battle of to-morrow. He says that in all probability the Trafalgar of tho future will last tan minutes and no more. Hio description of the probable course of events is somewhat awesome reading, as may be seen from the following extracts a—“The curtain ia raised and the tragedy begins. The period of the end-oa attack will occupy from two afad a half to three minutes, according to the speed with which the two fleets advance. They aro not likely to exert thoir extrema power for several reasons—to keep soma reserve for an emergency; to avoid break-downs, which are always possible when forced draught is employed; to relieve the stokers' of the terrible discomfort of ncrewed-dowa stokeholds, and to allow older and slower ships to keep their place. They will ia all probability approach one another at a combined speed of something like twenty* eight knots nn hour, or even less. The two-and-a-half or three-minutes that elapse before the fleets meet will b® minutes of the moat.extrema and agonising tension) ia them the fate of the battle may is decided. ,r The compartments forward in , THAT ' TEijBZBIiE BLAST OF VISE will be blown eway or riddled like sieves. Watertight doors will be useless when there are no watertight walls. It ia true that the armoured deck will protect the ship’s vitals, but who can say jvhat will be the effect of losing her end? She will probably be able no longer to maintain her speed, but drop out of the lice, if she does not sink deep in the trough of tho ses and slowly founder. Meantime, what is the general effect of tho fire that is being directed on her ? The w&ok ship will be covered with debris; her appearance will bo rapidly .transformed by the lozs of her funnels and tho destruction of the superstructure and upper works, “ The rain of melinite (shells which will bo poured from guaa firing smokeless powder will wreck all parts o£ the ship outside thq heavy armour. In three minutes eis Gin guna can discharge seventy-,-two projectiles. If 20 per cent of theptf strike the target the;?' effect on it will l/De moat-destructive. It is during this pariasd that POWERFUL BOW FIRE will be of the greatest importunes, enabling the captain to got the most out qj his ship. Woo to vessels which are wiak in this respect, “Ships like the Benbow or jßaudin, where the barbsttes are inEuflioisrftly supported, the explosion of shells urtd-se thorn may bring them down with their weight of seven hundred or eight hundred ftons, If once they give way, the armuu'cod deck cannot support them, and they rsiay be expected to go clean through tie bottom of the ship, involving her destruction, in thoir downfall. The result of the destruction

of the funnels seems tu have escaped notice. The draught would, fail, the ship be filled with smoke, and t the decks not improbably set on fire. “The extinction of tho electric light may be looked for, aud the ship’s interior will be plunged into darkness'. The work o£ the captain will be rendered ten times more difficultthan from the wreckage of the chart-honee above bint and the hail on the conning-tower itself. If the guns in the auxiliary battery are not well protected from a raking fire and isolated by splinter-proof traverses, THE CABNAGE AMONGST THE MEN THEBE WXI.Ii EE AWFUL. One melinite shell might render it untenantable, as the fumes, quite apart from the effects of the explosion, are suffocating. “ But supposing, all goos well, the big gune will be discharged at five or six hundred yards. What the effect of the detonation, of their huge shells in the ship will be it is hard to picture. They will probably, like the explosion of a powder magazine, reduce the already wrecked ship to a hopeless chaos, destroying all her organisation and the nerve thread that conveys the captain’s orders to the engineroom. Sven if tho armour resists tho blow, I the shook to the ship will be terrific. Striking the turret of an ironclad one of these projectiles would probably, if it did not hurl it overboard, stun or kill every man in it and wreck all its COMPLICATED MECHANISM. "The moment of collision ia now at hand. The ships wrecked, smoking and dripping with blood, are close to one another. Funnels and masts have been swept away. Tho ships have come through the wreath of smoke that shrouded them at tho discharge of the heavy ordnance. The first stage of the encounter is over, and the survivors of the terrible slaughter are driving the battered hulls, low in the water, at one another. Some, again, are halting in this charge or falling behind, their captains dead or steering gear deranged. Such ships are the-certain prey of their opponents’ rams.” Mr Wilson concludes by saying that the engagement, other things being equal, will bo decided by the superiority of numbers. The loss of life will ha very heavy, both from the foundering of ships and the slaughter of shells. Ho suggests that it, might be well to build ships armed entirel y •with six and eight-inch quick-firing gurvs, ■which penetrate at one thousand yards say armour of twelve inches and under.