The Lyttelton Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1906. NAVAL SUPREMACY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14169, 18 September 1906, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1906. NAVAL SUPREMACY.

Considering how the experts differ ns to the comparative standing of the navies of the Great Powers, the layman cannot hope to form more than a very provisional opinion as to whether the balance is for or against Britain. . We are inclined to think that the gloomy prophecies of the past few weeks are really part of the agitation to drive Britain into a more vigorous building programme, but even so, it is alarming to bo told by an expert like Mr W. H. Wilson that Britain will have lost the supremacy of the sea by 1908. The ineffective ships in the navy have been severely rejected during the past year or two and though we have battleships dating back to IS9O, the navy is now practically modern. We have been building at times up to the three-Power standard and always as rapidly as any two other Powers, so that now'in numerical strength there is no foreign navy greater than onr combined squadrons in European waters. This is how the four leading Powers stand in battleships and cruisers at present, counting those building:—

And yet in face of these figures the British nation, is being solemnly warned that two years hence its supremacy will have vanished. The lino of argument adopted by the alarmists is not difficult to follow. The Russo-Japanese war is regarded as having established the fact that the first-class battleship is 'the essential engine of naval warfare. The war. certainly showed that engagements would be fought at extreme ranges and that speed and gun-power were the great factors. We are therefore invited to consider how the Powers will stand in first-ckss battleships during the next two or three years:— 1907. 1908. 1309. Britain .... 49 51 55 Germany ... 22 21 28 United States . . 24 2> , 25 France .... 15 17 20 Even these figures do not appear very alarming, and so we are asked to consider the position in Dreadnoughts. The Dreadnought is the great new battleship of the British navy, of 18,000 tons and 21 knots, having turbine engines and two rudders, and armed with ton 12in guns and an extensive battery of smaller weapons to drive off torpedo boats. The Dreadnought will be the finest fighting ship afloat. But- it seems that in a couple of years Germany will have more battleships of the Dreadnought type than Britain will have, according to her present programme. Moreover, "it is said that in a broadside action the Ersatz Bayern could bring twelve llin guns to bear against the Dreadnought’s eight 12in, and the Germans claim that their llin gun is a

deadlier weapon than tho British 12in gun. Presumably Mr Wilson agrees with those experts who consider the German the stronger ship. Two of these vessels are being laid down in the German yards this year and two will follow next year. For Britain the Dreadnought will be ready in a few months, and three battleships of the same type will be laid, down next year. By the end of 1908, therefore, Germany will be at least a.s strong in this particular type as Britain will bo and it is on this ground that the present “scare” is being raised. The position, unquestionably demands' the earnest attention of tho nation, but it is perhaps a littlo early for the German newspapers to be writing of Britain as though she had already been deposed, from the rule of the seas.

Battle ship s., Cruisers. 1st 2nd 3rd TI 1st 2nd 3rd Tl Britain . . 51 11 4 36 ■18 33 . 54 13 j G enxranj' 24 — 13 37 8 6 24 33 United States 27 — 11 33 15 3 14 32 France . . 17 10 9 36 15 14 23 52