THE CAMPAIGNS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17078, 29 January 1916, Page 8

THE CAMPAIGNS.

In the absence, of news from the various fronts'the journals of the Mother Country seem to be devoting attention to the discussion of details of military and naval equipment. Tho story, of the aerial torpedo designed by Krupps is a case in point. We have had \the same story in various shapes before and there is no special reason for supposing that this wonderful weapon has yet materialised. Another subject under discussion is tho supposed mounting of 17-inch guns on the latest German battleships. So far as is known Krupps have never built a 17-inch naval gun. They listed a 15-inch and a 16-inch gun, but the latter was almost certainly intended for fortress use, because naval construction, at any rate in Germany, had not advanced beyond the 15-inch gun stage. Experts tell us that Germany is a couple of years at least behind Britain in the calibre of the guns, and she was mounting 12-inch guns when itritain had already passed to 15-inch weapons. We are given to understand, also, that the substitution of 15-incli guns for 12-inch on ships designed to mount the smaller weapon is out of the question, and if 17-inch guns are mounted on new battleships there must have been a radical alteration of design and the construction of the ships must have been carried out with altogether unprecedented celerity. Naturally the discussion of such matters is purely speculative and throws no actual light on the position. The news from the fronts is scanty. There has been a bombardment of the German positions on the Belgian coast, and Lens has been subjected to a severe shelling. Further south the French have.been energetically fighting to recover the ground they lately lost east of Neuville. Minor operations are reported from the Russian front.