THE DREADNOUGHT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 61, 13 March 1907, Page 5

THE DREADNOUGHT.

A picturesque article in Pearson's I Magazine gives some interesting particulars concerning the mighty Dreadnought, the. battleship "which all the great powers are imitating. Even Brazil, it seems, is to have one of these fighting monsters. The first Dreadnought was a ship of 400 tons, having a crew of 380. The ninth is a battleship of 17,900 tons, her crew numbers 700 and she cost £1,797,497. She is 480 feet long. If the ordinary design had been followed she would be slow to turn and difficult to manoeuvre, but Sir Philip Watts adopted a simple expedient to remedy the defect. The vessel's keel-base is cut short aft, and two great rudders are fitted under the stern itself. Immediately forward of them are the propellers, so that the water streams directly from the propellers on to the rudders, making the gigantic warship extraordinary in answering her helm. In her trials, conducted in rough weather, the Dreadnought maintained a speed of 21* knots; She developed as high as 28,000 indicated horse-power, though her nominal power is 23,000. She has of course, turbine engines. Stationed at the mouth of the Thames she could strike a blow within twenty-four hours as tar north as the Orkneys or west as far as-Cork. She has bulky capacity for isoOO tons of coal. Her ten 12in guns have a maximum range of twenty miles, and within six miles of her no other battleship could remain afloat provided she made reasonably eood practice. Each gun throws a proiecpW*Weifhoo^Bsolb> with a charge of 22alb, and two shots a shot is about £150. Her main broadsteel rUp,P hardened steel llm thick, virtually impenetrable by any sea artillery yet in exist?nk\1 ndi he enormous belt extends lOrt below the water-line and 7ft above w. An ordinary hull-piercing projec™X tOrifH COuld no* put th^ Dreadfn J? + °U« of t c\^ n b«»use she has, eff| ct ',fi 7\ hulls in one. If four were flooded she could still keep afloat Incidentally we are told that this great fighting machine has a telephonl exchange and over 100 miles of telephone weconnectmg up the various stations