THE STATE OF THE NAVY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13485, 11 May 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE STATE OF THE NAVY.

7 ITS SHIPS AND OFFICERS. The Kaiser's victory over the Social Demo- ' crats :at the general election in Germany ' is an event that affects" the British tax- ] payer, because feverish activity in naval ' construction will now be' '.Kaiser's aim. ■ For sixteen, months Germany has not laid , down a battleship. The same thing is true of every other. Continental Power. In Eug- . land alone the clang of hammers has bees , heard in the arsenals and dockyards where ships fit to lie in the battle lino are con- ' atructed. The reason for this extraordinary contrast between British activity- and Con- * tinental inaction is due to the naval pheno- 1 menon which appears in the navy list under i the name of H.M.S. Dreadnought. ] Before Germany can build and : comniis- . sion; a single Dreadnought England will have seven monster ships v afloat and two more on the way to completion. What is it in the Dreadnought that has i arrested the construction of battleships all ' over the world? Briefly, it is the revolu- < tionary changes introduced into the fabric, i machinery, and armament of the battle- i ship. The ship is the creation ■of many minds, and she is the first vessel of war i ever built for the British navy that can ', honestly ,be called a naval officers' ship. i Hitherto, men-of-war have been built from i the designs of an official called the chief ' constructor. He may have taken odds and ' ends of advice from naval men; the de- i signs were his. The Dreadnought is the '. result of hard thinking, principally by the • First Sea. Lord, who is the ."officer respon- ] sible.-'for the disposition of the fleet, and. for the management and strategy of a naval war. Sir John. Arbuthnot Fisher, 0.M., G.C.8., is the strongest personality . of the day. Years ago, when ships were . being built that could neither fight nor ' run away because the obsolete ideas of a wooden navy were still embodied in steel '' and steam, it fell to Fisher's lot to bear ' the chief burden of the task'"'of: convert- ' ing the old -thumb " masts and sails," . "spit and polish" navy into a scientific machine instantaneously ready for war. At | that time gunnery was neglected, ammunition tin-own overboard. To escape the deafening noise and discomfort' of gunnery practice admirals went on shore; the result was that the old .navy missed the target four times out of five. Sir John Fisher changed all that by adopting. the simple principle that a warship is nothing but a gun platform with a motor engine. The Dreadnought .is the. result of this idea. First and foremost, she; is , a gun platform. There are more heavy guns, and they are mounted at a greater height above the water, than in any other ship in the world. Her recent voyage to Bermuda has shown that she can steam for ten consecutive days and nights at a speed of nearly nineteen miles an hour, and yet have enough coal left to carry her another' thousand miles. Nothing of the kind has ever been , done before in the history of fleets, and '. the reason - why the radius of the Dreadnought's striking power has been prolonged beyond that of other battleships by at least two thousand miles is due to the adoption [ of the : turbine. i • The reason why Continental Powers have i laid down no battleships during the last > sixteen months is because they were afraid to spend money on the old form of engine and then find that the Dreadnought's; turl bines were successful. On the other hand, , if they had built ships costing two million j sterling with such turbines as they could , get, there was no guarantee' that the costly . experiment would ; not fail. ?!. They waited " in an ecstasy of impatient anxiety.; V--: ;; --'- : u •-, EFFECT ON OTHEB NATIONS. ' The 'Dreadnought's voyage to Bermuda 3 from Gibraltar is a historical event. It > will relieve the pent-up activities of all 1 the great fighting nations, The, United, 1 States, Germany, France, and Japan, and 1 possibly Russia, will hustle to turn outDreadnoughts of their own. They will have to buy their experience. Notwithstanding c pressure from ignorant and ill-advised "peo* . pie,' bur own Admiralty have kept their own council. } The Dreadnought contains J ,' many secrets. She is unsinkableby tora pedo, and the lessons of the.battle of Tsu- * shima are embodied in ! her and her , ; sister ships. The Dreadnought's successful arrival f at Bermuda i has solved for England: many 5 anxious problems. It is.now- known- that if engaged in battle with any existing fleet, " no matter: how ; numerous, she can choose r her own distance and sink the enemy's ships ~ one by one. " Admiral "Sir A. ;K. Wilson, who laid * down the ; command of the Channel fleet fc on • March 4, is undeniably the greatest ? admiral in ; the world. As a strategist s he • is ■;, unapproachable, though in tactics and " dash Admiral; Lord -Charles Beresford is • his equal and possibly. his superior. Wil--1 son's greatness as an admiral is :so fully 3 recognised that in the event of our being 1 engaged in war he would probably be called: 8 to take the supreme command afloat. \ ;S ; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, Ms sue-1 1 cessor, is better known, than, any other • naval man of any rank. :, He is not only " well loved for his ability as a born leader • of men, but bis abilities as a. ; fighting ad- >' miral are superior to those of ,; any of his • contemporaries, ; with the ; exception* of Sir • A. K. Wilson. -Furthermore, to Lord • Charles Beresford is due much of the credit t for recent reforms in the navy. 1 He worked i in season';■and out V, of season for the imt provement of the service he'adorns, and 1 he has not been credited by the ; public i with achievements > that really ,: belong ito 1 him. Signalling is a ; case in point. Lord - Charles made modern naval signalling what it is, and the gain or loss of a naval Armat geddon may depend on what Beresford has 1 done. --■ ■:'. ■ '

; Of the other admirals I can say little,! owing to the ■restriction of space. Prince Louis of ; Battenbcrg . is; one of the; most brilliant of the younger tacticians, and he has made his flagship, the Drake; the champion : gunnery vessel of the navy. ; Sir William May, now of the Atlantic squadron, has had . command ' for two years ;of the fineflfc fleet in the world until the Dreadnought appeared. Our naval officers are better \ than ■ ever. They work twice as hard as their predecessors. They are better educated, and as charming as of old; for, after all, there is nothing in. male attire quite so agreeable as a naval officer, whether he be a cadet at Osborne or a retired admiral who devotes his evening of life to the composition of essays written to prove that the service is going to the devil. •■ Lastly, as to the men. The British bluejacket is no longer a sensual, blasphemous, and intemperate hero. He is an educated and reasonable being, whose duties are inconceivably difficult. A member of the gun crew in one of the Dreadnought's turrets is an artiste ■ whose sleight, of hand, strength and discipline, and intellect are trained by years of practice to the performance of duties that to the landsman border on impossibility. . • We may be content with the state of our navy if only loyalty to authority remains the rule of the service.—-Arnold White, in the Planet. ,