COMMAND OF THE SEAS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16326, 5 September 1916, Page 8

COMMAND OF THE SEAS.

HOW THE NAVY GROWS.

MIGHTY FLEETS BUILDING.

LOSSES .MADE DOUBLY GOOD

A. and N.Z. Cable. LONDON. Sept. 3.

In his fourth article on the work of the navy Mr. Alfred Noyes, the British poet, describes a visit he paid to the Clyde shipyards. " Here lay the slipway where the Lusitania was born," he writes, "and all around the cradles of her avengers stretch for mile after mile. England lost eight destroyers in the Jutland battle. I saw the shipyard from which in that same week they launched 15 destroyers.

" I saw brood after brood of ships in yard after yard ready to follow. No sooner is one launched than another is laid down. England is not taking any risks in keeping command of the sea. If she lost half her fleet to-morrow she would still have a fleet as large as she started the war with, and there are many more to follow. Never before was there building like this in the history of the world. I saw nearing completion in this one cradle a fleet of destroyers, a fleet of submarines, and a fleet of battle-cruisers which would have constituted a formidable navy for any country.

"There are certain mystery ships and also a new type around which screens have been built. There are battle-cruisers which can outstrip any ship in the world, and considerably larger than any battleships now in existence."

Mr. Noyes deplores the fact that so much attention is focused on the so-called "labour troubles" on the Clyde, and points out that work goes on in long shifts and never ceases.