BATTLESHIP TARGET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20074, 11 October 1928, Page 11

BATTLESHIP TARGET.

CONTROL BY WIRELESS. MANOEUVRES WITHOUT CREW. British Wireless. HUGBY, Oct. !). An inspection was permitted yesterday at Cromaty Firth of the Centurion, which was formerly one of tho finest superDreadnoughts in the Navy, but which is now serving as a target ship for tho Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets.

Although sho appears to be but a useless hulk, and ts completely disarmed, sho is capable, under radio control and without a single man on board, of travelling at 16 knots. She will start, stop, and turn as desired, and in every way imitato tho manoeuvres of a full-manned battleship. Wireless controls not only manoeuvre her steering gear, but also her steam valves as required, and regulate her oil fuel. Tho Centurion has been severely battered in gunnery practice, but owing to the system of protection adopted when the vessel was put to her present use, her vital parts remain intact, and an almost impregnable belt of steel protects her for several feet above the water line. Her crew foresake her at the last moment before practice begins and they are then accommodated in the old destroyer Shikari. When her duties as a target ship are temporarily over tho crew reboard tho Centurion and the work of repairing their quarters begins. Every part of tho vessel bears evidence of the merciless bombardments, for when the fleet makes mimic war the Centurion is the victim twice a week.