NAVAL WARFARE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22099, 3 May 1935, Page 8

NAVAL WARFARE

BOMBING FROM AIE ■ i —<i BATTLESHIPS NOT OBSOLETE ' LESSON FROM GREEK REVOLT [from OirE OWN correspondent] By Air Mail LONDON, April 18"" At the annual dinner of the Institution of Naval Architects, which was attended by tlie Duke of York, Sir Bolton Eyrfcs Monsell, First Lord of the Admiraity, said the recent 'Greek revolt and American experiments showed that bombing from the air had not made battleships obsolete. In 1921, he said, the United States carried out bombing experiments on an old German battleship. A speaker in the House of Commons gave the impression that it took only three minutes to sink the ship. Those three minutes were the final three minutes of experiments lasting two days. On the first day,' although a large • Dumber of heavy bombs were dropped' and 13 hits registered, the hull was undamaged and the protective deck intact. The ship was eventually sunk on the second day, but it had to be remembered' that she was a passive target, was old-fashioned, had insufficient deck protection, and no means of deal- I ing with damage received. Underwater Explosions: A more interesting experiment was carried out in the United States in 1925 with the Washington, which embodied the then latest ideas of undersea construction. The tests were conducted by placing bombs outside the ship, and at the most effective depth and distance to test the resistance, of the hull.' The board which inquired into this and other experiments reported that after suffering the explosions of three underwater bombs of the largest Bize, and two torpedo explosions, also of the largest size, directly against the hull, with no repair leaks andl no pumps going, the Washington remained afloat for four days and was finally sunk by gunfire. As the result of the whole series of experiments, the board reported •; hat. the battleship had not been rendered obsolete by air attack. Thoroughly up-to-date evidence on the subject had been obtained from the recent revolt in the Greek Navy. An old cruiser, the Averoff, which was . completed in 1911, with no deck iprotection and two antiquated 3-inch anti-aircraft guns, steamed slowly out of harbour on Friday afternoon. March 1, with what appeared to have been a somewhat scratch crew. Voyaging Unhampered. A modern-trained air force went in pursuit from the same base on the' following morning The Averoff continued to go about unhampered and undamaged exactly Where she wished. Few people realised the great defensive power which even Britain's old battleships had to-day against air attack. The battleship of the future would be a veritable fortress of defence. Another subject discussed by the naval correspondent of the Daily Telegraph is the need for smaller aryi cheaper destroyers to serve as convoy escorts and anti-submarine craft. He points out that a crisis would probably put the : Navy so short of modern destroyers that none could be spared for the . vital duty of convoying the merchantmen bringing foodstuffs, oil, and other essential supplies to Britain. Flag Officer's Suggestion

A well-known Hag officer, who has had wide destroyer experience during and siuce the war writes: "We should make an immediate start, with the building of these smaller destroyers. At the first hint of danger such craft would be iu urgent demand, but they would take at least a year to build. So let the Admiralty begin by ordering a dozen at once.

"This would in no way conflict with our treaty obligations, and the whole 12 could be built for little more than half the cost of a county class cruiser. Without a large number of such craft we shall he absolutely incapable of giving adequate protection to convoys."