THE NAVY

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1732, 10 May 1905, Page 56

THE NAVY

THE QUESTION OF ARMAMENT.

LONDON, May 1. The battleship which Mr Arthur Lee, Civil Lord of the Admiralty,foreshadowed in his speech at Gosport, will be of 18,000 tons displacement, and will carry eight 12in and ten 9.5-in guns. It will be completed within sixteen months. According to Mu Lee, the battleship ivi 11 be the most powerful in the world. New 12-in guns are replacing those aboard the Ocean and Vengeance, as the wiring had slackened. The “Pall Mall Gazette” urges the Admiralty to keep the country abreast of all the facts connected with the guns on the warships.

LONDON, May 3. Admiral O’Neil, a high American authority on gunnery, referring to the Daily Graphic’s” recent article commenting unfavourably on the armament of Britain’s newest battleships, says the .British have no cause for alarm respecting their naval guns, which are as good as any nation’s. LONDON May 5. Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge states, in reference to the controversy concerning the armament of British battleships, that the twelve-inch wire guns are not discredited, only it ought to be remembered that the life of modern guns is shorter than was formerly believed.