THE BRITISH NAVY

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4313, 23 March 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE BRITISH NAVY

ADMIRAL HOPKINS ON PRESENT? DEFECTS. , Admiral Sir - J. O. Hopkins’s address i recently at the Royal United Berrios Institution, London, on “A-Few Naval . Ideas for the Coming OenturyJ” ooni tained much that 'was significant. ‘ Sir • John, ‘began. with ’ the personnel' of the Navy, and said the “insufficiency, of the Reserve was generally admitted, and little could be expected -from the- da- . creasing numbers of British mercantile seamen. How , could they, then, 'get. say, 50,000.jroen? He saw no objection to a' scheme by' which after 17% or 18 years’ service, the. men were enabled to be pensioned and passed into a -Reaarva. In the case of the Marines a still shorter service might suffice, and a Marino Re. serve created somewhaton the line* of the Army Reserve. Riggers in dockyards snould be - Reserve mcn, l 'and en-gine-room ratings,' artificers, and other* • should also, after 18 years’ service, pas* into too . Reserve-. . A large contingent of Reserve firemen might be raised from, the dockyard labourers. Then, again, might,not a portion; of, the, crews, or private yaohte .be iudubea..toi form. ft .V serve _BrigadeP7: Persoqkllji j hbJ,womlcl like to Beo. 1000 or. more London policemen, frpmj other in proportion, ; induced to go jthromgh. a gunnery course. u And, .htstly.'Jwhy again look :with favduiy .©a the Royal Navy Reserve ForceP, ... .. „j ... : ; i • -UTILISE THE MARmiES. ; , Turning to the:.executive, he .would like to see a rear-admiral, placed at ..the head of-the depot department, with an office in the new 'Admiralty, .and oom-manders-in-chief, at too .home. ports ..entrusted with powerto-mobilise, fleets. Thus we should always . .in.more Readiness for, the enemy -.- One important duty of . such commandefs-ihrchier.ehould be the command of the defences of the ports. Coming .to that most 1 useful, .body the Cbrps of Royal, Marines, shouldmob v toe coming century. eeb them all Marine Artillerymen?. Turning...to materiel, Sir Johirmadie, some,pregnant remarks. progress made oaring the last ; 15 - years,, herhoped to see the speed shortcomings, which were so inimical to our.best interests, removed.. Bpeed; in our smaller. cruisers -was of paramount, Importance.. Our Constructive Department, prior to the, build, ing of toe . second-class Cruisers .of -.the Naval Defence ,Act type,- made, a hold bid for, a .SD-knot'cruiser under,Booo tons, and nearly. succeeded. . But .« faulty boiler and* cramped engine space militated against, toe good!.. Then .followed toe second-class, cruisers of-toe Naval DefencelAct,..of 3400 tons:and 4000 tons, and! oyer,: steaming JL9jr or ,20 knots.. Built, ten,yeans,ago, they have behaved, well.: In, the intervening; ton years, howeyqr,. absolutely .nothing, had followed this good , lead in , respect, of speed. They Had to ,- lament,.. on. too other hand, that the Arrogant ,class had dropped back .to T9--knots, while -the Venus class, hod developed-idoubtfui steaming qualities. v We. could, not -.afford, to. i stand" still in respect of. speed. It might be said that our 23-knot cruisers building were intended to meet similar types of too. enemy-. Thue;. but .it was also-obvious .how: that restricted the utility of the slower, seoond-olass cruiser, and thus , hampered .toe t oonvr mandbr. . - ■ SPEED IN CRUISERS.- - 1 -

Already the French, warei iiig a cruiser of the Venus displacement to go ,23 ‘ knots', whiled the Russians, got the' shinh 'speed but - 6f ’ 6500: ions. Speed in -a cruiser of' moderate.' dimensions wae'not ■ unattainable, and! should! ba the first careofour oonstruetofsi OouHit be that we 'have allowed!, the,, foreign battleship/to catoh up the English seq-ond-dasg cruisers. in speed' a struggleP He - whs afraid ' so.vTaking thircCclass cruisers, 1 Germany _ had l . two of 2lj knots •', Russia was building one of 25 knots, and' more to follow; i and France headed ilk with 20J knots', we being satisfied apparently with 20 knots in all latest designs.' Germany, and Russia, too, beat ■us in torpedo 'boats. He hoped' the -new century would exhibit me latest 12 diret-claa* ernisera as a magnificent type/ with, a realised speed’of 23 knots. Changing to the second-class battleships, he would like to see, more .of tbenl on. the . score of economy. All muMle-loadihg guns should! be done away with, with the boats carrying 'them, , and other boat* built to time their place. He honed in the ‘new centmy to 'see the Admiral class replaced; every modemship stripped of inflammable, gear; the Navy 'do its- own, coaling 'with! its own sailing,-ves-sels ; and the. inauguration "of. sbme‘ fact colliers able to' keep pace with any battleship. ‘ ; a ' . j.)