BRITAIN’S NEW FLEET.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XL, Issue 11437, 30 November 1915, Page 6

BRITAIN’S NEW FLEET.

(From the Special Correspondent of The Evening News). ■ London, October 14.

Two hundred ships of war, at least —not counting converted merchantmen—from patrol boats to. superDreadnoughts, have been added to the British Navy since the commencement of the war. Scores of others are on the slips. There have been added to the British Fleet new, ships, which constitute a fleet equal in battle power to the wnoJe fleet of the United States, which has taken years to build. . The new fleet consists of snper-Dreaduoughts, light cruisers, monitors, destroyers, and submarines, a perfectly balanced fleet in itself. A BUBER-DREADNOUGHT DBSTROYER.

Of the ships building, there is a battleship of a new type. The details of this wonderful new caft are still obscure, but it will constitute a revolution in battleship construction This new craft will he 800 feet long, which is 150 feet longer than the Queen Elizabeth, that wonderful floating fortress whicii to-day stands as the premier , battleship of the world. She will be nearly 200 feet longer than the greatest American battleship. Her speed will be well over 80 knots, possibly 35. This. “super-Dreadnought destroyer” will not carry great armament," nor will she ,be nearly as heavily armoured as many of her younger sisters. She will have only four or six—the number is unknown—lsm guns. The Queen Elizabeth carries eight. It will be her speed that will make her formidable. With her great guns, with greater range than any other in the world save those on ships of 3ier own fleet, and with her great speed, she will be able to stand well off and send in blow after blow against almost any ship afloat.

FIFTEEN NEW BATTLESHIPS. At the outbreak of the war, England had building a number of battleships of various classifications, but all super-Dreaduoughts. There were also being constructed in this country two battleships for Chili and two for Turkey. These wore taken over by the British Navy. It is difficult to say how many ships have been placed into commission during these last fourteen months, but it is a conservative estimate that from twelve to fifteen are now on active service. The others wJI be out, it is safe to estimate, by January Ist, IV* 16. This means that, between August Ist, IS) 14, which was just before the actual outbreak of war, and Jan Ist, ID io, seventeen mouths, England will have placed into commission, at j least fifteen great modern battleI ships. Of course, these ships have I not all been built within that period. Practically all were laid down before the beginning of the war, some were well on their way towards completion; but none was in service before, so it constitutes a new fleet. The figures are amazing. They show that in the _ seventeen mouths mentioned, Britain will produce 450,000 tons of tho finest battleships in the world. Tonnage is one way of estimating the strength of a fleet. Armament is another. On these ships of war there will be emplaced no fewer than eighty of | the magnificent loin, guns, the I largest any navy uses, twenty 14in,, twenty-eight l3'sin., ten 13in., i fourteen 13in., two hundred and j 4 thirty-two 6in., and sixteen 4in,, along wita sitxy-flve torpedo tubes. I A STRIKING COMPARISON.

To-day tbo fleet of the United States consists of eight batteships of the first line in commission. Shortly two others, the Oklahoma and Nevada, will also bo out, but those first eight show a" tonnage of 1851.650. Then there are building, counting the Oklahoma aud Nevada, seven of these first-line ships, which means super-Dreadnoughts. Their tonnage will be 333,800. The two combined will not equal the new British fleet. Then on the American active list follow nineteen battleships, all of the pre-super-Dread-nought era. all completely outclassed not"ouly by these newer British types, but also by tbe first-line ships of the American Navy. They are small vessels, comparatively, slow, and without great hitting power. In an engagement a Queen Elizabeth could ‘‘care for” two or three of them without much difficulty." Their total tonnage is 283,000. With the exception of two of the first-line ships now in commission, no ship of the American Navy has guns larger than 13in., while of the new vessels turned out in England, virtually all have Isin. guns. This gun has been adopted as the best by the British experts, it is the size being used on all new ships. CRUISERS AND MONITORS.

But tho building has not been confined to battleships. Cruisers, destroyers aud submarines have been turned out in prodigious numbers. Two days before the battle of Heligoland Bight in August, 1914, a light cruiser was turned over by tbe builders to the Navy. She was the Arethnsa, and she distinguished herself in that dashing raid on German preserves. Before the outbreak of the war there were none of this valuable tvpe of ship in the British Navy. To-day there are sixteen, with more coming along. They are of 3520 tons, and steam 30 knots. Six more than.the sixteen mentioned have been authorised, and will soon appear. Tbe whole American fleet has only three such boats—the Chester, Birmingham, and Salem — and they are not much good, comparatively. . A type of warship which is being found most useful and of which numbers are being built is tbe monitor. Half-a-dozen are at the Dardanelles. They are slow-going and cumbrous, but they mount the biggest of guns, and are flue for bombarding land positions. DESTROYERS AND SUBMARINES. Forty new destroyers have been added to the British Navy since the war started. By January Ist the number will oe over fifty—swift, powerful, modern.boats. Not counting a single one of tbe myriad of these craft in commission before,tbe war, these ships are more than equal to all the American flotillas. Countless submarines have been built hero and elsewhere England, already powerful in this class of boat, probably has fifty more now than she had in August, 1914.