AMERICAN DREADNOUGHTS.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12469, 19 February 1909, Page 3

AMERICAN DREADNOUGHTS.

.... . . . . .... .....^ „ _^ j: . i In. a. speech a few weks ago Admiral * Evans ("Fighting Bob") declared that: ther latest ships Svhich are .under coh-J 1 struction for the United States Navy, 1 ' { the Delaware, being one, are vastly superior to the British Dreadnought: ] type of vessel. The Delaware has a ! , length of 510 ft, beam of BSf t, displaced i ment of:2o,ooQ,tbns, anda speed of 21 •] knots. Her armament comprises ten' i 12in and fourteen sin guns. The im-' « proved. type of Dreadnought battle-' J ship for the British Navy, of which] ] several have beea launched, has a dis-; ( placement of 18,600 tons, -witha speed; , of 20.75 knots, whilst its ihain anna-; s mentis ten' l2in guns, and: -twenty' [ 4in guns. The difference^, between; £ the British and American -types lies in; i the fact that the American Dread-! ] noughts have all the turrets on the 1 centre • line, and the last ; butPohe from : ( either side of the ship is elevated^ so i as to fire over the turret: ahead and s astern respectively. Their broadside i fire .therefore ■ consists of; the entire,: s heavy i armament, or ten 12in guns,:- 1 while they . can fire four ; ahead •or as-- 1 tern., . Some "naval'actions are^ fbught;; i broadside to broadside, and .hot " end: ( on, the advantage to the American -J vessels compared with -the ...Dread- J nought is said to be 25 per cent. Sti}l|; { later ships laid down in Great Britain ] have a displacement of 19,250 tons, ] length of 500 ft, beam B.4ft, .and guar- J anteed speed twenty-one" knots ; ' and the. very latest cruiser battleship for which the order haß been given is to -i have. a guaranteed speed of twenty-, « eight knots.' The actual speed often j far exceeds that ; guaranteed,^ as in , the case of the Indomitable,^'wnich, on ] her..return' trip from -/.-'Canada-. -.with-' c the: Prime* of Wales, maintained: over 2 twenty-five loibts across the Atlan- c Wt ■■' '. ':V.V'.'.V-; „-;./ - ,; ^ - 1