DREADNOUGHTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 305, 17 May 1913, Page 10

DREADNOUGHTS

CHANGE FORESHADOWED. MR. CHURCHILL'S WARNING. "A TOTALLY DIFFERENT FORM." London, March 28. The possibility of a sweeping change in naval construction, intimately affecting Australia as well as Great Britain, was hinted at by Mr. Winston Churchill in his speech explaining the Navy Estimates this week. This change was nothing less than the possible supercession of Dreadnoughts, within the next four or five years, by an entirely different type of warship. "The passage in Mr. Churchill's speech, which can only bear this meaning was as follows: "The strength of navies," he said, "cannot be reckoned only in Dreadnoughts, and the day may come when it may not be reckoned in Dreadnoughts at all. When, therefore, I am attempting to forecast, not for this year only, but for a series of years ahead, what our construction in capital ships will be 1 hope it will be understood that the numbers ought to be taken as units of war power and "of the money power which the Admiralty will, if it thinks fit, when the time comes, express in a different form. I think that is a very important observation to make at this stage. I will give an instance of what 1 mean. Sup- , posing, for instance, we were confronted with a new development of two foreign ships in the Mediterranean against which ' we have to make provision, it would not at air follow that we should build in reply two other ships of equal or superior size and quality. We might spend the ' £5,000,000 which they would cost to bet- ; ter advantage on a totally different form ] of naval construction—(hear, hear) —and ' I should certainly claim for the Admiralty full liberty, subject to Parliament ' being informed as soon as possible without public disadvantage, to give to the ' naval standard we are setting up what- ' ever equivalent interpretation is held in ' the judgment of the naval experts to J produce the maximum of war power for the money spent." ] THE PRESENT CAPITAL SHIP. The present type of "capital" ship and ] the interesting modification of it which ' Mr. Churchill for the first time disclosed , in his speech were described by him as , follows: '•Tt may now be stated without disadvantage that last year effected a farreaching change of principle in the design of what are called battle-cruisers. ' These vessels had gradually increased in ] speed and power until they had become ' without exception the most costly ships ' in the world. They were more expensive '. than the strongest battleship, yet they ' were not upon an equality with their ' contemporary battleships in action. We ' laid it down as a principle that the most j { expensive ship in the world ought also to a be for all purposes the strongest. We ' have therefore designed a ship, not in- * deed so fast as our latest battle-cruisers, < but possessing speed sufficient to over- s take and manoeuvre against any battle- ' fleet that can be afloat in the next few years, and which, in addition to this a speed, possesses heavier armament and ' better protection than any battleship ' yet designed. The cost of this vessel, * after making allowance for the rise in * price, is slightly less than the cost of s the last battle-cruiser, the Tiger, though t more, of course, than that of any of the previous battleships. Tnstead of laying down last year one battle-cruiser and three battleships, we have decided that all the four ships of that year and the Malaya shall be of this type, and it is not unlikely that it may be repeated in the vessel now under discussion in Canada. If that were so, we should have eight vessels capable, if desired, of being formed into a homogeneous squadron against which no other squadron built, building, or projected in the world could be matched in guns, armour, or speed. I make this observation on the a ships of last year because a great many i statements have been made in the news- \ papers about their design, and we think t it advisable that the general aspect of t our policy should be understood." I The Tiger, the battle-cruiser referred 1 to. is to have engines of 110,000 horse- i power. She is designed for 31 knots c speed ;but, as the Princess Royal of 70,- i 000 h.p. reached 34.7 knots, an even ] greater speed may be expected of the i Tiger. < SUBMARINES. 1 Of course, it is by no means proved, i as yet, that the big ship will ever be s supplanted. But it is suspected that she < may be; and, if she is, her place will pre- ' sumably be taken by one of two classes *• of small ships with which the Admiralty ■ of late has been steadily proceeding. i The Jirst is the submarine. There • have been rumors that the Germans are * experimenting with large submarines. 1 too. The British Admiralty will spend I over £1.000,000 on submarines this year. < On this .point Mr. Churchill disclosed ' very little. 1 THE '•LIGHT ARMOURED , CRUISERS." The other type which might conceivably supplant the battle-cruiser is that i interesting class of ships which has for ' some time been building under the name of "light armoured cruiser," but whose details are not yet clearly known. It turns out that they are to be used to some extent as a sort of enlarged destroyer. Mr. Churhill's, descriotion of them was not oven vet very detailed. He said:— | Last year we laid down eight light , cruisers of great speed, good gun power, ( and protection. These vessels were designed for the function of attendance on the battle fleets, for clearing the seas of hostile torpedo craft, and for the general services of observation. These vessels, which in on? aspect are destroyers, are much demanded by the admirals afloat, and are an important and essential feature in the policy of the present Board of Admiralty. The eight vessels of last year's programme were very well placed so far as prices were concerned, and for speed, size, and war power will prove the cheapest ever constructed for the British service. We propose to repeat this programme of eight this year." Lord ('. Berosford: What about armour? Mr. Churchill: They have vertical armour, which is heavy considering the small size of the vessel.' All this fleet of liu'ht cruisers is. of course, of a smaller type than the cruisers which Germany is building each year. But the House will understand the British cruiser lleet is to be considered as a whole, and that we have, besides these light cruisers which we arc building, to consider the great preponderance we possess, and shall possess, in future years, in fast and strong armoured cruisers by which the light cruisers arc somewhat exceptional, and they must be taken into account in considering the destroyer programme for the year." Mr. Churhill pointed out that this-.new class of ships might oven supplant the destroyers to some extent. For this year 10 rather large destroyers were proposed, he said. OIL AND OIL ENGINES. The Admiralty have long had in contemplation the oil engine. Mr. Churchill says of it: 'We are not very far away—we cannot tell how far—from internal combustion engines in warships of all kinds." So im'menselv important, both to England and Australia .is this particular subject at present, that it is» worth while quoting the Admiralty view of the "•rent developments pending, as explained bv Mr. Churchill. He said:--

"There is no disputing the immense advantages which the use of liquid fuel confers upon ship design, in ability to obtain and maintain great speed, in a far wider radius of action, in diminution of the numbers and of the strain upon the personnel, and, above all, in the capacity for re-fuelling at sea which oil vessels :i:ay lie expected to develop. This last confers an advantage on the stronger navy which is not shared by the weaker, for while the weaker will bide its opportunity in port, the stronger navy must keep the seas continuously. Recoaling, therefore, imposes a continued drain upon the stronger fleet without any corresponding deductions from the weaker. Oil, which can be fed so easily from one vessel to another without returning to port, would therefore add an appreciable percentage to the relative fighting strength of the British Navy. But these greut advantages, and others which are too technical for me to embark upon to-night are almost matched by dangers and difficult ties of the most serious character. First among these is the absence of any fresh supply of liquid fuel indigenous to these islands and the scarcity of any such supplies in view throughout the British Empire. I need scarcely enlarge upon that difficulty, which T see is present to the minds of the House. We are also confronted with price movements of a favreaching character, which are, I apprehend, part of an attempt, on a gigantic scale, to' corner the market, and to control the output. We are also confronted with a temporary shortage of tank vessels to bring oil from the oilfields across the sea. The Admiralty have not only to buy oil at high prices and at high freights for current consumption, but we have also to accumulate and to store a very large reserve. Great numbers of oil tanks have to be built throughout our naval establishments and in other places. Vessels for the supply of oil to the fleets must be obtained, and measures must be taken, both by land and water, to provide for effectual distribution. I do not promise to go into details on this matter, many of which are necessarily confidential, but more than £1,000,000' is included in the Estimates of the year for the purchase, transport, and storage of oil fuel, reserves, and that sum will be i largely exceeded in the immediate future. It may also be necessary to make long forward contracts in various directions, in order to secure an effective lien upon a proportion of the supplies available from several sources, and these contracts must necessarily open up a number of difficult commercial and administrative questions." AIRSHIPS AND MERCHANT SHIPS. Of airships the First Lord said: "It is evident that the time has arrived when we must develop long-range airships of the largest type. . . . Meanwhile I do trust that we are not going to have any silly panic language used about the dangers we are supposed to run (Cheers). If war breaks out to-mor-row, foreign airships no doubt might do a certain amount of mischief and damage before they got smashed up, which would not be very long; but it is foolish to suppose that in their present, stage of development they could produce results iwhich would decisively inlluence the course of events." Finally, merchant ships, for protection against foreign merchant cruisers, are to be supplied with guns and ammunition lent by the Admiralty, and their crews trained to use them; the/ owners for their part undertaking the necessary slight structural alterations to enable their ships to mount guns.