BATTLESHIP CRUISERS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143763, 11 April 1912, Page 3

BATTLESHIP CRUISERS.

THEIR ROLE IN WAR. ’• MARKED CHANGE OF VIEW. By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. (Received April 11, 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, April 10. The Morning Post’s naval correspondent states that it will bo interesting to see whether the cruisers Australia and New Zealand will sail for Australasia at the end of the year. The best opinion has long been that the only justification for such ships is the ability to use them as a fast wing of the battle fleet. During the Navy debate Mr. Churchill referred to the necessity of a certain proportion of the vessels of the greatest speed and highest power being used to turn the enemy’s lino or bring the hostile fleet into action, or compel a retreating fleet to abandon a portion of its force in preference to partaking in a general engagement.

Air. Churchill’s description of the duties of battle-cruisers makes it obvious that the service which a battlecruiser could render was misunderstood when the Admiralty sanctioned the Australia and New Zealand joining fleet units with only three second-class cruisers. Even if the words which the Admiralty put into Mr. Churchill’s mouth were not the whole case, there is no immediate prospect of a battle fleet being required in the Far East. Hence it appears that the Australia and New Zealand are unsuitable to the station to which the former Board of Admiralty proposed to send them.