BIGGER BATTLESHIPS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11894, 1 January 1917, Page 1

BIGGER BATTLESHIPS.

; 40,000 TON FLOATING BATTERIES. NOTHING TO FTXDBR BUT I>EPTK OP HAItBOCTRS. The rnmcrar -that Great Britain in building a 40,000-ion. battleship is neither impr'jhable nor altogether suri prising, says a New York paper. Sinco j 1913 the Germans have put into service t three merchant ships registering more than 00,000 tons each, and the English? one of 47,000 tons. Tiio principles involved are ihe samft for a large ship as for a small one, while'the use for building material of a steel whose tensile strength is easily ascertainable, removes any uncertainties such as the employment- of wood rnighti entail. But while it would he comparatively easy to build a battleship of 60.000 or 70.000 tons, she wcteld have to be built with due regard to the necessity of leaving and entering port. The Port of New York has less than 40ft of water at its entrance on high, tide. The largest ships afloat, like the Vaterland and the Bismarck, draw from 32ft 'to 36ft when loaded; accordingly they can enter and leave the Port, of New York only on high tide. Therefore a battleship which draws more thnu 35ft. would bad serious difficulty in entering this harbour. In the ease >of the United States another limitation is imposed by the locks of ; the Panama Canal, which will net take j a vessel above 00,000 ton?. s For twenty years the tendency has | been toward a progressive increase in i the size of battleships. The impetus to the building of bigger battleships was given by the Spanish-American War. At the outbreak of that war in 1898 the United States' largest, battleship was. the lowa of 11.316 tons. The i Oregon measured only 10.288 tons. j j Great Britain was then not far ; ahead. She had several ships afloat, of j j the Magnificent type, registering 71,900 j > tons and two of 15,000 tons laid down, j j Germany, which had not yet entered j on her programme of naval expansion, was far behind, her largest battleship, j the Kaiser Friedrich 111., being of only | 10.790 tons. Japan had one batileI ship, the Fuji, bigger than any of I America's, being 12.300 tons: France | had one ship, the Gamut, of 12,150 ! tons. i With the beginning 'd the present century Great. Britain set the pace of increase, and was clo-eiy followed by (iormanv. In 1906 she launched the King Edward VTL. heralded _ as -the largest and most powerful ship afloat, and fcho King himself commissioned he?. ] Still hor tonnage was only 16.360. j Ker principal battery consisted of fotir j. I2ht guns, which, according io Evgli-h I authorities, eould throw a. projectile * twenty-five miles. In view of our prei scat, knowledge the nume of her gun*- ■>:':!(;,-■ .-.> nave- ifOi.ti ,vj(!ii'\i'i<iu exaggerated Still she was a formidnble ship for her day ; ye! she was a weakling compared with lie- battleship Queen Elizabeth, completed in 191"), whieh measure':! 27/>OO urn* and carried eight loin gltfH. j The battle cruiser Tigc-r, also completed in !'.'l6. is the largest --hip on i the British roister he'-ctc-fore made j | public. iler tonnage is 28,000, Put, | : being a l.ir.tile cruiser, her rva.iament I is not so heavy as ih;is. ci ties Queen! j Elizabeth. | ; Her main battery carries eight 13in ) j guns, and her rated, speed is twenty- j ■ eight knots throe niuro than the 1 | Queen Elizabeth. \ • .Latterly America has outstripped all ! \ competitors in sir.o of she;*. The j t Pennsylvania, laid down in liU3, and j | tho Arizona, hud down in 1911, each I | of 31.400 ton*, hare been completed. | I while J hi- Ida!,". Mis-Fsipoi ami Cali- { \ fornia. of 32.(T0 tons each, are build- i | in;:. " I ] Tho armament of these newer ships ; j is also heavier than any other afloat, j |in then- main batteries they carry [ twelve M'n bri eeh-loading fines. and in I their secondare batteries twenty-five ! ! 6in rapid-lire guns. I j GREAT AMERICAN BATTLESHIPS, j Tuo United Slate* Navy is lu luiye j f riio most piiwenu! bati'esiups in xiie ] ; world i:t tue lour that are <o be laid I down, next p';ir -that, E, unless soma | , Uuiopean luition gees one betie.r j bo lore these are in commission. Flaio ior ibe q:;uju.v of leviathans > have ahead;. Oeeu prepared by the j ! tiara I architect-: and engineers, i ; These vessels arc to have a speed of j | thirty-live knots, or about, forty miles, j |an hour. Their propellers will bo j ' driven by ekctrie turbines developing j 176.000 hoisje-puwer. 26.000 hot; : e- j : power more than is icfpiired to operatc j ; tho whole subway system of Mew York. J ; They will be almost i'l'Uit long. 97ft ] . beam, and their displacement when { ! luiiy laden will be -IO.OGi/ ions. i ! Their boilers will be heated by fur- ; nates, burning only oil as fuel, and the : spooilieaLioi'a eali for t!:em to bo able '< to steam without, any .smoke issuing ; from their stacks. Yet the stacks cau, i when desired, pour forth clouds of ! dense black smoke in which the vesi se! may liide like, a huge octopus. Tho ! electric equipment will comprise four i 'turbo-generator-:, each pf 33,000 kile- | watts. The main armament will coni sist of eight lb-inch 40-oa!ibre guns of : an entirely new type, iping a 21001b { ; shell with a muzzle verity of 26XX/T& : i per second, or an .initial energy of j I 100,000 ions. Hence, the broadside I j represents an energy of SOO.OOO foot ! | tons, to say nothing 'of the secondary \ i battery oi six-inch and other rifles, j 1 These big gnit-, can be fired once every j '. minute, and rfieir lighting range is j ] about: seventeen miles. The propelling i and sieering apparatus may all be > : controlled from either the bridge cr the i armoured conning tower hutt below tho | bridge. In the event of the-s being I she:, away there is si third pilot room, : several decks below, in a well-protected : position. These battleships have a : ; radio room specially equipped, for use in ; I batik., on one of the lower, protected ! decks, and absolutely sound proof. | ■ There are three separate and distinct f sets of anrcuna for wireless service-. |j E;e'"-y p-i'-r of the ve-scl is connected J w'tli bridge, cotriing tower and battle j p.P't, roam bv telenhoue. • - liitr'rerihonf 1 '- nn-noe-.-'.ce t!.o aoprnach of submarine. AU cannon. Jarrre and snisll. aro ; Toi::'td by ;e;shmg e'ectric buttons; iho ttt-tctx ate -jiovpd in the- seme way i ::r: "• to sh-rlr-. nvj ra'sca hy electnc mo-! •pr>. In f-.-;-, a 1 -?r»t aO Uc opera-, ' -ei: ••■■-. ■.!■;■- > w,\- ;-r wars'''::- are per- j ...-."" ' :''?""" •"""■":' "**~ """ , 1 •■- , •;. ' •.,..', - -e--;,-: rf j