SEA FIGHTING TODAY

Waikato Independent, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3270, 23 February 1937, Page 6

SEA FIGHTING TODAY

USE* OF NEW WEAPONS

“JUTLAND COULD NOT HAPPEN AGAIN”

(Continued from Saturday’s Issue).

So there will not be much question of “looking for the enemy.” \Ve shall know where he is and never lose sight of him. There will probably never be such a thing as a surprise battle again. < Ships cannot hide behind smoke screens. Aircraft just climb up the wall and look over the top. Do you remember how Jutland starred? A poor little inconspicuous Danish merchantman, the N. J. Fjord (never heard of again in history), was going on its lawful occasions in the North Sea.

Three ships swooped down from opposite ends of the horizon to examine it. To their mutual astonishment they found that two of them were German ships and one British. The outliers of their respective fleets. They were the British light cruiser Galatea and the German destroyers 8.109 and 8110.

Each hastened to inform their admirals, and with both fleets taken unawares Jutland -was fought. Jutland could not happen today. The British Fleet, at least, would have heard of the German Fleet from its airplanes hours before. Wireless telegraphy has improved so much in the British Navy as to constitute a new factor in battle. Wireless was a “washout” at the Battle of Jutland. The rival forces were able to jam each other’s signals and make things as chaotic that flag signalling had to be used. Today, with modern apparatus and better operators, 95 per cent of any morse message can be read by the British Navy through any jamming that has ever been invented. Despite all this, the British Navy would today use wireless less than it did in 1914-18. ‘ v ; In the last war one of the biggest mistakes the Germany made was; chattering too much on their ships radio sets. This gave our Navy clues to their whereabouts. Lessons Learned Direction finder wireless has developed much since then, and today it would be suicide to use any ship’s wireless set unless the enemy had actually been sighted. Wireless can be used in battle, but not elsewhere. Lessons of the'' great war have taught us that a great responsibility lies on the ship’s wireless officer to be prudent.

All important “operations” messages are supposed to be sent in code. (New, and supposedly unbreakable, codes have been devised since the war). This is all right until a rush of messages accumulates. Then some officer will say, “Wc must get this Off. send it in plain language.”

That situation did happen once. A British warship signalled in plain language ihat it had lost its password for the day, and asked what it was.

The duty of a radio officer in such | crises is always to say “I cannot • send a plain language message un- j less you gave me a direct order to do so.” ... Gas Not a Danger Poison gas is not going to be a peril to the British Navy. , j Experiments have been tried, and they have shown that a fleet call steam in half an hour through the biggest poison gas cloud that can be made. During this half-hour the crew can be kept in air-tight compartments under the hatches and can also wear gas masks. Tremendous preparations arc being made to meet the air peril. No air versus sea battle has yet been held. If there ever was one Britain would be ready for it. Whenever there is anti-aircraft Tiring in the Home Fleet the commander himself may be seen standing by the guns. The number of anti-aircraft guns in the Navy has probably been doubled since 1026. In the next ten Tears it will almost certainly be increased 100 per cent again. * - Accuracy of A.A. Guns. The accuracy of the anti-aircrglt .. guns has boon roughly doubled also. , ••• Much of tlje shooting improvevprient is due ib the vise of “Queen Bees.” . Queen Bees are radio-controlled target airplanes —usually old Moths. The Queen Bees go round the fleet with their own unit of men to whichever ships want to practise with them. They arc made to twist and dodge in the air as a pilot-controlled airplane would. Two attendant airplanes with pilots fly with her to act as markers for the shots.

Size is not necessarily everything in a warship today. The Germans have spenT £IOO a ton on their new ships, which is double what we spend on our ships. The German ships are kepi small by treaty obligations. But if you can only spend enough money on light, high quality construction, great destructive power can today be packed into a small coinpass. There would probably be no Brit-

ish ships blown up in a naval battle t again. | The lesson of Jutland, when several British ships were blown skyhigh by their own magazines lias been learned. i| Todav magazines are kept isolated from the gun turrets by revolving , doors in the ammunition hoist. These doors are similar in principle to revolving doors in a hotel. These ■ are flash-proof.

Something new in wedding presents! Amongst the gifts received by a young Auckland eouple the other day, was a three-pound tin of the fui»ous cigarette tobacco, Riverhead Gold, and as 'both the. . bride- «ond gi-oom love a whiff, this very unconventional bridal offering was highly ; appreciated by them. Of the ordini ary stereotyped wedding gifts there

was no lack, and duplicates were as numerous -as usual ou »iiese occasions-. The. big tin of ‘T.iverhoad'’ occupied a prominent place among the other tunics and ai.traded mucu attention. The donor of tlic lob-acc.» has set a’u example wrlC war by o. imitation. 11 is pres ait v. as one * ! ia. any “bap.p.\ pair*' would h* l-.< welcome. Riverhead Gold, it is scarcely necessary to add, .s tu '

leading cigarette tobacco, another famous cigarette brand being Desert Gold, while, for .'he pipe smoker 1h - three blends. Gut Plug No. 10 (Kullshead), Cavendish and Navy Cui No. .'5 (Kolb log), are also uni- \ I I a vour•'e-s. Aou II liuil ,-tiiciu an sale wherever you go, a convincing proof of the.ii* popularity. in ending buyers are cautioned be .vare of imitations. 1 - \