THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER MONDAY, MAY 1, 1905

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume V, Issue 1314, 1 May 1905, Page 2

THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER

MONDAY, MAY 1, 1905

Bore shall tho fress the tiwplo'i Kifht maintain "Dnawedby inflnonoo «nd linbribod by j»ta j Hero patriot truth he*teri<ms procopts iin* Pledfed to Eolidion Liberty. «nd T,w

The battle that is pending between the : Baltic and Togo's fleets is of greater concern to the world generally, and especially to Britain, than any engagement which has taken place on the sea since the days of Nelson, for it will put to the test , many important theories in naval warfare. It will be of particular interest to Britaift for the reason that she has spent fifty-five millions on armoured battleships ; and how this class of vessel will fare is a matter which we learn from Home :, papers is troubling the Admiralty. The naval-experts have been busy weighing the chances of the respective fleets, and the consensus of opinion seems to be that the Russian one is not to be despised, ''.There has been a tendency in England," writes an eminent naval authority, Mi" H. W. Wilson, in a recent iBBUe of the National Review, " to decry the strength of the Baltic fleet, and to regard'it as a miserable collection of old ironclads of little value for combat. Tlio i mpression is incorrect, • The Russian ships are for the most part excellent. The main strength of Admiral Boldestvensky's lies in bi3 seven battleships. Four' of these—the Suvarov. Orel, Borodino and Alexander: 111.—are perfectly new, and among the best battleships afloat, They steam 17 to 18 knots, carry four 12in and 12 jJin gnns, and are protected by 9in Krupp armour on the waterline. They are little, it' at all,, inferior to our best battleships in commission. There is another modern battleship, the Oslabia, carrying lOin Instead of I2iu heavy guns, and one less Gin weapon than theSuvarov class, with a slightly greater epeed. The other two battleships—tho Bissoi Veliky and Navarin—are old, and much smaller, but they carry formidable artillery in the shape of four 12in guns and six or eight Sin weapons apiece, while their, armour is thick, if of poor quality. They are slow, however, bad sea-boats, and great consumers of coal." The Japanese are said to have live battleships at their disposal. Their advantage lies

in the'.cruiser section, but it is not marked enough to warrant any assumption of overwhelming superiority. Admiral Ronhdestvensky lias five modem cauisers of good speed and design, and four aide cruisers. The Oleg, Jemtchug, Izumrud, Almaz and Aurora are all now ships, capable of shaming from 19 to 215 Icnota. The Admiral Nakhirnov, Kornilov and Dmitri Donsky are riot new, but they have been entirely reconstructed and modernised, while the Svietlana is described by Mr Wilson as "still capable of good service." "There are," he adds," 12 destroyers of a type built for hard work at sea, and in some respects resembling the.latest British model. One of these vessels was obtained from England during the war, under circumstances (which reflect discredit upon the vigilance of the British Government," The reference; is of coarse, to the Caroline. On the opposing side, Admiral Togo has eight armoured cruisers,. and a large number of others—variously estimated at from 12 to 17. With regard to armament, it is shown by the expert \yhos . viowa we are quoting that the

Japanese fleet has 357 guns agains' 1 the Russians' 195 guns. This almost gives the Japanese a two-to-one chance in artillery, but then the Russians have a marked preponderance in heavy long-r&ugo guns, and that is the most important factor in battle. But on sea or land it is the man behind the gun that counts, and Togo's trained veterans must, man for man, gun for gun, and ship fyr ship, be expected to beat Rozlidestvensky's untried and comparatively undisciplined crews, If, however, it should eventuate that Rozh* destvensky is proclaimed victor the beginning of the end of the war must be at hand. Once he defeated Togo he would give Russia command of the Far Eastern seas—as far as Japan is concerned—and with her line of communication thus severed Japan would necessarily be compelled to make the best terms and terminate the struggle. This contingency is unlikely to arise, but since it exists it invests the coming battle with a high degree of interest,