GREAT BRITAIN

THE COLLINGWOOD LAUNCHED

The first-class battleship Collingwood-second of the St. Vincent class and sixth of the battleships of the Dreadnought type christened by Great Britain-was successfully launched at the Government dockyard at Devonport, England, on Saturday, November 7. Her sponsor was Mrs. H. H. Asquith, wife of the British Prime Minister, who gave the signal which set the launching machinery in motion. The Collingwood has a designed displacement of 10.250 tons, and is therefore 650 tons heavier than the three battleships of the 1906 building

program- the Bellerophon, Téméraire, and Superb. The St. Vincents differ only in detail from the Bellerophons, just as the latter vary in detail from the original typeship. But these details are important and make the Collingwood and the other two vessels of her group more powerful than the original single-caliber vessel which Great Britain laid down in October, 1905, and therefore the most formidable vessels yet laid down by the British Navy. Like the St. Vincent, the Collingwood is to mount ten 12-inch guns arranged in pairs in five turrets, so as to give a broadside fire of eight guns and a fore and aft fire of six guns. Her big guns are of the 50-caliber length, and her torpedo-defence batteries also have a higher

muzzle energy and velocity than those of the Dreadnought or the Bellerophons. The hull of the Collingwood was one of the heaviest dead weights that ever left a British launching slip. It is estimated that it displaced 8300 tons of water, or nearly half of the total displacement of the vessel.

BRITISH RATE OF BUILDING

The Collingwood was on the building stocks less than ten months; but, quickly as the work on her was done, more time elapsed between her keel-laying and her launching than in the case of any other of the new single-caliber battleships of the ten-big-gun type. Only 4 months 8 days elapsed between keel-laying and launching of the Dreadnought, 7 months 24 days in the case of the Bellerophon, 7 months 23 days for the Téméraire, 9 months I day for the Superb, 8 months 11 days for the St. Vincent, and, to be exact, 9 months 4 days for the Collingwood. While the time from keel-laying to launching for the Dreadnought was less than half that for the Collingwood, it must be remembered that 1350 tons more material had to be worked into the latter vessel, and that she was sent into the water at Devonport in exceedingly heavy condition; also that the Dreadnought, as an experimental typevessel, was hurried as much as possible. At the rate of progress that has been made with these six ships, the seventh battleship of this type, - the Vanguard, which was begun last April, should take the water not later than next February, by which time Great Britain will have the battleship authorized during the winter of 1907-08 upon the stocks.

The nearest approach to these shipbuilding records by any power competing with Great Britain is that of 10 months and 25 days from the keel-laying to launching of the first ten-big-gun ship for the American Navy — the North Dakota. Germany is increasing her rate of building, having already put three new battleships into the water in 1908, and is making every effort to launch another before the end of the year. The Teutonic builders have not yet been able, however, to shorten to less than ten months the time from keel-laying to launching in the construction of their new battleships. The Nassau took about ten months, but her sister, the Westfalen, took nearly a year and a quarter, and the Rheinland took a month longer than that.

THE FOUDROYANT

The British Parliament authorized only one battleship to be built under the Naval Budget granted last winter in the 1908 shipbuilding program. This vessel has not

yet been definitely named, but is provisionally carried on the lists as the Foudroyant, though for a while it was thought she would be called the Anson. She will be laid down about January 1, 1909, in the Government dockyard at Portsmouth, England, on the building slip which the St. Vincent left for her launching in September. The cost of the vessel will be nearly two million pounds sterling. She is the eighth of the ten-big-gun type laid down in England, and will be an improvement over the St. Vincent class.

While nothing definite is obtainable about the general characteristics of this new battleship, it is anticipated that there will be some rather interesting innovations introduced. It would not be at all surprising to find her carrying twelve heavy guns in her main battery instead of ten, and 13.5-inch guns instead of 12-inch weapons. There can no longer be denial of the fact that the Beardmo.e firm is building 13.5-inch ordnance, and that the British Admiralty is especially interested in the undertaking. If they are intended for the Foudroyant, that vessel will probably be hastened, as was the Dreadnought, for trial purposes, so that the 13.5-inch gun idea can be tried out before the new battleships to be authorized this winter are designed.

The Admiralty was rather severely criticized in a number of professional and service circles last winter because only one new battleship was authorized for the British Navy, while Germany was known to have a permanent building policy calling for three battleships annually for several years to come. Even then it was suggested that the naval powers at Whitehall, who were rather complacent, despite all of the criticism, had something up their sleeve, and this is now believed to be the development in the Foudroyant of a type-ship. In 1905 the Dreadnought was the only battleship authorized by the British Government, but this was followed by the immediate authorization of the three Bellerophons in 1906 and the three St. Vincents in 1907.

DOCKS FOR LARGE SHIPS

Preparations for starting the new dock at Portsmouth have been commenced, and before the end of the year there will be over a thousand men engaged for the work, for which a great deal of the contractors' plant has already arrived at this British dockyard. After the first of the year the work will be pushed vigorously, but until then very little will be done except in a preparatory way. There is also naval interest in the announcement made on November 10, that the White Star Line negotiations, which have been in progress for some time past for the

construction of an immense drydock at Southampton, England, were concluded on that date, and that the new dock is to be capable of accommodating at any tide the two new White Star merchant marine ships - the Olympic and Titanic or any other vessel up to 1000 feet in length. These vessels are to be the largest in the world, and have been taken in hand for construction at Belfast. The London and Southwestern Railway Company, owner of the docks at Southampton, is to apply to Parliament for power to construct the new dock, which is to cover an area of about 16 acres, and to be 400 feet wide, with a depth of 40 feet at mean low water. There are to be five quays, two of them 1650 feet long, and the others 640, 515, and 495 feet long, respectively. From a naval and strategic viewpoint this project is important, wholly aside from its commercial value, because the docks be may used by naval vessels of all navies in time of peace, and those of England, in particular, during a war.

TURBINE TORPEDO BOAT No. 31 LAUNCHED

The new turbine torpedo boat, No. 31, was launched on Saturday, October 10, at the Woolston Works of Messrs. John I. Thornycroft & Co., at Southampton, England. She was engined throughout by her builders, and is generally on the same lines as the previous vessels built by Great Britain which were originally known as "coastal" destroyers. Her displacement is approximately 278 tons, or about 60 tons more than the first boats of this class, while the horsepower is increased to approximately 250. The speed is 26 knots; the armament to be carried will consist of two 12-pounder guns and two 18-inch torpedo tubes. Torpedo boat No. 29 of the "coastal" type just completed at the works at Greenock, England, began her preliminary full-speed trials the middle of October. No. 31 will proceed on its trials shortly, and the sister vessel, No. 32, will soon be launched by the Thornycrofts.

THE INVINCIBLE AND INFLEXIBLE COMMISSIONED

The British battleship-cruiser Invincible at her fullpower trial on November 7 averaged 28 knots over a period of eight hours. At her seven-tenths power trial at Plymouth, England, on November 4, she made 25 knots. This vessel is to be commissioned for service in the Nore Division of the Home Fleet. Her sister, the Inflexible, was commissioned in the same Division of that fleet on October 20, taking the place of the battleship Jupiter, which has now joined the Devonport Division. England has three of these powerful armored cruisers in commission, including the Indomitable. Each vessel car

ries eight 12-inch guns, each of these guns weighing 58 ton and firing an 850-pound projectile.

GERMANY

PROPOSED NAVAL INCREASE

News comes from Berlin of a contemplated large expansion in the German naval shipbuilding program. It is said that the Reichstag will introduce at an early date a new German Navy Bill embracing the most recent program of the German Navy League, which would call for the immediate construction of six large armored cruisers of the Blücher type, similar to the British Indomitables.

This announcement is important, being indicative of the vigor of German naval development under energetic naval authorities who are strongly supported by the German Navy League, which has done more than any other single agency in the Empire toward the creation of a healthy sentiment among Germans in favor of increased naval strength. The German Reichstag has already adopted a "permanent" building policy that has compelled the other naval powers, especially Great Britain, to take anxious note of Teutonic naval ambitions.

THE GERMAN NAVY LEAGUE'S NEW PROGRAM

The new program thus formulated by the German Navy League is as follows:

First. The immediate construction of six large armored cruisers of the Blücher class, to replace six protected cruisers. Under the present act the six protected cruisers would not be replaced until the years 1912-17.

Second. The increase of the High Sea Fleet from six

teen to seventeen.

Third. The provision of half crews for the seventeen battleships of the German reserve fleet, instead of for only six battleships of that fleet, as at present.

The cost of the six fast and powerful vessels of the type named would be about sixty million dollars; but the argument made by the German Navy League is that, since the money has to be borrowed to strengthen the German fleet, it would be just as easy to float a large loan as a small one. The demands of the League are now all the more important, because the present head of that organization is Admiral von Köster, who replaced General Keim last spring to prevent a split in the League. Admiral