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THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, APRIL 18, 1915.
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THE new American battleship El
Frallo is assuredly the most re
markable war craft in the world.
It lies In the waters of Manila Bay,
and seems likely to remain there per
manently, inasmuch as it is built on
dry land.
El Fraile is in fact an island, about
the size of a battleship. When the
work on it that is now In progress
is completed, it will have much the
appearance of an armored vessel of
war, carrying heavy guns mounted, in
turrets.
Originally It was Intended to build
the fortifications of Manila Bay on the
mainland. In large part at least, but
it was finally decided that a better plan
would be to establish them on islands,'
because thus they would be safe against
land attacks. Port Arthur was a very
formidable congeries of forts, but the
Japanese, when they found out that as.
sault from the sea was hopeless, were
able to capture it by landing an army.
On tho other hand.'Fort Sumter, in
our own Civil War, situated as it was
on an island of less than 30 acres, held
out for two years against bombardment
by a fleet, though exposed to attack
own" battleships ' South Carolina . and
Michigan, though the British took the
Idea and Improved upon it in the ves
sel they called ' the Dreadnought and
which was destined to revolutionize na
val architecture.
, The dreadnought, considered as a
type, might well be called a Franken
stein monster. Gifted with destructive
powers almost beyond the grasp of
imagination, it grows, as time goes on,
in size and expenslveness, seriously
taxing, the treasuries of nations to pay
for its construction, its defensive
armor and its offensive armament.
How much bigger is it 'destined to
grow? This is, a question which no
body, not even . the naval architects
themselves, can answer. Apparently its
development in respect . of size . and
armament has not yet come to an end.
It will go on growing and, in all like
lihood, will carry more and bigger
suns.
There are, however, certain limiting
factors. One of these is the size of the
locks of the. Panama Canal. Warships
of all the nations have, to be, able to
go through the canal, and, in order to
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by shore batteries and garrisoned bydo HO- they must be less than 1000 feet
only about 300 men. . long, less than 110 feet broad, and must
Appreciating this miliary advantage draw 1104 more than 40 feet oC water.
tne Japanese within the last few years
have built several artificial islands for
the defense of tjieir seaports. Recently
our own. War Department had in con
templation the construction of such an
island, with suitable fortifications, to
guard the mouth of the Chesapeake.
As matters now stand, in the absence
of this or other , defenses, an enemy,
having once secured command of the
sea. could establish a base in -Lynn-haven
Bay, without coming- under the
fire of a single gun. He could pass in
or out of Chesapeake Bay at will;' could
have access to vast Quantities of valu
able supplies of all kinds, and could
Another limitation of size is set by v
difficulty of maneuvering. Naval tac
tics demand quick' movements, and the
bigger-the ship the greater the ; mini
mum diameter of the circle in which
she can turn. ,
Furthermore, the maximum . draught
of battleships must have relation to the
depth of harbors. .- Their size must not
be so great that they cannot find dry
docks big enough to hold them while
undergoing' repairs or the scraping of
their bottoms which latter : has to -be
done at least-once a year if they -are
not to losespeed. '
The present limit of length is slight-
paralyze the great trunk railroads' lv over 600 feet this being the size or
crossing- the head of the bay.
Within ttie last few weeks Congress
has appropriated money for building
two new superdreadpaughts which will
cost J15.000.000 apiece.- Each of them
will be of 32,000 tons displacement,
.nd 500 feet long on the water-line.
It remains to be determined whether
they will be run by electricity, like the
superdreadnought California, now build
ing at the Brooklyn Navy-Yard, which
is the first and only electric battleship
in the world. It will be propelled by
four screws and will have two sets of
generators, one for each pair of screws,
so that if one set fails through - any
cause the vessel may not be disabled.
A modern ship of war is provided
with a powerful electric plant,, by
which nearly all of its internal machin
ery is operated, including that which
moves the turrets and points the guns.
The same installation illuminates the
vessel, furnishes means for telegraphic
our newest dreadnoughts. Ocean pas
senger steamships - run up to 900 feot,
but they are much less - broad rela
tively. A battleship - has to " have
breadth of beam in order to serve as a
good gun platform. ' ......
Apparently there is no room on the
newest' dreadnoughts' for any ' more
great rifles; if they are . to be more
of these giant, guns, '.the ships must be
made bigger. One thing that has' to be
taken into consideration is that such
huge weapons bring concentrated leads
upon the vessel's structure. 'In a' sea
way she is subjected to "hoggins and
"sagging" strains which severely t test
her strength, and loads that , are not
distributed have a tendency to . aug
ment such tresses. ' . .
The old. rivalry . between ' the armor
and the gun has decided itself in favor
of the . latter. No armor .can' be made
thick enough or strong enough to re
sist at short range the projectile dis-
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aged; a few shells go through her hull
and she- sinks- a little. But, possessing
a reserve of buoyancy, she is able to stay
afloat. If this reserve is exhausted,
she either g-oes down like an iron ket
tle with a hole In it or "turns turtle,"
depending on the character of the in
juries eustained. After all, the first
essential in a sea fight is to keep on
top of the water. So long as a battle
ship can do that she is to be reckoned
with seriously by the adversary.
As for the rivalry between attack
aind defense on the sea, it is a puzzle
to imagine what floating object, no
matter how heavily armored, could
stand up a-gainat projectiles fired from
14-inch guns at a distance, say, of
three miles. Such a conical shelj. 4V4
feet long, is able to pierce at that
range. 17 inches of solid steel, striking
with an energy equal to that of a ton
of metal dropped from a height of
eight miles. Its weight (1400 pounds)
is not far from twice that of a 12-inch
shell (870 pounds) a fact which gives
a notion of the superior effectiveness
of the largrex weapon. Eight of our
older lreajdnougthts have only 12-inch
rifles.
On e-hould realize that 'the up-to-date
method of seafighting is to con
centrate simultaneously all the guns of
a number of ships upon a single ves
sel until the latter is disabled, and
then to turn the, combined attack upon
another unit of the enemy's force. By
such means the most powerful battle
ship, if assailed at abort rangesay.
three miles might be destroyed in a
few minutes.
Each of our new dreadnoughts will
have a secondary battery of 22 five
inch, breech-loading, quick-fire rifle.
Such a gun throws 12 60-pound shells
a minute loaded with high explosives.
But, Ukough formidable weapons, they
are not meant to bo used in battle,
being intended merely for defense
against torpedo-boats and submarine.
Collectively they are called the torpedo
defense battery."
Of the 113.000.000 paid for each of
our newest dreadnoughts the cost of
armor and guns will represent about
one-half. Such a ship carries not far
from 1000 men and officers. Of the
latter 43 hold commissions, 25 in the
wardroom and 18 in the junior mess.
The number of "bluejackets" Is 767,
and of marines 64, without counting
39 etty officers and 12 warrant offi
cers. This makes a. total of 925.
For the battleship Pennsylvania,
newly built at Newport News, there
will be an extra allowance of 14 com
missioned officers, making 67 in all.
because fhe is equlpprl as a flagship,
with quarters for an Admiral.
DEVOTION OF A FAITHFUL DOG
and other signaling, and even peels the charged by a. 14-inch rifled gun.' Never
theless, at long range the armor proves
a fairly, satisfactory protection.
. Generally speaking, the idea, of, the
naval architect iJ to make the. armor
about equal in thickness to the caliber
of the big guns which the ship . will
carry. Thus. if. the guns are to be of
14-inch caliber, the armor might be 14
inches thick over the vitals of the ves
sel, thinning somewhat toward v her
ends. 1 " :
One thins to be considered la that
the ship must have ft. reserve of buoy,-,
ancy. ' In battle she is liable to be dam-
potatoes for dinner in a specially-con
trived and ingenious machine. But up
to the present time . no attempt has
been made to propel a warship by elec
tricity. One Bhculu realize that the principal
contrivances new in warfare, and now
in use for purposes of destruction by
foreign navies and armies, are Ameri
can inventions, including the subma
rine torpedo, the submarine mine, the
(submarine boat, the flying machine,
and even the fort-destroying German
gun. The first dreadnoughts were our
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THE dog of a French soldier followed
him to the war, lived with him in
the trenches and shared his blanket at
night. A shell killed a dozen men and
burled this one. badly wounded. In a
trench which the explosion half filled
with earth. The dog dug frantically
for his master and managed to expose
his face before he suffocated. Then he
seized other EOldlers by their clothing
and finally succeeded in drawing them
to the scene. They unearthed their
comrade and put him on a hospital
train, into which the dog also managed
to force his way. At the hospital, near
Paris, the man's leg was amputated,
and the devotion of the dog was such
that the attendants found a kennel for
him near the kitchens and allowed him
to "visit his master twice a day. His
love for the wounded man was so great
and his sympathy with his suffering
so evident as to touch the "hearts of
ail who saw it.
What does it mean? Here is devotion
which exceeds that of many mothers, of
many men. Here is affection manifested
in a lower order of life which equals
our own. It is probably true that the
dog is of all animals the most capable
of sincere,' self-denying' attachment.
these higher qualities having been de
veloped by long and close companion
ship with men. He can subordinate
himself more completely and enter into
man's feelings more sympathetically
than any other form of life; yet how
friendly and how loving to the extent
of their capacity would all the furred
and feathered folk of the woods and
fields be if only man would meet them
half way. How the birds would de
light to ting for him if their confidence
had not been destroyed by ases of
persecution. There are Hindus who
asset t as a fact within our experience,
tiiat thefe are kindly men who respect
all animal life whom neither tigers nor
snakes will harm. An immunity of
this sort was assured of old to be
lievers, but it would seem that nobody
has sufficient faith to make trial of it
nowadays Rochester (N. Y.) I'ost-
Express.
Ilrr Fair Offer.
London Punch.
Wife (about to purchase military
headgear, to her husband fl know It's
more expensive than the others, dear,
but well, you see you're too old to
enlist, and I really feel we ought to
do something: