MIGHTIEST WARSHIP.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2370, 10 December 1908, Page 5

MIGHTIEST WARSHIP.

LAUNCH OF BRITAIN’S EIGHTH

DREADNOUGHT

ST. VINCENT’S FEATURES

The now battleship St. Vincent, .the eighth vessel of the Dreadnought typo built in this country, was successfully launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in early September. Her dimensions arc:

Length 500 feet. II Displacement Beam 84 feet. II 19,250 tons. Draught 27 feet. II Speed 21 knots. Horse-power 24,500. II G uns 10 12in., 20 4in.

Tka displacement of the St. Vincent iis 0*59 tons greater than that of the Bellerophon, which is shortly to begin her gunnery and machinery trials, and 1,350 tons greater than that of tho Dreadnought. We are able to state ~ (says a London paper) that this increased displacement lias been utilised in order to add to the strength of the two bulkheads which run the length of the vessel--on either side to protect her engines and boilers. The St. Vincent is tho first of tho three battleships of the 1907-8 programme and the eighth British Dreadnought to take the water. Two sister ships of precisely similar design are Under construction —the Colling-u-ood, which is to be launched at Devonport on November 7, and the Vanguard, which is building at Barrow. A fourth ship of the same type, the Eoudroyant, will follow the St. Vincent upon the stocks at Portsmouth. Though the St. Vincent carries tho same number- of 12-inch guns as the Dreadnought—viz., ten —the new battleship’s weapons are sft longer and .romo tons heavier and shoot much harder.

When all was ready, Lady Beauchamp, who performed the launching ceremony in the view of a vast crowd ol : -enthusiastic spectators, took the uott'o of Australian wine which hung from the bow by a cord entwined with roses and chrysanthemums, and wishing "Success to this ship and all who sail m her” broke it against the cutwater. With a golden chisel and a mallet she cat the cord holding a weight, the fall of which drove out the last wedge, and amid rounds of cheers the great hull slipped .smoothly down the greasy ways into the water that will be her abiding home. The Brazilian battleship Minas Gcraes, of the Dreadnought class, was launched at Elswick, Newcastle, the same day.

THE "WORLD’S DREADNOUGHTS. _Tho following is the position of the various Navies in ships of the Dreadnought and Indomitable classes: —- Great Britain, complete 2, launched G, building and sanctioned 4, total 12; Germany 0. 2,7, 9; Japan 1,1, G, S; France 0,0, 6. 6; United States 0. 0, G, G: Brazil 0, 1. 2.3: Argentine 0,0, 3. 3 ; Italy 0,0, 2, 2.' - ' Britain is up to the two-Power standard in Dreadnoughts complete and completing but below it when ships building or sanctioned are taken into account.