THE GERMAN NAVY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2596, 2 September 1909, Page 5

THE GERMAN NAVY.

THE FIRST DREADNOUGHT.

NOW COMPLETED.

United Press Association —oopviugiit,

BERLIN, August 31

The Westfalen, Germany’s first Dreadnought, has been completed, and is now lying in the Weser.

“DECISIVELY SUPERIOR” TO THE BRITISH VESSELS.

According to the “Daily Mail,” the official details of the first three German Dreadnoughts—Nassau, Westfalen, and Rheinland—and of thepirmored cruiser Bloucher, which had been kept secret, were published in July. They are:— German Dreadnoughts: Length 459 ft, bema 90ft, draught 27ft, tonnage 18,s(lu, horse-power 20,000, speed over 19 knots, * boilers 12. Bleucher: Length 507 ft, beam 82ft, draught 27ft, tonnage 15,500', horsepower 32,000, speed over 24 knots, boilers 18.

British Dreadnoughts: Length 490 ft, beam 82ft, draught 26|ft, tonnage 17,000, horse-power 24,712, sp'Oed over 2l£ knots,' boilers 18. The minimum bunker capacity of the German Dreadnoughts is 950 tons of coal; the maximum 2700 tons. The hunker capacity of the British Dreadnought is: Minimum 900; maximum, 2700 tons of coal. / The armament of the German Dreadnoughts is ten 50-calibre 11-in., twelve 6-in., and sixteon 23-pounder guns; of the Rritsh Dreadnought it is ten 45calibre aftd twenty-seven 12-pounder guns. Count Reventlow, the naval expert, commenting on the official disclosure of the armament and dimensions of the German Dreadnoughts, recently wrote: “For the first time we have battleships decisively superior to their European contemporaries. We are convinced that that superiority can be maintained provided the Admiralty has discretionary power to determine displacement. The German llin guns are absolutely equal to the British 12in. That the length of the Nassau type’s llin guns has not bon disclosed means that they are an entirely new model. In accuracy and destructive power the Nassau’s guns equal those of the Dreadnought and the Bellerophon and are perhaps superior in rapid-firing ability, while the German guns are vastly superior to the British in durability. “The light batteries of the British ships are altogether impracticably placed and : lack any effective protection . In this respect also Germany has a decisive superiority. The absence of official details regarding the armour of Nassau ships proves that the German Admiralty thinks that is a secret which foreign Powers have not yet penetrated. It will be well if the Admiralty continues to preserve this mysterv.” Count Reventlow intimates that the German Admiralty’s description of the speed of the Nassaus as “over 19 knots” is not to be taken eenouslv. The speed is certain to be much greater