THE GERMAN NAVY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2618, 28 September 1909, Page 5

THE GERMAN NAVY.

THE SUPER-DREADNOUGHTS

United Press Association —Copyright (Received September 27, 10.30 p.m.) BERLIN. Sept. 27.

The Heliogoland, the first German super-Dreadnought, of 19,500 to 20,500 tons, a dozen 12 : inch guns, and a crew of 1000 men, has been launched at Kiel. The Ostfriesland, the second super-Dreadnought, is to be launched at Wilhelmshaven next Thursday . The cost and details of construction are kept secret. Both vessels belong to the second batch of four of the class. GERMANY’S WATCHWORD. A contributed article in the “North German Gazette” says that Germany’s watchword is, “If we cannot have the most., we must have the best ships.” LONDON, Sept. 27.

The “Times” Berlin correspondent states that the third batch of German Dreadnoughts will carry 'l3s-inch guns.

The “Berliner Tageblatt,” a Radical journal, was one of the German papers that ventured to raise a protest when Admiral von Weber, speaking at the annual meeting of the German Navy League, forecasted a further extension of the Navy Law. This extension is chiefly in the direction of providing more great armored cruisers—to compete with Britain’s Indomitable class—and Admiral von Weber had no hesitation in departing from the usual ‘'protection of coasts and trade” formula, and affirming that a strong navy is “indispensable for the political presttec” of the German Empire. In discussing Admiral von Weber’s ‘‘programme,” the “Berliner Tageblatt comes to the conclusion that the Navy League must have secured some measure of official approval before promulgating it. The Radical journal regards Admiral von Weber’s speech as in the nature of a forecast of the next improvement’ 7 of the Navy Law. Although ,tho Na?y cLague is too modest to suggest dates, the obvious date lor expansion is the beginning of the financal year 1911, when the scale of battleship construction is supposed begin to decline. According to the “Tageblatt” calculation, Admiral yon Weber’s programme means that in 1911 a demand will be made for the construction of six Invincibles to take the places of the Kaiserin Augusta, the Hertha, the Victoria Louise, the Freya, the Ha lisa , and the Vineta. The “groundwork”' of the Navy Law will not be disturbed, and the nominal strength of the fleet will not be multiplied—there will merely bo “an alteration of the scheme of construction of ships to take the places of other ships. The new programme will nrovo that the assumption" that naval expenditure is to begin to decline in the year 1911 was as illusory as “all other assumptions since the passing of the Navy Law.”