Professional Notes

To March 31, 1940

UNITED STATES

Vessels Under Construction, United States Navy, as of March 1, 1940

Type, Number and Name	Contractor	Keel Laid	Launched	Date of Contract or order	Months to Build
Battleships: North Carolina	New York Navy Yard	10/27/37	—	8/1/37	49
Washington	Philadelphia Navy Yard	6/14/38	—	8/1/37	52
South Dakota	New York Shipbldg Corp.	7/5/39	—	12/15/38	52
Indiana	Newport News Shipbldg. & Dry Dock Co.	11/20/39	—	12/15/38	52
Massachusetts	Bethlehem Steel Co. (Quincy)	7/20/39	—	12/15/38	55
Alabama	Norfolk Navy Yard	2/1/40	—	4/1/39	52
Iowa	New York Navy Yard	—	—	7/1/39	49
. New Jersey	Philadelphia Navy Yard	—	—	7/1/39	52
Aircraft Wasp	Bethlehem Steel Co. (Quincy)	4/1/36	4/4/39	9/19/35	40
Carries: Hornet	Newport News Shipbldg. & Dry Dock Co.	9/25/39	—	4/10/39	34
Light Atlanta	Federal Shipbldg. & Dry Dock Co.	—	—	4/25/39	36
Cruisers: Juneau	Federal Shipbldg. & Dry Dock Co.	—	—	4/25/39	38
San Diego	Bethlehem Steel Co. (Quincy)	3/27/40	—	4/25/39	39
San Juan	Bethlehem Steel Co. (Quincy)	—	—	4/25/39	41
Cleveland	New York Shipbldg. Corp.	—	—	3/23/40	36
Columbia	New York Shipbldg. Corp.	—	—	3/23/40	39
SUBMARINES: Tambor	Electric Boat Co.	1/16/39	12/20/39	8/2/38	29
Tautog	Electric Boat Co.	3/1/39	1/27/40	8/2/38	31
Thresher	Electric Boat Co.	4/27/39	3/27/40	8/2/38	33
Triton	Portsmouth Navy Yard	7/5/39	3/27/40	9/1/38	30
Trout	Portsmouth Navy Yard	8/28/39	—	9/1/38	32
Tuna	Mare Island Navy Yard	7/19/39	—	11/1/38	30
Mackerel	Electric Boat Co.	10/6/39	—	6/15/39	23
Marlin	Portsmouth Navy Yard	—	—	7/1/39	27
Gar	Electric Boat Co.	12/27/39	—	6/15/39	25
Grampus	Electric Boat Co.	2/14/40	—	6/15/39	27
Grayback	Electric Boat Co.	4/3/40	—	6/15/39	29
Grayling	Portsmouth Navy Yard	12/15/39	—	7/1/39	25
Grenadier	Portsmouth Navy Yard	4/2/40	—	7/1/39	29
Gudgeon	Mare Island Navy Yard	11/22/39	—	7/1/39	27
Destroyers: Walke	Boston Navy Yard	5/31/38	10/20/39	1/12/37	35
Wainwright	Norfolk Navy Yard	6/7/38	6/1/39	2/12/37	34
Buck	Philadelphia Navy Yard	4/6/38	5/22/39	2/12/37	33
Benson	Bethlehem Steel Co. (Quincy)	5/16/38	11/15/39	9/30/37	32
Mayo	Bethlehem Steel Co. (Quincy)	5/16/38	3/26/39	9/30/37	34
Gleaves	Bath Iron Works	5/16/38	12/9/39	9/30/37	34
Niblack	Bath Iron Works	8/8/38	—	9/30/37	36
Madison	Boston Navy Yard	12/19/38	10/20/39	12/30/37	34
Lansdale	Boston Navy Yard	12/19/38	10/20/39	12/30/37	36
Hilary P. Jones	Charleston Navy Yard	11/16/38	12/14/39	12/30/37	34
Chas. F. Hughes	Puget Sound Navy Yard	1/3/39	—	12/30/37	34
Livermore	Bath Iron Works	3/6/39	—	8/15/38	28
Eberle	Bath Iron Works	4/12/39	—	8/15/38	30
Plunkett	Federal Shipbldg. & Dry Dock Co.	3/1/39	3/9/40	8/17/38	30
Kearny	Federal Shipbldg. & Dry Dock Co.	3/1/39	3/9/40	8/17/38	32
Gwin	Boston Navy Yard	6/1/39	—	10/1/38	29
Meredith	Boston Navy Yard	6/1/39	—	10/1/38	31
Grayson	Charleston Navy Yard	7/17/39	—	10/1/38	30
Monssen	Puget Sound Navy Yard	7/12/39	—	10/1/38	29
Woolsey	Bath Iron Works	10/9/39	—	6/15/39	24
Ludlow	Bath Iron Works	12/18/39	—	6/15/39	26
Edison	Federal Shipbldg. & Dry Dock Co.	3/18/40	—	6/15/39	24
Ericsson	Federal Shipbldg. & Dry Dock Co.	3/18/40	—	6/15/39	26
Wilkes	Boston Navy Yard	11/1/39	—	7/1/39	24
Nicholson	Boston Navy Yard	11/1/39	—	7/1/39	26
Swanson	Charleston Navy Yard	11/15/39	—	7/1/39	26
Ingrham	Charleston Navy Yard	11/15/39	—	7/1/39	28
DD Tenders: Dixie	New York Shipbldg Corp.	3/17/38	5/27/39	12/27/37	34
Prairie	New York Shipbldg. Corp.	12/7/38	12/9/39	10/14/38	24
Mineswpks: Raven	Norfolk Navy Yard	6/28/39	—	9/1/39	24
Osprey	Norfolk Navy Yard	6/28/39	—	9/1/39	26
Repaire Ship: Vulcan	New York Shipbldg. Corp.	12/26/39	—	8/1/39	32
Sub Tender: fulton	Mare Island Navy Yard	7/19/39	—	9/1/38	36
Fleet Tug: Cherokee	Bethlehem Steel Co. (Staten Island)	12/23/38	11/10/39	8/15/38	22
Seaplane curtiss	New York Shipbldg Corp.	4/25/38	—	12/27/37	38
Tenders: Albemarle	New York Shipbldg. Corp.	6/12/39	—	10/14/38	32
Barnegat	Puget Sound Navy Yard	10/27/39	—	9/1/38	27
Biscayne	Puget Sound Navy Yard	10/27/39	—	9/1/38	30
Casco	Puget Sound Navy Yard	—	—	7/1/39	24
Mackinac	Puget Sound Navy Yard	—	—	7/1/39	27
Mine Layer: Terror	Philadelphia Navy Yard	—	—	9/1/39	36
Sub Chasers: PC449	Luders Marine Construction Co.	7/10/39	3/14/40	7/1/39	Cal. Days 300
PC450	American Car & Foundry Co.	8/9/39	—	6/10/39	270
PC4S1-52	Defoe Boat and Motor Works	9/25/39	—	6/15/39	360
		3/14/40	—	10/19/39	360
PTC1 to 12	Electric Boat Co. Eleo Works	3/1/40	—	12/13/39	300
motor Torpedo Boats: PT1-2	Miami Ship Building Corp.	7/12/39	8/16/39	6/8/39	165
		8/19/39	9/30/39	6/8/39	165
PT3-4	Fisher Boat Works	8/1/39	—	6/8/39	195
		8/5/39	—	6/8/39	215
PT5-6	Higgins Ind. Inc.	8/1/39	—	6/10/39	175
	,	8/23/39	—	6/10/39	230
PT7-8	Philadelphia Navy Yard	8/29/39	—	—	—
		12/29/39	—	—	—
PT10 to 20	Electric Boat Co. Eleo Works	—	—	12/13/39	390

 

Barlow’s Bomb

New York Herald Tribune, March 27.— Lester P. Barlow, inventor, of Stamford, Conn., gave the first demonstration outside laboratory walls today of his secret new liquid oxygen-carbon explosive known as Glmite before about 100 persons, including members of Congress, Army and Navy observers, and newspaper men.

On an open field inside the grounds of the closely guarded Glenn L. Martin aircraft plant here, in honor of whose president the new explosive is named, Mr. Barlow shattered a telephone pole and destroyed a sandbag-protected dugout during tests in which Glmite cartridges ranging from 8 oz. to 5 lb. were detonated. He fired other charges encased in 3/8-in. steel shells against a steel armor plate at close range, and high into the air from a trench mortar without setting them off, burned a cartridge harmlessly with a match and pierced another with 30-30 rifle bullets, with no visible effect.

These tests were designed to show that the new explosive could be handled without danger of detonation from either shock or impact.

Representative Ralph E. Church, Republican, of Illinois, member of the House Naval Affairs Committee, who has sponsored a resolution calling for an investigation of the effectiveness of liquid oxygen explosives, cautioned newspaper men that the demonstration was simply one to bring out certain basic characteristics such explosives possessed. Army and Navy munitions experts, he said, would examine Glmite and other similar substances “thoroughly” at a later date. Col. K. S. Adamson, Assistant to the Chief of Ordnance of the Army, another spectator, would not give an opinion. Other Army and Navy men would add nothing beyond saying that the demonstration was “interesting but entirely inconclusive.”

Today’s demonstration was not the official test offered by the Senate Military Affairs Committee after a recent hearing, but Mr. Barlow said that he expected such an opportunity within the next three weeks.

Mr. Barlow, a short, energetic man of middle age, was assisted by George B. Holderer, of New York City, specialist in liquid oxygen-carbon explosives. Members of the Senate Military Affairs Committee considered the explosive so terrifying when it was described to them several weeks ago that they ordered the minutes of the committee meeting burned.

The inventor, whose depth charges and bombs were manufactured in large quantities by the United States during the World War and whose later activities have included promotion in Connecticut of the “share the wealth” movement of the late Huey P. Long, development of a non-refillable whisky bottle and of an aerial torpedo supposed to be capable of razing cities 1,000 or more miles away, showed how it was prepared. He poured liquid oxygen from a large jug over cloth bags containing carbon and then placed the bags—highly explosive under certain circumstances—in a thermos jug to prevent dissipation of the liquid oxygen, which has a temperature of about 295 degrees below zero and boils violently when spilled on the ground.

There is nothing new about carbon and liquid oxygen to form a high-powered explosive, according to Mr. Barlow, but he asserted that in the past hydrocarbons had been used which were so sensitive that explosive mixtures in which they were included sometimes went off if dropped. The secret of his new explosive, he said, was in the formula used in preparing a certain type of wood carbon which was safe to handle after it had been soaked in liquid oxygen.

The deadly effect of Glmite, Mr. Barlow said, was not a result of concussion of flying fragments, but of a mysterious “whip back” caused by the force of air rushing in to fill the vacuum created by the intense heat of Glmite explosions, which he said mounted to thousands of degrees Fahrenheit.

To give a firsthand example of the way this “whip back” worked, Mr. Barlow detonated 5 pounds of his explosive in a dugout open on one side, while the observers crouched behind a barricade of sandbags across a creek several hundred feet away. A wooden shack stood about 25 ft. from the dugout, and the explosion, instead of shattering the shack’s wooden boards inward, apparently “sucked” them outward toward the explosive charge. The Glmite was touched off with an ordinary fulminate detonator using electric current.

Mr. Barlow said the effect of this whipback force was what caused fronts of houses to be ripped off in 1938 in Barcelona when the Nationalist air force allegedly tried out a type of liquid oxygen explosive somewhat like Glmite, but unsafe to handle.

A “shock wave” caused by the new explosive, Mr. Barlow asserted, was so intense that it could be made to stun persons ¼ mile to ½ mile from the explosion of a 1,000-lb. Glmite bomb without injuring them seriously. Mr. Barlow predicted that when more careful study of his explosive had been made, aviators could either stun or kill by varying the distance at which they dropped their bombs.

A common criticism of liquid oxygen explosives by Army and Navy men has been their supposed extremely short period of effectiveness, but Mr. Barlow asserted that his bombs could be made to last 30 hours without diminishing in power, and then could be replenished easily. Contrary to some authorities, he said, it had been found possible to confine liquid oxygen in containers. Glmite could be manufactured for less than 5 cents a pound, he said, considerably less than half of what is paid now for more orthodox explosives.

The David W. Taylor Model Basin

The Nautical Gazette, February.—The actual work on the new model testing basin was finally authorized by Act of Congress of May 6, 1936. Funds in the amount of $3,500,000 were appropriated by Acts of Congress of April 27, 1937, and June 25, 1938, and a contract for the real active construction of the enterprise was entered into with the Turner Construction Co. of New York City in August, 1937. Work was started on the site in Carderock, Md., the following month and completed in June, 1939.

Appropriately named after Rear Admiral Taylor, the new basin will be available for experiments on models for naval architects and marine engineers, private firms and individuals, and other departments of the government, principally the United States Maritime Commission. It is interesting to point out that the experimental model basins in Washington are, in fact, the only ones of their kind in America which are equipped for tests of ship models when driven by their own propellers.

With no efforts having been spared to build every component of the new establishment so that it would accomplish its purpose most efficiently and economically, the buildings and structures, as well as the function of the establishment, are unique in many features of design and construction.

For instance, the basin building proper measures 1,300 ft. in overall length, consisting of an arched roofed main section 1,188 ft. long with a clear inside width of 112 ft. meeting a rectangular section 150 ft. wide by 112 ft. long. To facilitate control of temperature and lighting conditions, this building is lined with a 2-in. thickness of insulating material and has no windows or skylights for natural light or ventilation.

A 3-hinged reinforced concrete barrel arch with a span of 110 ft. between abutment hinges the roof of the building and has a rise of 24½ ft. The thickness of the crown is only 8 in. and at the abutments 12 in. According to Commander Fisher, in charge of operations at Carderock, the hinges are so-called “semi-articulations” of reinforced concrete, which was invented by the eminent French engineer, Augustin Mesnager, and has been used extensively in bridge and building construction in Europe.

According to the Navy Department, the basin has been made sufficiently large to include equipment which is designed to accomplish each of the various types of research on models with the greatest accuracy and reliability and to the best possible advantage.

The large deep-water basin, which is 963 ft. long, 51 ft. wide and 22 ft. deep, will be used for models to be either towed or self-propelled. Running alongside of this is a shorter and more shallow water basin, 303 ft. long by 51 ft. wide and 10 ft. deep, for models of tugboats, barges, river craft, and other types of shallow water vessels.

At the west end of the shallow water-basin is a J-shaped turning basin, for maneuvering and steering tests of models. A special enclosure over this basin enables accurate photographic observations of the models in action. For the running tests at high speed on models of motorboats, patrol boats, and similar craft, there is a special basin 1,168 ft. long by 21 ft. wide and 10 ft. deep. The site, itself, is of sufficient extent to permit extending this basin to over twice its present length to meet the requirements of the future.

A small model basin 142 ft. long, 10 ft. wide and 5½ ft. deep, is provided for tests of special models and for unusual research problems. Each of the three large model basins will have its own carriage for towing the ship and boat models under test.

An interesting accuracy fact is revealed in the rails on the basin walls upon which the carriage will run. To meet present requirements for uniformity in the speed of the carriages which tow the models, the carriages must be laid far straighter and more nearly level than the most perfect railroad track. In fact, to eliminate the effect of gravity on the motion of the towing carriage, the tracks are not straight in the usual sense, but follow the curvature of the earth.

To insure that the rails when laid will remain straight and level, the basin walls upon which they rest are of massive concrete construction, laid directly on bed rock. It was to obtain this firm and unyielding natural foundation that the Carderock site was selected.

Although not in actual use at the present time, it is expected that this new technical aid to both American naval and commercial shipping will be entirely completed the latter part of next year.

Mosquito Boat Test

New York Herald Tribune, March 27.— The PT-6, the Navy’s newest type torpedo boat for offshore defense work, made 46 mi. an hour today in her first speed test.

Naval experts watched the 80-ft. craft slash across Lake Pontchartrain, termed her performance “satisfactory” and hinted the boat might be superior to anything used by foreign powers.

It was explained that the motors were not broken in and no attempt was made to reach theoretical maximum speed of 60 mi. The PT-6 will get more exhaustive tests in three days on the Gulf of Mexico.

The PT-6 was the first of the so-called “mosquito fleet,” launched under the $5,000,000 building program authorized by Congress last year to perfect a craft capable of challenging an invading fleet by the use of torpedoes launched at high speed.

Capt. A: Loring Swayse, Lieut. Comdr. W. D. Leggett and Comdr. Robert P. Carney headed naval design experts who rode the craft across the choppy waters. Comdr. Carney later indicated the power boat might be superior to similar craft already in use abroad.

“Their boats have been proved satisfactory after all tests,” he said, “but I’ll venture that this boat is every bit as good if not better than theirs.”

In France and Great Britain, similar craft have been dubbed “suicide boats” because of their dangerous task. American seamen who man them will receive time and a half in pay “because of the rough treatment and hard living,” Comdr. Carney said.

The boat carries a crew of 10, has a cruising range of 2,000 mi., is powered by three 1,250-hp. (Packard) motors, is armed with torpedo tubes, depth charges, and machine guns, and costs $218,000.— New Orleans, March 26 (AP).

Various Notes

The U.S.S. Spica, a freighter converted into a naval supply ship, was commissioned yesterday afternoon at the New York Navy Yard, in Brooklyn. The 4,070-ton vessel, which had been tied up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard since its purchase soon after the World War, was brought to Brooklyn three months ago to be overhauled. It will sail south on March 13 with a cargo of potatoes, canned goods, and coffee for ships of the neutrality patrol. It is expected to return in six weeks and be fitted with 5-inch guns for defense against aerial attack.—New York Herald Tribune, March 2.

The Navy awarded a $298,670 contract today to re-establish a submarine base at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, a strategic point in the Caribbean defenses of the Panama Canal, to the Paul H. Smith Construction Company, of Miami. A small force of Marine Corps planes is based now at St. Thomas.—New York Herald Tribune, March 8.

GREAT BRITAIN

Captain Parry’s Report on “Graf Spee” Action

Chicago Sunday Tribune, March 24.— How close the German sea raider Admiral Graf Spee came to winning the battle of Montevideo against three British cruisers was disclosed officially for the first time in an official report which Capt. W. E. Parry, commander of the cruiser Achilles, filed here at the request of the naval board.

Capt. Parry said there was a moment in the action when both the lighter of the British cruisers—the Achilles and the Ajax—were off the target and the Graf Spee had a splendid opportunity of sinking them. The third and largest of the British cruisers, the Exeter, was badly damaged early in the battle, Capt. Parry disclosed.

The first official report which has been made public showed the British were completely unaware that they had gained a naval victory and discouraged at their lack of success. It also told of their breaking off the action because it seemed useless to continue pelting the heavily armored ship with their light shells.

The three cruisers were widely scattered when they came together to hunt the Graf Spee off the eastern coast of South America. On December 13, the day of the battle, they actually practiced the plays they used to defeat the pocket battleship a few hours later.

The German ship sighted the British cruisers when they were beam on and recognized them first, Capt. Parry says. She opened fire 3 minutes before the first British ship, the Exeter, replied. The British ships at once began carrying out their tactics of subjecting their opponent to a crossfire. But in the first 15 minutes of the battle the Exeter was hit by four 11-in. shells, which put 4 of her six 8-in. guns out of action and killed almost everyone on the bridge.

At the end of this period the cruisers had begun to annoy the Spee, which directed one 11-in.-gun turret at the Ajax and Achilles alternately, but without success. Eight minutes later the German ship laid her first smoke screen and disappeared behind it showing the British their fire had been effective. This first phase of the battle concluded at 6:38 a.m. left the Exeter suffering considerably, the Ajax and Achilles unharmed.

It was in the second phase of the battle that the German ship lost her chance. The Exeter was hit twice more by 11-in. shells, suffered flooding and took a list of 7 degrees. Then an 11-in. shell burst near the Achilles, causing casualties when it peppered the ship with fragments. The casualties were in the worst possible place —the fire control tower. The gunnery control officer was stunned by a shell fragment which killed a man behind him, and half the fire control tower crew were killed or wounded.

The Achilles’ guns were completely thrown off their target for some time and, owing to confusion about the fall of shot from the two ships, the Ajax also lost the target.

“For a considerable time,” says Capt. Parry, “neither ship can have hit the enemy effectively. Thus the gunfire of the three British ships deteriorated severely, giving the enemy, had he known it, a golden opportunity.

But the German ship began ducking behind a series of smoke screens, and it was after the second phase of the battle had lasted 40 minutes that Commodore Harwood made the decision to close in. This brought the two light cruisers within 5 mi. of the Spee, at which distance they brought all their guns to bear. It was then that the highly accurate shooting of the Achilles was felt. The observer on the Ajax reported the Achilles “was making magnificent shooting. She was straddling continuously, her spread was very small, and she was scoring hit after hit.”

However, after 5 minutes the Ajax was hit by an 11-in. shell which put both her rear turrets out of action, passed through commander’s, captain’s, and secretary’s cabins, and finally burst in the cabin of the commodore, destroying his belongings.

Only 3 of the 8 guns of the Ajax still were in action at this stage, and after another 15 minutes, with the range approaching 4 mi. (point-blank range for an 11-in. gun), Commodore Harwood decided to break off the fight.

“In spite of the number of hits made there was disappointingly little damage,” Capt. Parry said. “The Graf Spee’s guns, most of them, seemed still to be in action, and her speed was not greatly affected. On several occasions we were cheered by seeing her apparently listing, but she immediately recovered, showing that the list was merely due to the use of her rudder. The Graf Spee’s vitals were protected by 5 ½ in. of armor, and a 6-in. shell has little chance of penetrating a belt of this thickness even at the closest ranges.”

When the British cruisers retired behind smoke screens Commodore Harwood remarked to his flag captain, “We might just as well be bombarding her with snowballs.” By 7:40 a.m. the pocket battleship was no longer visible, and the British ships ceased fire. At the last moment the Graf Spee brought down the main topmast of the Ajax, with several casualties.

The British fighters then settled down to shadow the Graf Spee. They did this with foreboding, wondering if the German ship knew that “the whole trade of the Plate was at her mercy until reinforcements arrived.”

The final shadowing was done at a very respectful distance because the Graf Spee’s 11-in. guns opened fire once more. A radio aerial was rigged to warn British merchantmen to keep clear of the surrounding waters, but the pursuit went on with the feeling that the cruisers were being drawn into a trap.

The final exchanges were made at a range of 11 mi. when the flash of the Spee’s gunfire warned off the cruisers. The German ship was visible so clearly, however, that the temptation to reply could not be resisted.

Five full salvos were fired. It was this minor engagement which was witnessed by a Uruguayan cruiser and caused the local press to mistake it for the main action. In the next hour the Spee opened fire three times, but the shots could be disregarded—the British were out of range and the shells were only meant to keep them from coming any closer.

So the Graf Spee dodged into the port of Montevideo, and the weary British sailors took up their watch outside. The final scuttling came after Commodore Harwood had signaled his ships (now reinforced by the 8-in.-gun cruiser Cumberland)-, “My object—destruction.” With the radio flash of the scuttling, the crews were ordered on deck. They cheered themselves hoarse.

Yet even now, says Capt. Parry, the British Navy does not know why the Germans did it.—Wellington, New Zealand, March 23.

Substitute Sea Training

London Times, February 13.—In time of peace naval cadets used to serve for a time in a seagoing training ship—H.M.S. Vindictive, a demilitarized cruiser—before joining seagoing men-of-war as “subordinate officers”—that is, naval cadets and midshipmen. Cadets who had been at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, since they were 13½ did 1 term in the Vindictive: those who entered direct from civilian schools did 2—the period has varied from time to time.

In time of war, however, seagoing training either in a demilitarized cruiser, or m any other special allocated ship, is impracticable. The Admiralty have there- fore decided that their training shall be Bone at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, instead.

Dartmouth cadets normally spend 11 terms there. Those who entered before January, 1937, will complete their 11 terms, and will then do an extra term in stead of their Vindictive cruise. For those who entered later the extra instruction which replaces the period in the Vindictive will be worked into the ordinary course, and they will do 11 terms only. Direct entry cadets will do 2 terms at Dartmouth.

All cadets on leaving Dartmouth will be rated midshipmen and appointed to seagoing men-of-war. Their period of service afloat as midshipmen is to be reduced from 2 years to 20 months, and after 4 months ashore for courses—gunnery, torpedo, signals, navigation, etc.—they will return to sea as sub-lieutenants. Somewhat complicated arrangements have been made to ensure that these war-time alterations in the training routine shall not change the order of seniority that officers would otherwise have achieved.

Admirals of the Fleet

London Times, March 4.—The Admiralty announces that the King has approved that in future Admirals of the Fleet shall be borne on the Active List of the Royal Navy for life, and that those on the Retired List shall be restored to the Active List. His Majesty has further approved that promotion to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet shall be governed by the rule that 3, but not more than 3, of the holders of this rank shall be of less than 5 years’ seniority in the rank.

In consequence, the following officers are restored to the Active List: Admirals of the Fleet Sir Henry F. Oliver, Sir Osmond de B. Brock, Sir Roger J. B. Keyes, Sir Frederick L. Field, and Sir Reginald Y. Tyrwhitt.

Our Naval Correspondent writes:

This measure restores Admirals of the Fleet to the same footing as field-marshals, for whom also there is no “retired list.” It makes no financial difference, since the half-pay of an Admiral of the Fleet is the same as his retired pay; and the adoption of the rule that not more than 3 Admirals of the Fleet shall be of less than 5 years’ seniority in the rank will ensure that the number of promotions to the rank remains at the figure fixed in recent years.

Various Notes

The subscribers to Lloyd's List—which with the exception of the London Gazette is the oldest daily in Great Britain—not having received a single copy of the paper since September 1, have thought that it ceased publication when war was declared. Lloyd’s List continues to appear with all its features—ship movements and events of a seagoing nature throughout the entire world in particular. However, this mass of maritime data, the value of which is inestimable under the present circumstances, is reserved exclusively for the British Admiralty. The members of Lloyd’s themselves do not receive the paper which was founded by them and which continues to be composed and printed each night—but for a single reader.—Journal de la Marine Marchande. September 28, 1939.

Singapore, January 23.—The Naval Court, at a martial meeting at the Naval Base today, severely reprimanded Warrant Engineer Hercules Wright, who was found guilty of prejudicing “good order and naval discipline.”

He was charged with putting before Leading Stoker Roger Henry Le Page a document “drawn up in a manner likely to undermine public confidence.”

Witnesses alleged that Mr. Wright compiled the document, purporting to show statistics of the numbers of engine-room personnel lost when H.M.S. Courageous was sunk. He was reported to have told Mr. Le Page “there’s something for you to discuss among yourselves on the mess deck.”

Written at the top of the document were the words: “What’s Your Chance?”

Mr. Wright, in his defense, said that it was a private document and was not intended for circuation.—The Japan Advertiser, January 31.

FRANCE

Superior Plane Developed

New York Herald Tribune, March 5.— France’s aviation industry has developed a pursuit plane with a speed surpassing that of Germany’s renowned Messerschmitt 110, it was learned here today. According to an official source, the new French fighting craft will be in mass production by the end of June.

(The Messerschmitt 110 is reputed to have a top speed of 385 mi. an hour, but little has been revealed officially concerning it. It is a twin-engined monoplane with 1,150-hp. Daimler-Benz 601 engines and was designed as a fighter suitable for bomber escort work. Its armament includes two 20-mm. guns firing shells and one movable and two fixed machine guns.)

A spokesman of the French Air Ministry said the developing of the new plane would not mean a curtailment of France’s purchases of Curtiss pursuit planes in the United States. He said the Curtiss planes were equal in speed to the best Messerschmitts and were far more maneuverable, and would be used in future to supplement France’s own output.

The spokesman revealed some interesting figures on military airplane construction in France. During the 10 months which began with the autumn of 1938, France’s output of bombers exceeded the total for the preceding 4 years. At present, in order to speed output, bombers built in France are being equipped with American engines.

“From the point of view of quality,” the spokesman said, “our aircraft production has always been superior to that of Germany. Since the summer of 1939, the qualitative superiority has become quantitative also.

“In September of last year, we were in a sorry position as regards bombers. But since then factories have sprung up throughout France. We even have constructed an underground factory ‘somewhere in France’ for manufacturing the more delicate parts. And airplane construction will proceed despite any danger of bombardments, for the different parts of the ships are made in different factories and then assembled in another series of plants.”

In establishing underground factories for airplanes, France is following the example of Germany. Not only has Germany subterranean airplane factories, according to reports which were current in that country when this correspondent was there some weeks ago, but she also has hangars and repair shops placed underground near military airdromes.

In describing the new French pursuit plane, the Air Ministry spokesman said that a fighting plane, 6 months after its production, became outmoded through developments permitting construction of a machine of similar type but superior in various respects. He indicated that this unending process would continue through the war.

In stressing this point, he explained that American factories had developed planes and engines superior to those which France was buying in America, but that the United States forbade the sale abroad of the latest and best models.

Gen. Duval, military expert of the newspaper Journal des Debats, in commenting today on the disclosure of the development of the new French plane, emphasized that total number of airplanes produced did not indicate the strength in the air of a nation. This would indicate why American planes will continue to be bought by the French in spite of the appearance of the new French craft.

“If one desires,” Gen. Duval wrote, “to have an air force of which the constant effective strength is, for example, 3,000 planes, one must manufacture at least 1,500 a month and also 4,000 or 5,000 motors, in addition to spare parts.

‘It must be remembered that the ‘material’ of modern warfare, including both tanks and planes, melts like butter in the sun. It disappears more because of wear than because of enemy action.”— Paris, March 4.

Various Notes

The destroyer Le Corsaire, seventh of its class, was launched at Seyne on November 14, 1939. Characteristics: displacement 1,772 tons, length 384 ft., beam 36 ft., draft 11 ft., speed 40 knots, 58,000 hp., radius of action 6,000 miles at 15 knots. Armament: six 5.2-in. guns, four 1.5in. guns, four machine guns, seven 21.7-in. torpedo tubes.—Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjøvesen, January.

On December 22 the Chamber of Deputies, during its discussions on national defense, approved the construction of a 35,000-ton battleship.—Rivista Marittima, February, 1940.

At a meeting of the Senate Navy Committee today it was made known that the 35,000-ton battleship Jean Bart (one of the four ships of the Richelieu class) has been successfully launched.

These vessels carry eight 15-in. guns in two 4-gun turrets forward, and fifteen 6-in. guns in 3-gun turrets amidships and aft, as well as an extensive auxiliary armament and 4 aircraft with 2 catapults. Their estimated speed is 30 knots.— London Times, March 7.

GERMANY

Air Defense of Northwest Germany

The Aeroplane, February 16.—Wil-helmshaven, Headquarters of the Commander of the German North Sea Fleet, has become also the Headquarters of the North-West Air Defense.

A few miles from the town, “somewhere in the marshes,” large dugouts house the Commanding Officer and Staff of this new command. Here, reports about approaching enemy machines are received; the observation posts range from small patrol ships far out at sea, often disguised as neutral vessels, to large, well-equipped stations on the Frisian Islands, East and North Frisian and Helgoland.

On large-scale maps officers follow the flight path of the raiding machines. As soon as the first report has come through, warning is given to all the defense units along the coast, to naval vessels, and to the big industrial establishments of the districts, especially those in and around Wilhelmshaven. The Germans claim that this method has been very efficient during the latest raids by British airplanes and they state that the arrival of the Wellingtons and Blenheims did not catch them unawares.

A large number of the personnel of the headquarters consists of girls who, mostly employed as telephonists, work in 6-hour shifts.

The active defense of this region is entrusted to a Fighter Group, the famous Schumacher Group, which was engaged with Vickers-Armstrongs Wellingtons of the R.A.F. during the air battle on December 18, 1939. By using a larger number of squadrons, for a single tactical task, the Germans have revived the tactics of the so-called Circus of the War 1914-18, which were tested during the Spanish and Polish campaigns. Reports say that the German Air Staff has set up two similar Fighter Groups on the Western Front.

Lieutenant Colonel Schumacher, the commander of the group, served as a Naval Air Arm observer during the last war. He became a Sub-Lieutenant in March, 1918, and after the war fought against “World-Bolshevism,” Nazi- Germany’s ally of today until November, 1919, when he was demobilized. In 1934 he joined the new Luftwaffe as a Captain, became a Major in 1936, and was promoted to his present rank on October 1, 1939.

The Schumacher Group consists of two wings of three squadrons each. One wing is equipped with Messerschmitt Me 109s, the other with Me 110 two-motor fighters. The Me 109s are of the latest type equipped with cannon as well as machine guns.

The squadrons are distributed over the whole defense zone. Certain aerodromes are shared with either reconnaissance or bomber units.

The leader of the most westerly squadron, equipped with Me 109s, is Lieutenant Balthasar, a well-known German sporting pilot. He is one of the “aces” of the Legion Condor and claims to have set up a record for shooting down the largest number of enemy machines in the shortest time. On

February 7, 1937, he is said to have shot down 4 Russian-built Martin bombers of the Spanish Government in 5 minutes. He stated in a recent interview that his squadron had to protect the most important sector of the North-Western Front, as the British bombers usually pass his aerodrome when raiding Germany.

From various reports in German papers the conclusion can be drawn that the officers and men of this Fighter Group are the most experienced in Germany. Most of them have been members of the Legion Condor. Captain Falck, leader of a Me 110 squadron, is credited with 12 victories during the Polish Campaign and a further 8 up to December 10, 1939.

The number of air victories claimed by this group is very large and this is again a reminder of the last war, with the only difference that towards the end of 1917 the German High Command did not credit an air victory to a pilot unless it was confirmed by at least two independent witnesses. Today, the co-pilot, or any member of a crew (one is sufficient) can be a witness. Undoubtedly this explains the large number of claimed victories advanced by the Germans. Many of them probably arise from a genuine belief that a victory has been scored and from the fact that several pilots may claim the same machine.

This system has its dangers, as was proved by the unsubstantiated claim of Aircraftman Pilot Francke who said he had sunk the Ark Royal and was accordingly decorated with the Iron Cross (1939) and promoted to commissioned rank.

The Me 109s, though fast, do not seem to be very maneuverable. Lieutenant Colonel Schumacher told journalists that when he tried to attack a British bomber he had to repeat his attack three times before he was able to maneuver his Me 109 into the right position. He could only achieve this by throttling back considerably. The pilot of the British bomber probably put off his aim by suddenly throttling back himself. Finally Col. Schumacher said that he directed the fire of his cannon and machine guns directly in front of the nose of the bomber, which immediately burst into flame. This method of attack has now become the standard tactics of the German fighter pilots.

JAPAN

Submarine Raised

The Japan Advertiser, February 2.—The Japanese submarine 1-63, which went down with 81 officers and men after a collision in the Bungo Straits just a year ago today, was refloated on January 22 after intense efforts by a naval salvage crew, according to a brief communique issued by the Navy Office yesterday morning.

Only 6 of the submarine’s crew, those who were in the conning tower when the Vessel collided with a sister-ship during night maneuvers, were rescued alive.

Announcement of the mishap, the first of a series of accidents to befall Japanese, American, British, and French submarines during the first 6 months of last year, was withheld until last February 7, five days after the accident, when all hope of rescuing the trapped men had been abandoned.

The extreme difficulty and hardships encountered by the salvage corps during more than .11 months of uninterrupted operation were stressed by Navy Minister Zengo Yoshida in a report to the House of Peers yesterday afternoon.

His explanation ran as follows:

As to the actual sinking of the submarine, a report was made to the last Diet session by the Navy Minister. As for the salvage efforts, it may be said that the Navy was firmly determined from the start to surmount all difficulties and refloat the vessel. Orders to that effect were issued to the commander of Kure Naval Station.

Since the 1-63 settled on the sea bottom in 162 fathoms, the water pressure was terrific. To make matters more difficult, the sea bottom was irregular and tidal currents were very strong. These factors hampered rescue work to a considerable extent, and bad weather often interfered with the refloating operations. In some months, it was possible for the salvagers to work only two or three days, because of adverse weather conditions.

Because of the utter darkness on the ocean floor, the entire operation was attended by difficulty beyond description. Words actually are inadequate to describe properly the hardships under which the naval men worked. Undaunted, however, they were determined to complete the job, no matter how long it might take or how many the obstacles. Their efforts now have been crowned with success.

The bodies of all the dead were removed with respect and funeral services will be held for them on Friday, the first anniversary of the accident, at Sasebo Naval Station. All members of the bereaved families have been invited to attend.

Domei reports that the bodies of the 81 dead officers and men were transported to Sasebo aboard a certain warship at ten o’clock yesterday morning. The coffins were lined up in rows in the Triumph Hall at the naval station preparatory to the last rites.

Answering interpellations in the Diet last February, Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai, then Navy Minister, explained that the 1-63 and several other craft had been engaged in fleet maneuvers in the Bungo Straits when the accident occurred.

The 1-63 and the submarine which rammed it were traveling on the surface in inky darkness, following prearranged courses. The collision occurred some time after midnight. According to a report submitted by the commander of the vessel which collided with the 1-63, the bulk of the ill-fated submarine had loomed up only a second or two before the crash. The order to reverse engines was too late, and the submarines crashed with terrific impact. The 1-63 sank immediately, but the six who had been on deck and in the conning tower leaped into the water and were saved.

The bodies of the 81 victims were removed from the battered hull of the vessel on Thursday, according to the Navy Office communique. They are expected to be buried with full naval honors.

Yesterday’s announcement by the Navy Office is quoted by Domei as follows:

The naval authorities had been determined from the outset to refloat the submarine 1-63, which sank early in the morning of February 2, 1939, after colliding with its consort ship while engaging in naval maneuvers in the Bungo Straits. Accordingly, the Commander in Chief of Kure Naval Station, Vice Admiral Shigetaro Shimada, was ordered to refloat the vessel at all costs.

Encouraged by the commander of Kure Naval Station, the salvage corps under the command of Rear Admiral Fushio Hanashima succeeded in refloating the submarine on January 22, after overcoming various difficulties and hardships and making every possible effort under painstaking plans for nearly a year.

The rescue corps recovered the remains of all the victims on January 29. The naval authorities express sincere thanks to the nation for the profound sympathy shown the victims.

The 1-63 disaster had been the first submarine lost by the Navy under accidental circumstances in 15 years. The last previous disaster had occurred on March 19, 1924, when the submarine 43 sank off Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, with 49 hands.

Various Notes

The warship Kashino was launched on Friday morning in the Mitsubishi shipbuilding yard in Nagasaki with appropriate rites reports Domei. Vice Admiral Noboru Hirata, Commandant of the Sasebo Naval Base, officiated at the ceremony. The launching took place in a severe blizzard.—The Japan Advertiser, January 28.

It has been learned that the firm of Mitsubishi Jukogyo K. K. of Kobe launched on November 27, the warship Zuikaku, concerning whose characteristics there is no information available. —Lc Yacht, February.

The new budget amounts to $2,432,528,000 of which $1,588,891,600 (64 per cent) have been appropriated for military purposes. The ordinary budget has been increased by $1,127,979,200 over last year and the military budget decreased by $34,046,000.—Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjøvesen, January.

Tokyo March 4 (AP).—Gen. Shunroku Hata, War Minister, declared today before the Japanese Diet (Parliament) that the Salvation Army must be placed under “proper regulations” for the prevention of espionage. He said military authorities had started to watch the organization’s activities.

“Aside from questions of its dependency on Great Britain, or its religious beliefs,” Hata said, “I believe that the Salvation Army must be placed under proper regulations in order to prevent espionage.”

The Japanese Salvation Army has a little more than 240 members, 5 of whom are foreign coworkers. They operate 134 chapels, and their followers number about 14,000.

The organization first achieved recognition in arousing public opinion against Tokyo’s licensed quarters, and after the late William Booth, its founder, had been received by the late Emperor Meiji it advanced steadily in public regard as a religious and humanitarian service.—New York Herald Tribune, March 5.

ITALY

Naval Rearmament

Journal de la Marine Marchande, February 15.—During 1939, Italy has been pursuing her policy of naval rearmament even more actively than in former years. The end of the year witnessed the trials and commissioning of the first 2 battleships of 35,000 tons, Littorio and Vittorio Veneto, commenced in 1934. The construction of the 2 others is being pushed. The Impero, which had been laid down, at least officially, in May, 1938, was launched in November, 1939, after being but 18 months on the ways, whereas the first two took 3 years to launch. The launching of the 4th, the 35,000-ton Roma, begun in September, 1939, is being awaited.

The 12 ocean-going scout cruisers of the 1938 program of the Attilio Regolo class were begun between April and September, 1939, with a slight delay due to remodification of the original plans. It appears that these ships will be even more heavily armed than had been predicted. For a 3,362-ton displacement they will carry eight 5.3-in. guns, six 3.5-in. guns, and 14 anti-aircraft machine guns, together with 8 torpedo tubes. They will develop 120,000 hp. at a top speed of 41 knots. The 3.5-in. guns are for A.A defense and are noteworthy because they are replacing the traditional Italian 1.4-in. weapon habitually used for this purpose.

The year 1939 witnessed the commissioning of 12 destroyers of the Camicia Nera class, of 1,900 tons and 39 knots, started at the beginning of 1937, and of the last of the 16 torpedo boats of the 679- ton Polluce type, laid down at about the same time. The rapidity with which these units have been built is remarkable.

During 1940, the 1,120-ton submarine Atropo and the 900-ton Guglielmotti will be commissioned. The latter is the last of a series of 9 of the Marcello class begun in 1937. Several of the 12 units in the Capellini series, laid down in 1938, have been launched. Work has finally started on the 4 boats of the 1,460-ton Caracciolo class. The last mentioned are characterized by the fact that they are to carry fourteen 18-in. torpedo tubes in place of eight 21-in. tubes as installed in submarines of preceding programs. The new submarines have been able to dive to a depth of 394 ft.

In addition, the July, 1939, program announced the construction of 2 light 8,000- ton cruisers of the Amm. Ciano type which will join the 12 ships of this class that Italy already possesses, 8 other destroyers, 4 torpedo boats, six 1,450-ton submarines and six of 950 to 1,000 tons. When the 1939 program is completed Italy will have 8 battleships, 4 of 35,000 and 4 of 23,600 tons, 7 heavy cruisers of 10,000 tons, 14 light cruisers of 5,000 to 8,000 tons, 12 ocean scout vessels of 3,300 tons, 67 destroyers of 1,000 to 1,900 tons, 46 torpedo boats of 650 tons, without counting 27 ships of this type overage, and 124 submarines. This will make a total of 700,000 tons of new ships of less than 12 years of age.

Various Notes

The technical schools of the Royal Navy have had an opportunity to carry out practical experiments in the use of blind personnel manning the listening devices for airplanes. These and other tests with blind observers have definitely proved that their acute sense of hearing may really be used to great advantage. The fact that they are blind not only improves their sensibility to sound but allows greater concentration on the duty than is possible with the normal person.

The Italian Union of the Blind, taking cognizance of these experiments and their results, expressed to the Minister of the Navy their pride in this achievement and further expressed a desire that they be allowed to aid in the active defense of the country in this specific field.

At a conference of the General Staff of the Navy it was determined that limited service of a military character would be permitted to blind men by placing them under a special category.— Revista Publicaciones Navales, July-Sept., 1939.

On January 7, two submarines of the “oceanic” class were launched, the Luigi Torelli and the Capitano Rafaele Tarentini. Their chief characteristic is a great cruising range (more than 12,000 miles it is said). The armament consists of two 4-in. guns, 1 machine gun, and eight 21-in. torpedo tubes (4 bow and 4 stern). The Torrelli has a displacement of about 1,040 tons, length 247 ft., beam 22.5 ft., draft 15.5 ft., about 3,600 hp. and a speed of 18 knots maximum; the Tarentini has a slightly longer hull, more beam, and a little less draft for an official displacement of 1,031 tons.—Le Yacht, February.

OTHER COUNTRIES

Brazil

Recently, there were delivered to the Army five more planes of the Muniz 9 type which were constructed in the Brazilian plane factory at Uha do Vianna. They are destined for use in the Brazilian Army Aviation School.—Revista de Publicaciones Navales, July-Sept., 1939.

It has been confirmed that the British Government has returned the greater part of a sum paid by the Brazilian Government for the construction of 6 destroyers in the British yards, because of the termination of pre-war contracts at the war’s inception. It is understood that 3 of these new ships will be immediately incorporated in the British Fleet. One of these, the Javary, has the same name as a destroyer which was similarly built prior to the World War for the Brazilian Navy but commissioned by the British Navy after being rechristened the Hardy. Restitution of its cost was similarly made to Brazil.—Revista de Publicaciones Navales, July-Sept., 1939.

Four mine layers constructed at the navy yard on the Island of Cobras were launched during the latter part of September and October for the Brazilian Navy.—Revista de Publicaciones Navales, July-Sept., 1939.

Chile

A construction order for 2 cruisers has been placed with Italian yards. Payment for these will be made in copper nitrate—Revista de Publicaciones Navales, July-Sept., 1939.

Colombia

The Scadta Aviation Company opened a new airdrome in the airport of Cartagena, fitted with modern equipment and two runways perpendicular to each other which are considered among the best on the South American Continent.—Revista de Publicaciones Navales, July-Sept., 1939.

The Minister of War has ordered that private and national airports, airdromes, and landing fields be placed under military surveillance. Necessary instructions will be promulgated to companies and individuals. The Minister of War will designate an official co-pilot to accompany all private planes that make flights over the nation. —Revista de Publicaciones Navales, July-Sept., 1939.

Denmark

For her maritime interests during the hostilities, Denmark has just named a naval attaché to each of the belligerents, just as was done during the World War.—Le Yacht, February, 1939.

On December 18 the Danish naval authorities sent out a warning to fishing vessels not to use their radio transmitters in the vicinity of mine fields. From recent experiences it is believed that radio transmissions are able to induce electric currents of sufficient strength to detonate mines. Several times since the outbreak of war fishing vessels have been endangered by exploding mines, but so far there have been no casualties.—Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjtfvesen, January.

Ireland

The Eire Government has just signed a contract with a Southampton firm for a considerable number of motorboats of the “mosquito” class for the sum of 250,000 pounds sterling. These small torpedo craft will be of the latest type with all recent modifications which make sharp turns practicable at full speed; they will make more than 50 knots.—Le Yacht, February, 1939.

Lithuania

The duty-free zone in the port of Memel, promised Lithuania in the May, 1939, agreement with Germany when the territory was ceded, has been opened recently.—Journal de la Marine Marchande, February, 1939.

Netherlands

Of the 6 submarine chasers recently ordered by the Dutch Navy 3 will be built by the Neder-landsche Dok Maatschapij N. V. of Amsterdam, and 3 by J. & K. Smit’s Scheepwerven of Kinder-dijk. These vessels are to have steam turbines manufactured by the N. V. Maschinefabriek Gebruder Stork of Hengelo.

The submarine 0-22 was launched in January at the yards of the De Schelde firm in Flessingue. The armament will consist of one 3.5-in. gun, two 1.6-in. A.A. guns, 1 machine gun, and eight 21-in. torpedo tubes—4 in the bow, 2 in the stern, and 2 movable. She will carry a 38-man crew. The 7 ships of this series were laid down under the class letter K, corresponding to units reserved for duty in the Home Fleet. “O” was the class letter for colonial flotillas but this distinction seems to have been abandoned.

Construction is now being started at the yards of the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschapij in Amsterdam of ways which will permit the building of the largest type vessels, liners, or battleships.—Le Yacht, February.

The Netherlands Government has placed orders in Germany for paravanes to be used by merchant vessels. Orders will similarly be placed with Great Britain, France, and Italy.—Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjølvesen, January.

The Government of the Netherlands East Indies has decided to build 2 mine layers destined to augment its Navy. These ships will have a length of about 279 ft. and a displacement of 2,200 tons. The engines are to be capable of developing 4,000 to 5,000 hp. and to produce a speed of around 18 knots. It is expected that they will be completed in a year and a half.—Journal de la Marine Marchande, February, 1939.

Den Helder, The Netherlands, Marchó (AP). —Three men were trapped and 27 others made a dramatic escape today from the 483-ton Dutch submarine O-ll when she was rammed and sunk by a Dutch tugboat in the Nieuwe Diep, Dutch naval harbor.

Two sergeants and cook were trapped in the vessel, which lay nose down in 20 ft. of water with her stern above the surface.. No signals were heard from them but, on a slight possibility that they might be safe in a watertight torpedo chamber, derricks were ordered from Amsterdam for further rescue attempts.

Leaving the harbor with two other submarines for exercises to be filmed in a motion picture of mobilization activities, the submarine, with hatches open, was rammed as she cruised on the surface. Lieut. Comdr. Goossens, a motion picture operator and 13 crew members were on deck. They quickly closed the hatches before the vessel sank, and swam to safety.

The ship’s oil tanks were emptied, and half an hour later the submarine’s conning tower emerged. Gossens scrambled aboard from a rowboat and, with assistance from inside, opened a hatch. All but three of the imprisoned men escaped and were removed to a hospital.—New York Herald Tribune, March 7.

Norway

The Norwegian Admiralty has just begun a methodical series of tests in the model basin with a view to studying the probabilities of collisions with drifting mines. It has been established that, in a calm sea, the mines were washed aside by the bow wave as long as they did not originally lie within a distance of less than 5 yards. In a choppy sea, the results are irregular, the waves sometimes discarding the mine and sometimes sucking it in against the hull. The model used represented a mixed cargo vessel 295 ft. long, 46 ft. beam and 18 ft. draft.—Le Yacht, February.

Spain

After several years of inactivity, Spanish naval construction is beginning to revive. In 1938 in Santander the firm of Corcho Nijos built 2 small motored tankers for the Spanish Navy. These ships, of 500 tons capacity each, are 138 ft. long, 25 ft. abeam, and are driven by 300-hp. Diesels which give them a speed of 9 knots.— Journal de la Marine Marchande, February 8.

Sweden

A commission has been appointed for the Purpose of determining a means for democratizing the requirements for officer careers in the military services.—Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjøfvesen, January.

AVIATION

British Aces in the Making

Aviation, March.—On airfields and in training schools throughout Canada the British Empire has started on the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, by which 25,000 pilots, air gunners, and air observers will be turned out every year for at least 3 years and if necessary for a longer period should the war last beyond that time. From coast to coast young Canadians are being rushed through a 26- week course which turns them from civilians to members of bomber and fighter airplane crews.

Since the outbreak of war plans which have been nurtured on paper for the past year have matured into actuality. Air missions from Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada have met at Ottawa and signed agreements. The vast complicated machinery to get the largest air training scheme in history into operation has been set up, and now as the snow leaves most of Canada’s airfields the first recruits have started their training.

The training of 25,000 fighting airmen in the Dominion, with the bulk of them being recruited in Canada, is considered the Dominion’s most important, though not only, military contribution in this war. Canadians think it only fitting that Canada should have been picked for the task since they contributed about one-third of the airmen who flew in the British forces in the first World War. From strategic angles Canada was chosen because of its vast interior inaccessibility to European bombers, making possible air training in the greatest security.

The British Commonwealth Training Plan has not stopped air training in Great Britain, Australia, or New Zealand. In each of these countries training continues, trainees only going to Canada to complete their advanced instruction before qualifying for actual combat work in any section of the British Empire or any war zone where they may be needed. The Empire plans to be as powerful in the air as it is on the sea.

Training is not confined to any one section of Canada, but from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with the schools and fields being concentrated near the larger cities. With most aircraft factories and maintenance shops situated in Quebec and Ontario, with Canada’s West Point of the air at Trenton, Ontario, most of the schools will be located in eastern Canada. Provincial and municipal governments have turned over vast technical schools and institutional buildings to the Dominion Government for use as air training schools.

There is no conscription in Canada. The Royal Canadian Air Force has had a waiting list since before the outbreak of war. Qualifications are high, though they have been relaxed somewhat from peacetime standards. Now public school graduation is sufficient educational qualification for entrance to the air force, with high school or college graduation required for a flying berth in the R.C.A.F.

Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan few officers will be graduated, though a number will be selected for commissions on graduation. All trainees will start as aircraftsmen, class two, the equivalent of an army private, with pay of $1.30 a day. On completion of their training they will be ranked as noncommissioned officers, with pilots and observers being ranked as sergeants at $2.20 a day.

The first training is a ground course to prepare the recruits for flying and for air force life in general. This is given in 3 large schools, takes 4 weeks, after which a selection is made of those who are to be trained as pilots, gunners, or observers. Pilots are then sent to one or other of Canada’s 22 light airplane clubs for an 8-week elementary flying schooling. After 8 hours of dual flying instruction, the recruit is forced to demonstrate his ability and to indicate whether he has developed the required air sense to warrant further training. On completion of 20 hours of dual and solo flying, the recruit is expected to show a higher degree of skill in his tests. The final examination comes after 50 hours in the air and includes medium and steep turns, forced landings, sideslipping, and aerobatics. From there the recruit goes to the intermediate and advanced training schools.

For the next 14 weeks the pilots receive training in intermediate and advanced flying, bombing, and fighting, at one or other of 16 service flying schools. During this period trainees from other Empire countries join the Canadian airmen at their training schools.

Air observers receive a 12-week course at 10 air observer training schools, where they are taught navigation, reconnaissance, and photography. On graduation they go for 6 weeks to one of 10 schools where they are taught bombing and gunnery in theory and practice. The air observers are ready for the battle zones after another 4 weeks of advanced navigation taught at 2 air navigation schools.

To train these fighting airmen Canada is busy developing an army of 40,000 officers and men. It is officially estimated that when the training scheme is in full working order it will need 2,700 officers, airmen and 6,000 civilians for instruction and maintenance. Latest official figures for the strength of the Royal Canadian Air Force show 1,500 officers and 15,000 men. Many instructors in advanced training arrived in Canada from Great Britain early this year. In all 67 training schools are in use for the plan, and when Premier Mackenzie King announced the plan in December he stated that in addition to present air force, flying club and government-owned Trans-Canada Airlines fields available, 60 more airfields, still to be built, would be needed. Barracks have been and are being built to house the thousands of trainees.

The total cost is officially estimated for the 3-year period under which the plan operates, till March 31, 1943, at $600,000,000. Canada’s share is to be $350,000,000. Great Britain will supply most of the airplanes, New Zealand and Australia will contribute cash and men.

Six types of aircraft have been designated for use at the training schools to standardize as much as possible the training. Elementary training is being done in Fleet Trainers and de Havilland Tiger Moths. At the intermediate training schools Avro Ansons and North American Harvard trainers are being used. Bombing and gunnery schools are using Fairey Battle aircraft. At wireless schools the Noorduyn Norseman is standard. Early in January it was officially announced that 1,282 training aircraft were being built in Canada, that 870 Fairey Battle 2-seat medium bombers were to be shipped to Canada from Great Britain, that 1,622 Avro Anson airframes were being shipped to Canada from Great Britain for assembly in the Dominion where wings are also being built, that North American Harvard training planes were to be manufactured in Canada as well as bought in the United States. The Noorduyn Norseman is being made in Canada.

The Fleet Trainer, de Havilland Tiger Moth, and North American Harvard are 2-seater single engine light training planes. The Avro Anson is a twin-engined coastal reconnaissance monoplane carrying a crew of 3 to man 5 positions, the navigator in action becoming the bomb-aimer in the nose of the plane, and the wireless officer manning a Lewis gun in a revolving rear turret. The Fairey Battle is a 2-seat medium bomber with a rear gunner’s hinged transparent station from which is permitted free and sheltered use of the rear gun. The Noorduyn Norseman is a single-engined transport monoplane which can seat in addition to a crew of 3, 5, or 6 students in radio communication, or can be used as a troop ship carrying 9 men with full equipment. “The undertaking is one of great magnitude,” to quote Premier W. L. M. King, when he announced the training plan on December 18, 1939. “It will establish Canada as one of the greatest air training centers in the world.”

Military Development

The Aeroplane, February 16.—Air tactics and air strategy are in the melting pot as a result of a war which so far has followed no accepted course of action.

The war has upset several preconceived and deep-rooted ideas. The fighter has proved its superiority over the bomber— particularly the lone bomber-—when it can get within range. But more times than not, in the overcast skies of the winter, the bombers of both sides have been able to escape by flying blind. Self-sealing fuel tanks and armored seats for the crews have saved many reconnaissance-bombers, even when hit by fire from attacking fighters. On other occasions indifferent aim has resulted in the wastage of all the ammunition by both sides without decisive result. Modern speeds of fire are such that a fighter will shoot away all its bullets in a total period of firing of less a minute. Short bursts of a few seconds at a time soon add up and finish the ammunition carried.

That is one of the pitfalls in the escorting of bombers by single-seat fighters. They may turn to beat off an attack and then find that they have used all their ammunition, lost the formation they were escorting, and so be miles inside enemy territory unarmed and alone.

All these factors point in one direction —towards the bigger fighter which has more guns, more ammunition for each of them, and greater range.

Armaments of 8 machine guns in a single-seat fighter have shown themselves to be very effective—more effective than a single cannon and a smaller number of machine guns. But obviously eight machine guns would not have the fire-power of 8 cannon, even though the rate of fire of each cannon is much less. So, because economy and efficiency in war in any sphere are opposite extremes, the trend of fighters probably bears first towards airplanes armed with still greater numbers of machine guns and then logically towards fighters armed with multi-cannon. Such airplanes must be very different from the standard fighter of today—just as the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire are far removed from the Sopwith Camel and the S.E.5 of the last war. The weight of the ammunition for batteries of cannon will itself make necessary a twin-motor layout. Thus the increasing defensive power and speed of the bomber may lead to the evolution of fighters which would today be considered in the bomber category of weight.

Just as the fast bomber may lead to the heavy fighter, so may the heavy fighter influence the design of the bomber, whose chief defense must lie in speed and tight formations.

The policy behind the big bomber must be wrong, except for indiscriminate bombing at night, which is a bad policy anyway. The chief argument on behalf of the big 4-motor bomber is that the demands of long range and large bomb loads together force up the loaded weight. That may be, but there are several methods of assisted take-off, notably refuelling in the air, whereby a small, fast, heavily loaded bomber can be given range as well as bomb load and a much higher speed at the same time.

A big bomber, of the type which is being developed in America and elsewhere, would be a wonderful target for heavily armed long-range fighters. Even though the bomber may fly at 300 m.p.h. and be covered with gun turrets and keep in tight formation, the bigger the bomber the better the target and the more vulnerable it must be from the ground and from the air.

A small bomber carrying a big load at high speed, with the aid of an assisted take-off, would not be nearly so vulnerable, even though comparatively lightly armed. Such an airplane might be designed to cruise at 400 m.p.h. and would be very difficult to catch and kill.

So evolution goes on. The present war, if it lasts long enough, may bring us big fighters and little bombers. Whatever is evolved by the war will be uneconomic, so that after the war we shall have to begin all over again to design for civil needs. Ten years were needed after the last war to stop the building of military designs converted for commercial use and to set free once more original thought for civil design unshackled by military ties.

This vast training scheme in process of formation will leave personnel thoroughly imbued with the spirit of flying. The demand for Air Transport will be there. But unless we change our policy over here and continue the development of solely commercial designs, or unless we keep the Americans so busy building military airplanes for us that they have no time to go on with civil work themselves, we shall find that the Americans have the answer to every demand of the new world of commercial flying. They will have experience in it which they will not be willing to sell back, to us.

Although the war in the air has hardly begun, the time is not too early to look to that war in the air on commercial routes which will follow. And the further our military designs are developed the less use they will be for anything but the folly of war.

The Case for Gliding

The Aeroplane, February 16.—Until recently the controversy about the usefulness of gliding seemed to have flapped itself to a standstill. The Philistines admitted that if you liked that kind of thing it was good fun and the enthusiasts, having persuaded the government that motorless flying was worth encouraging with a small subsidy, were content to get on with the business of gliding.

Now, because gliding has been included in the ban on civil flying, for the present, its value and importance must be established to the satisfaction of the powers that be—and quickly, if the work of the past 10 years is not to be wasted and a present opportunity lost. This is no light task—not because gliding hasn’t a strong case, but rather because of the necessity of overcoming the inertia and perhaps natural prejudice, caused by lack of knowledge of the subject in the higher aeronautical circles.

The problem would be simplified if representatives of the gliding movement could place their views and suggestions before, say, a member of the Air Council who also possessed a practical and complete knowledge of the development of gliding here and abroad during the past few years. But there is no such person. The gliding movement must face the need of converting the Air Ministry pretty well ab initio to belief in the value of its continued activity.

The case for gliding rests broadly on three main claims:

(1) To be historical for a moment, gliding has been successfully got at on several occasions during the past 40 years, by what Joe Stalin would call “Diversionists.” Although, as a result, the development of pure gliding was at least twice set back a number of years, examples of its usefulness were thereby provided.

The first occasion was when the Wright brothers installed an engine in their glider and made the first airplane in 1903. The second was in 1922. An attempt to introduce gliding into this country (the Itford Meeting) resulted in more internal-combustion engines being trotted out and the first real interest being shown in the light sporting airplane—which soon became not-so-light.

Fortunately the later efforts of the pop-bottle diversionists which followed the réintroduction of gliding into this country n 1929-30 proved unavailing. Since then a British gliding movement has grown up only a few years behind that of Germany in development, but on a much smaller scale.

Germany has devoted an enormous amount of money and energy to the development of gliding and is said to be continuing this since the outbreak of war. If this is so there must be a good reason. In any case, great use has been made of gliding in that country to further research in aerodynamics and constructional methods. New ideas are incorporated in gliders and sail planes and thoroughly tried out. Incidentally, a good many experiments with such types as tailless machines and even flapping-wing machines have been done in this way. Some ideas are not successful, but one can reasonably assume that something is learned from both successes and failures.

Features of design and construction which had become common practice in high-efficiency sail planes did not come into anything like general use for the best civil or military types of airplane until years later. Examples of this are cantilever wings of high aspect-ratio, mid-wings, the disappearance of external rigging wires, monospars and stressed-skin construction. In a rather different sphere the development of a sensitive statoscope also owes a good deal to gliding.

Then there is the contribution gliding has made to the science of meteorology. If we agree that we can’t learn too much about this subject, then obviously many things can be more readily learned about the behavior and structure of the air by flying through it in a sail plane than by being dragged through it in an airplane or sitting in a laboratory.

Without detailing, the extensive German investigations, a great deal has been learnt in this country during the past few years, particularly in the course of advanced cloud flying, but also during ordinary club soaring flights. Gliding people, at least, know that although in certain aspects they have already progressed in practical experiment beyond the theorizing of the textbooks, there is apparently unlimited scope for further useful work in this direction.

(2) This ground must be trodden very warily, for the claim is that most airplane pilots could be better pilots after a course of advanced gliding and soaring.

A certain type of pilot invariably seems to be moved to indignation by this suggestion and, generally, the fewer flying hours he has the more vociferous his indignation. Gliding clubs have become familiar with this type of power pilot—usually an excellent fellow in other ways—who joins the club or attends a course to “have a crack” at gliding and is quite convinced that it can teach him nothing about piloting. He listens with an impatient half-ear to the advice of his instructor and perhaps flies tolerably well with increasing confidence, until one day he finds himself sitting on the ground just outside the aerodrome boundary picking pieces of sailplane out of his person. This is generally because he has not assimilated the useful discipline of one approach for landing, the effect of stalling near the ground when there is no throttle to lean on; or because he did not know that the down-draught on the lee side of a hill varies in strength and position according to half a dozen variable factors.

On the other hand, a number of experienced civil and service pilots have taken up gliding. The majority of them have not only approached the business in an efficient and serious manner, but readily agree that their advanced gliding experience helps them as airplane pilots. An interesting point here is that certain Continental air lines insist on their pilots having had experience in gliding.

(3) This part of the case for gliding is perhaps the most obvious of all. There can be no better preliminary training for potential airplane pilots than a course of elementary gliding. The time required for dual airplane instruction can be materially lessened because the pupil will have developed already the instinct for correct directional movement of the flying controls. Also he will be used to the feeling of being in the air in sole charge of an airplane. He will also have acquired a thorough grounding in many of the associated subjects which go to make up the quality of airmanship.

Another advantage which is equally important, although insufficiently recognized, has been aptly described by Mr. Dudley Hiscox in a recent letter to the press. This is the elimination of those pupils who, though physically fit, are temperamentally unsuited to become pilots.

In addition, the value of giving thousands of youths a useful and practical outlet for their enthusiasm for flying cannot be over-estimated. The co-operation between the Air Defence Cadet Corps and the gliding movement last year was the first experiment in this direction and was an immediate success.

Before the scheme was suspended on the outbreak of the war a total of about 600 cadets had received gliding instruction. Germany has given such courses to over 100,000 of the younger generation and under a régime which long ago expressed a preference for guns rather than butter one may assume that this money is not being spent solely to make the youth of Germany happy.

MERCHANT MARINE

Admiralty Takes Over

The Engineer, February 9.—Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, January 31, the Prime Minister announced that H. M. Government had decided that the Admiralty shall become responsible for merchant shipbuilding and repairs as from Thursday, February 1, 1940. The arrangement adopted was similar to that, he said, which was adopted in the latter part of the war of 1914-18. It was sought to secure from this change in organization the advantages of centralizing the use of all the resources available for shipbuilding, both in materials and labor, and of introducing greater elasticity into the allotments of capacity to naval and mercantile requirements. The Admiralty, Mr. Chamberlain stated, will assume the responsibility for ensuring the necessary production of mercantile shipping, as well as that of meeting the requirements of the Navy, it being understood that, as regards the types of merchant ships to be built, the Admiralty will meet the requirements of the Ministry of Shipping after consultation with representatives of shipowners. Sir James Lithgow, Bt., Mr. Chamberlain announced, has been appointed to the Board of Admiralty as Controller of Merchant Shipbuilding and Repairs, and Sir Amos Ayre, who is at present Director of the Merchant Shipbuilding and Repairs Division of the Ministry of Shipping, has become Director of Merchant Shipbuilding and Repairs at the Admiralty. In answer to a question, Mr. Chamberlain added that the Admiralty would be responsible for the building of the ships, and that the ships when built would be the property of the government. In reply to further questions, as to Sir James Lith- gow’s appointment, Mr. Chamberlain stated that he was considered by the government to be the most fitting and best qualified for the position to which he has been appointed. It is understood that Sir James will serve without salary. Few men have such a close relation with the shipbuilding, steel, and engineering industries, particularly those of West Scotland. Sir James is the chairman of Lith-gows, Ltd., William Hamilton, Ltd., William Beardmore and Co., Ltd., David Rowan and Co., Ltd., the Steel Company of Scotland, Ltd., and National Shipbuilders Security, Ltd., and he is a director of Colvilles, Ltd., the Ayrshire Dockyard Co., Ltd., James Dunlop and Co., Ltd., Nimmo and Dunlop, Ltd., and other firms including the Scottish Advisory Board of Credit for Industry, Ltd.

New Army Transport

New York Herald Tribune, March 3.— The American Legion, third former Munson Steamship liner taken over by the United States Army during the last year for use in its transport services from New York to posts in the Caribbean and on the Pacific coast, sailed yesterday from the Army’s port of embarkation at Fifty-eighth Street, Brooklyn, for her first trip in government service. Under the command of Capt. Emanuel J. Neason, formerly master of the Army’s freighter Ludington, the 13,736-ton transport carried 620 soldiers and 104 first and second class passengers bound for Panama and Puerto Rico via Charleston, S. C.

The American Legion, converted at the Brooklyn plant of the Atlantic Basin Iron Works at a cost of $225,000 follows her sister-ships, the Pan America and Western World, on transport duty. The Pan America is now operating as the Hunter Liggett and the Western World has been renamed Leonard Wood. Following conversion here they entered the Army’s service last April and June, respectively.

Conversion work on the American Legion included the installation of troop berthings for 720 enlisted men, as well as the installation of ventilating facilities, heating, lighting, toilets, washrooms, recreation quarters, troop mess room, and galley.

In order to carry out the conversion work, a number of bulkheads, longitudinal and transverse, had to be relocated. Watertight doors and all new fixtures and fittings were provided for the new quarters. Telephones also were installed and additional lifeboats and mechanical davits supplied.

The vessel’s hull also was cleaned and the ship was repainted white to conform with the transport service colors.

The three taken over by the Army were among four formerly operated by the Munson Line to the east coast of South America. The ships were taken over by the United States Maritime Commission, however, under foreclosure proceedings and then turned over to the Army. The fourth ship, the Southern Cross, has been taken over by the United States Navy for use as a transport under the name of Wharton.

Additional changes in the American Legion’s interior construction will be made during the vessel’s first few trips, it was explained yesterday by Col. James H. Laubach, superintendent of the Army Transport Service here. The ship, he said, also is carrying a capacity cargo of 4,200 tons and will embark about 100 additional soldiers at Charleston, which will bring the ship’s passenger list to capacity.

Various Notes

The Journal of Commerce, December 12, quotes the following: The Danish House of Representatives has approved of a law whereby the total maximum coverage on any single vessels is increased from $1,400,000 to $2,100,000. The Secretary of Commerce has explained that since the war has increased the value of ships, it is necessary to provide additional compensation to shipowners so that they may eventually replace ships lost.

The Scandinavian Shipping Gazette of December 6, states that the Laurizten Shipping Co. of Copenhagen, proposes to renew its entire fleet as soon as hostilities cease. The building program consists of five 2,900-ton, ten 3,400-ton, and five 4,500-ton motorships, all to be constructed in the National Shipyards.—Rivista Marittima, February, 1940.

According to the Scandinavian Shipping Gazette of December, the Maritime Federation and Chamber of Navigation have protested to the government in regard to the slump in maritime traffic at Antwerp. During the months September, October, and November, 1939, 981 ships carried a total of 1,877,024 tons. This represented a reduction of 69.6 per cent as compared with tonnage carried during the same period in 1938 This slump is due mainly to the restrictions brought about by the Anglo-French blockade of German exports. During the first 9 months of 1939, Germany exported about 2,000,000 tons and imported about 1,000,000 tons through the port of Antwerp. This tonnage represented 55.40 per cent and 37.26 per cent, respectively, of the total traffic of that port. German products shipped through Antwerp consisted mainly of coal, iron, and cement. The Belgians have complained about the unduly long stopovers at the control station at the Downs. Among other things, the French and British have ruled illegal the documents which were previously certified by their own consulates at Antwerp.

The Germans also are causing trouble for Belgian shipowners by rerouting Belgian ships coming from Scandinavian ports alleging that these ships carry wood which eventually gets into British or French hands. The government has intervened for the importers, assuring the Germans that the exportation of wood is forbidden.— Rivista Marittima, February, 1940.

Swedish owners of small sailing vessels with auxiliary engines are complaining about the competition offered by similar Danish, Dutch, and German ships. The Swedes must pay a much higher price for their fuel than do their competitors. Swedish seamen have refused to go to sea without bonuses and life insurance. The shipowners have asked the government for financial aid in paying part of the war risk insurance and additional cost of fuel.—Rivista Marittima, February, 1940.

MISCELLANEOUS

Battleship Situation

Le Yacht, February.—According to information published in neutral countries bordering Germany, the firm of Blohm and Voss of Hamburg may have launched the third huge battleship for the German Navy, which was started last July. If this news be true, the construction of this vessel was pushed much more actively than that of the two others, thé Bismarck and the Tirpitz, which, begun in 1936 and 1937, were launched one in February, the other in April of last year. It is true that she may have been put in the water in a less advanced stage of completion. In any event, it seems practically impossible for her to be commissioned this year, as has been rumored; it would have to outstrip the record for large ship construction made when the Renown was finished in 18 months during the last war, and that would be all the more difficult since this vessel is not only larger but more complicated. It is probable that the Bismarck and the Tirpitz will be in fighting condition about the middle of 1940.

This great increase in fighting power which is to be afforded the German Fleet will be compensated for by expected commissionings in the British and French navies.

The first 35,000-ton British battleships, King George V and Prince of Wales, launched one in February and the other m May, 1939, i.e., about the same time as the Bismarck and the Tirpitz, will certainly be ready by the time the two German craft are, and probably sooner if one takes into account the state of completion at the time of launching and the indispensable training of the crews for which task Britain is quite evidently much better prepared. The Duke of York, Jellicoe, and Beatty, launched in September and December of last year, will soon follow them.

In France, the Richelieu, begun at the end of 1935 and launched in January, 1939, is being completed at Brest and there work is progressing actively on the Jean Bart as well, which is to follow her after a few months’ interval. During the discussion of appropriations, at the end of December, Mr. Daladier emphasized in Parliament the importance which the government attaches to sea power and of which battleships are the backbone. “We must not let ourselves be outdistanced at sea,” said he, “and we have decided to hasten in every possible manner all construction, especially that of the 35,000- ton battleships, which, I hope, will assure to France and Britain the continued mastery of the sea which they have been enjoying for the past 4 months.”

Thus, the commissioning of the first 2 German battleships will occur at the same time as that of 5 or 6 of the same tonnage for Britain and France.

These ships, and those of the great neutral navies, have been built to solve the same problem, consisting of concentrating within the same limits of tonnage a powerful offensive armament, protection, and mobility, none of them being pushed to their ultimate maximum as to do so would be impossible, but being mutually compromised so as to obtain from the whole the best features from an all-round naval standpoint. Many different answers have been the result and each represents the opinion of an Admiralty.

As main battery, the French and German battleships each have eight 15-in. guns, arranged in 2 turrets in the former and 4 in the latter. The British ships will carry ten 14-in. guns. Italian battleships are to be armed with nine 15-in. guns and those of the United States nine 16-in.

For secondary battery, the French and British ships have double purpose guns for firing at planes or surface vessels: sixteen 5.2-in. guns in King George V, fifteen 6-in. in Richelieu. In other navies, the anti-aircraft battery is a separate unit: in the Italian, twelve 6-in. for surface targets, twelve 3.5-in for A.A., in the German, twelve 6-in. and ten 4.2-in.; in the American, twenty 5-in. of which 12 are A.A.

As to speed, provisions are for 30 knots at least, in the Italian and French battleships, 28 for the English, 27 for the Americans and the Germans.

No official figures are available on the armor of these various ships, but it is evident from the foregoing that in Germany and the United States speed has been sacrificed for the most part, whereas in Italy, on the contrary, it has been augmented probably at least at the expense of reserve buoyancy. As for the French armor, the placing of the main battery in quadruple turrets afforded the additional weight saving necessary to provide proper protection.

None of the solutions adopted are perfect since all are the result of a compromise imposed by the tonnage limitation. Now, Japan, no longer wishing to conform to the terms of the Treaty of London, has commenced some battleships about which little is known, but which, according to the publication Flottes de Combat, which is just off the press, will have a displacement of about 43,000 tons. The United States has countered by starting 2 of 45,000, Britain 2 of 40,000 tons, and according to the latest rumor the third German vessel is of 41,000.

In constructing this new type, each power has sought to strengthen the characteristics which she had partially sacrificed in those of 35,000 tons. The Lion and the Temeraire, British, will be armed with nine 16-in. guns and their speed will be greater than 29 knots; the Iowa and Montana, American, will have twelve 16in. and will make 33 knots. It is reported that the Japanese ships under construction will have even larger guns up to 18 in. The tonnage race having begun, it is impossible to predict where it will end.

Mystery of the Magnetic Mine

Scientific American, March, 1940, by C. E. Milbury.—By this time, British naval authorities may or may not have solved the mystery of the so-called magnetic mine. Our own Navy is doubtless cognizant of its general mechanical characteristics. Whether or not its secret has been solved does not alter the fact that nations readily concede it to be one of the most formidable and diabolic instruments thus far to make its debut in modern warfare. It is practically immune from attack. It renders the convoy system a true hazard instead of a means of safety. It attacks the vulnerable bottoms of even the heaviest of armed battle cruisers. Its presence cannot be effectively detected by any known device. The Burney or paravane method of mine sweeping is helpless against it. Several mines might strike the same target, insuring immediate sinking with heavy loss of life. It is light enough to be carried by planes.

It is easy to conceive the possibility of bottling up navies with mines of this type. Sinkings that are quick and certain are the specialty of this improved weapon; and unless effective ways and means are developed to combat its menace, the greatest navies in the world are at the mercy of the unseen, undetectable, and unattackable.

The mystery mines are of two types:

(1) the inert, shallow-water type; and (2) the mobile, deep-water type.

The mystery mine is comparatively light in weight since it requires no cables or anchors; this fact makes sowing by aircraft a practical possibility. Contrary to speculation, the present mine requires no parachute, but may be dropped into the sea from a height of 200 ft., without damaging its mechanism or without detonation. The detonator does not become “alive” until the mine has been submerged and surrounding water pressure actuates a spring-loaded hydrostatic trigger which sets the detonation circuit by piercing the seal on a small tube of mercury. This mercury fills a cavity containing the contact points of the detonation circuit.

One plane may carry a dozen magnetic mines and drop them as it flies low over the ocean shipping lanes of an enemy country. If the cargo is composed of deepwater mines, it will drop them from a height of from 100 to 200 ft. directly into the sea, and they will immediately sink to the bottom at depths up to 400 ft.

The mine has three distinct compartments within a casing of nonmagnetic metal. The upper one contains a battery, a magnetic device, or grid, of the compass- needle type, several electrical circuits, and two hydrostatic diaphragms that work on opposite principles. The middle section contains the explosive with its detonation caps. The lower section contains an air flask that gives the mine its accelerated rising power after displacing its ballast water. Vent valves near the top of this compartment are held open by light springs; pistons close these valves when compressed air reaches them through small copper pipes connected with the air flask. At the bottom of the mine there is an opening through which sea water will enter when the mine strikes the water, the air being expelled through the open vents. The extreme upper compartment is connected to the lower or air compartment by a tube, the lower extremity of which is firmly screwed into the neck of the air flask, with its spring trigger-valve and its fuse seal.

The mine’s bottom is weighted for stability and the mine rights itself and sinks tail first. The mine descends rapidly toward the bottom, and, at a depth of 70 ft., a diaphragm in the side of the mine near the top, set to operate at an external pressure of 35 lb., moves inward. As it does so, it pushes a tiny piston which forces the seal from a small metal tube of mercury. The mercury makes a connection between two electrical contacts. This same operation also operates the solenoid and releases the brake on the magnet grid. Thus the mobile and detonation circuits are set, but not completely so, for another hydrostatic valve, pushed inward by water pressure, keeps open the final detonation circuit.

The mine finally reaches bottom and sea floor ooze closes around it. A ship approaches, and, at a distance of half a mile, causes the magnet grid to waver slightly. As the ship approaches nearer, the grid slowly deflects upward, finally pointing to an angle of 65 degrees. Things begin to happen. At this angle of deflection, the magnet grid makes a light electrical contact which, in turn, operates the fuse seal that restrains a spring-loaded valve of the air flask. The fuse melts, permitting the air valve to open; the blast of air thus released rapidly displaces the water ballast from the lower compartment through the hole at the bottom of mine, the air vents having been closed by action of their pistons. The force of the water-and-air jet at the mine’s bottom breaks the mud suction and the mine rises rapidly due to increased buoyancy and the jet’s push.

Detonation occurs automatically when the mine reaches a level of 50 ft. below the surface. This is caused by the outward bulging of the second hydrostatic switch which has been held in the open position by hydrostatic pressure. When that pressure is sufficiently released (at the 50 ft. level), the switch closes the detonation circuit, and the explosion occurs.

The possible elaborations that may be made in the way of further refining this mine are without possible limit and are to be gaged only by the cost of construction. The mine as now used positively does not follow a vessel by magnetic attraction, nor does not destroy by impact, its destructive action being like that of a depth bomb.

The inert mine, which is laid in channels and harbor entrances, is similar to the mobile mine, without the compressed air system and hydrostatic detonator. Being lighter, it may be more easily handled by plane. The inert mine creates all of its havoc without leaving its mud or sand bed, but the magnet in this case is adjusted to detonate at a deflection of 90 degrees. This insures its detonation only when a vessel is about to pass directly over it.

There will arise an important problem, after peace has been signed, as to how the menace of these mines will be removed. They cannot safely be swept by wire dragging, for the dragging vessels would be destroyed. Even wooden vessels have some machinery that is magnetic and would therefore actuate the mines. Sailing vessels might be used with some effect; but perhaps the safest, most effective method would be to drop barrages of small depth bombs from airplanes. The best solution would be to construct such mines so that the grid would be disintegrated by electrolysis after a reasonable time.

Countering the Magnetic Mine

The Engineer, March 15, 1940.—By a brilliant invention the menace of the magnetic mine appears to have been countered. Whilst many people were busy on the discovery of means for destroying such mines, it is reported that officers of one of His Majesty’s Naval Establishments were developing a device which would render ships immune from attack; in other words, a device which would stop a ship from actuating the magnetic system by which the mine is fired. With the help of scientists the invention was perfected and has already been fitted to several ships, the Queen Elizabeth amongst them. The apparatus is entitled the “degaussing girdle.” We need not remind our readers that the gauss is the c.g.s. electro-magnetic unit of flux density. Bearing this in mind and remembering that the magnetic trigger of the mine is operated by the disturbance of the earth’s magnetic field caused by the presence of a magnetic body like a steel ship—see The Engineer, February 2—it is not difficult to arrive at the principle employed in the invention. The “girdle” itself is a circuit of insulated wire passing round the ship from stem to stern above the water line. We understand that many ships of all sizes have already been fitted. They appear to be immune and one of the officers responsible for the invention is reported to have said that he was prepared himself to take any properly degaussed ship over any number of magnetic mines. We may assume that the Admiralty is satisfied that such a claim is justified, for equipment has been under preparation for some time. The problem of destroying the mines still remains, but it, as Mr. Chruchill said recently, is making hopeful progress. It is of interest to recall that the paravane was produced during the Four Years’ War to counter the anchored mine; now British inventors have found an antidote for a more insidious weapon.