Evening Star Newspaper, September 14, 1930, Page 93

i THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SEPTEMBER 14, 1930. The CATCH in Cruiser Disarmamen Howw a New Navy-Building Race May De-* velop, in Spite of the London Limitations of Arms Conference, All Because Germany Is Spending Twenty Million Dollars on Each of Her New Armored Ships, Making T hem Twice as Strong as Other Nations’ Cruisers Which Have Hereiofore Cost Only Ten Million. BY FRANK THONE. ‘HEN the Senate finally approved the London treaty for the limita- tion of naval armaments the av- erage citizen heaved a sigh of relief. % ¥or one thing, most people were pretty tired of hearing long-winded arguments over t2chni- cal matters they didn't understand particularly well—and which they rather suspected most of the honorable Senators didn’t undersiand par- ticulariy well eithcr. But of more definite and practical impor- tance is the impression that this comprehensive limitation of tonnags in all classes of ®ships will at least bring relief to the taxpayer, who has to foot the bills. For after the Navy has built up to the limits allowed in cruisers and cut down in battleships and destroyers tax- payers have a right to expect some degree of peace to their pocketbooks. There is, of course, the difficult “escalator” clause, which permits renewed British building in case the Italo-French rivalry produces too many new warships on the Continent. This would automatically bring the United States and Japan into the picture, and tonnage com- petition wou}d be on again. But everybody is hoping (and'the bope is so strong as to amount to an expectation) that Il Duce and the French government will be content to say it with words, and that the limits now agreed upon represent real maxima in tons to be floated, and therefore in dollars to be sunk. But over this fair hope of relief from the burdens of great naval armament there hangs a cloud. Nations may stop building compet- itively so far as numbers and tonnage of ships are concerned, but what will that avail if there is substituted for competition in quantity an even more intense competition in quality, mak- ing each ship in the diminished navies cost twice as much as before? HIS is not a mere academic question. It can,be done. In fact, it is being done. And the significant thing is that it is being done in ‘the German navy—the one navy in the world that was subjected to rigorous limitations in tonnage even before the Washington conference in 1922, Held down to a fixed low maximum size of ship, and to a small number of ships even of the limited displacements allowed, Germany has apparently gone in for quality building on ‘a “damn the expense” basis. With all the re- sources of German inventiveness and technical skill, the German admiralty is crowding into every ship it builds all the fighting power that it will carry, regardless of cost. The result has heen that the ships of the small new German navy are all phenomenally hard hitters for their size—and about twice as costly to build as ships of the same tonnage in the other navies of the world. This enterprise un the part of German naval architects is a direct result of limits the vic- torious Allies imposed upon the fleet building of the defeated Germans, Having, as they thougnt then, desiroyed their late enemy as a naval power, the allics themselves indulged in such an orgy of competitive construction that all concerned were only too glad to have some~ body help them let go. At Washington, and later at London, the most active naval powers voluntarily put on naval straitjackets, They are not so tight as the one they laced on Germany a dozen years ago, but they impose limits just the same. When Germany was stripped of her navy by the treaty of Versailles she was given a sel of rigid limits for a new navy, above which she must not build. Of capital ships she was al- lowed six. These were not to be above 10,000 tons in displacement, nor to carry guns larger than 11-inch in calibzsr, Capital ships in other navies wers running more than three times. that size, with guns of 14, 15 and 16 inch cal- iber. So that szemed to put Germany where she would be harmless enough. The allowance of light cruisers was eight These were not to exceed 6,000 tons in dis- placement and could not carry guns above six inches in caliber. The other nations were fol- lowing England’s lead in building ships half again that big, carrylng guns up to 8-inch cal- iber. These set the fashion for the so-called “treaty cruiscrs,” which everybody is building now. THAT. then, was the problem the Germans faced: how to re-establish themselves as a sea power within a fiame that had been cal- culated to hold only a third-rate navy. Every ship had to count for two, or as near that as possibiz. The Germans started to spend money to make that dream a reality. Their first essay in the cruiser building was a ship of the prescribed displacement of 6,000 tons, which was to bear the nam: of the fa- mous war-tims raider Emden. When the new Emden was completed naval critics everywhere looked at her rather approvingiy. The Ger- mans had done very well, they agreed. Fairly heavy armament: eight 6-inch guns, one or two guns better than most ships of her class. Good speed, thoug not the highest; she could make 29 knots, as against 33 or even 37 of some of the other 6-inch gun cruisers. A mod- eratz amount of light armor, well distributed. Light cruisers may be thankful if they get any armor at all. More than usually wide cruising radius, and boilered to buin either coal or oil. That would make the new Emden independent of coaling stations if she should ever be called on to emulate the feats of her namesake. But the thing mest noted about her was the considerable saving in weight effected by the use of high-grade structural steel in thinner plates than customary, of light metal parts in many places where steel or iron is ordinarily used, and especially the veiry extensive employ- ment of electric welding instead of riveting. All of these departures from the traditional in shipbuilding cost money, but they saved a lot of weight that could be invested in better pro- tection, roomier accommodation for the crew, more fuel, more ammunition. The Emden was followed by three more 6,000-ton cruisers, the Koenigsberg, Karlsruhe and Koeln. These developed the weight-saving principle still further and also supplemented the steam turbines with Dissel engines for use in cruising at economical speeds, thereby mak- ing for considerable saving in fuel and a con- sequent wider radius of action. Since speed is about the most expensive merchandise a war- ship can spend displacement for, the builders were content with 32 knots, a little less than that of comparative ships in other natives. DOT THEY wjiLL QST YOU TWCE As moca ! about as much potential fighting value out of 6,000 tons as Americans have out of 7,500. These ten United States cruisers, by the way, are of exactly the type that a number of Navy men' and Senators denounced during the debate on the London treaty as ‘“unfitted for Amer- jcan needs.” The Navy men have not yet ex- plained why they consented to their construc-. tion, nor the Senators why they voted funds for them. The fact is, of course, that 6-inch-gun cruisers have a high usefulness in some kinds of fighting. During a general flcet action, for example, they would be more serviceable than the larger 8-inch-gun cruisers in breaking up destroyer attacks, for their smaller guns could find these fast targets more easily, and their lighter but more rapidly discharged shell would be more effective in putting torpedo craft out of action. Neatly ten years elapsed after the Treaty of Versailles before the Germans undertook the construction of any of the 10,000-ton ships al- lowed them. In the meantime the other naval powers had been busily at work on ships of that displacement, but of quite a different type. The best the United States can offer in light cruisers, the Memphis. WEIGHT thus saved was invested in protec- tion, and in 'a battery of nine 6-inch guns that is the last word in efficiency. Qne of these ships can fire six or eight salvos'a minute, ranging up to 20,000 yards—over eleven miles. This means two and one-half or thrzz tons of steel and TNT for a pot:ntial enemy to try to dodge every sixty seconds. And since most of the other 6-inch gun cruisers now afloat have little or no aimor, the bets would seem to be rather on the Germans, for their ships carry a 3 to 4-inch protective belt. It might be worth while to compare these new German ships with the present 6-inch- gun cruisers of the United States Navy. Amer- ica has ten ships of the Omaha class. The Memphis, which brought Lindbergh back from France, is one of them. These are largsr than the Koeln class; 7,500 tons as against 6,000. They are faster by about two knots, and they carty more guns—twelve as against nine. But the guns are so distributed that the American broadside is one gun less than the German— eight as against nine. And the United States ships have thinner side armor—three inches at the thickest as against four. All around, the Germans have, by snending more money in in- genious weight-saving, suceeeded in getting just They went in for speed-rathzr than for protec- tion, and their biggest guns were limited by the Washington treaty to 8-inch caliber. Between these and the huge, thickly armored, heavily armed battleship and battle cruisers there was a wide gap. The Germans, again by making savings in weight that were costly in money, produced a type of ship that stayed within the limits of the 10,000-ton displacement of a “trealy” cruiser and yet build up to a battery very closely approximating that of a battle cruiser in power. l:IRST of this type was the ship designed to replace the Prcussen, one of the battleships which Germany had been permitted to keep after the armistice. The German word for re- placement or substitute is “ersatz”; hence the ship was given the provisional name Ersatz- Preuss:n, which she still carries. Eventually there will be six ships of this type, but as yet none has been ccompleted. When the plans for these ships-first leaked into the foreign press they crcated a sensation abroad and something of a scandal’ at home; for the German admiralty wanted to keep the dotails secret for a time. It was immediately evident that the.ingenious Germans had apain stolen a march on the rest of the world. * ¥he limit of 10,000 tons had purposely been imposed by the allies to prevent Germany from having any more battleships. These new ships are not battieships. They couldn’t stand a Ralf hour’s encounter with even one of the older dread- naughts. But their 27-knot speed will enable them to aveid such encounters. There are, to b2 sure, plenty of ships in the wotld that could catch these new German hy- brids. The “treaty” cruiser type has plenty of speed for that. But no commander of any such cruiser will try to catch the Ersatz- Preussen if he knows what’s good for his ship— unless he can slip up under cover of fog or darknzss to a range where his 8-inch guns, with their more rapid rate of fire, could coun- terbalance the harder hitting, longer ranged guns of the German ship. The advantage of the Ersatz-Preussen in such an imaginary combat would not accrue wholly from her heavier guns. She is alsa more heavily armored than the “treaty” cruis- ers. The details of her armor scheme hava bzen kept rather quiet, but it appears that her main protective belt is about five inches thick. Behind this main belt is a second dezep wall of light armor, to localize the effects of shells that might penetrate and burst, and also for pro- tection against torpedoes. A criticism that has been leveled against the treaty cruisers is that they are not armored against ships bearing their own type of main battery guns. Their armor is good against 6- inch guns at long ranges, and partially good against 6-inch guns at medium distances. But it is not good against 8-inch guns at any range; and by the same token it is even less good against the 1l-inch guns of the new German ships. HIS weakness in armor of the 8-inch-gun cruisers has been sharply criticized by one of America's leading naval architects, Prof. William Hovgaard of the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology. Professor Hovgaard be- lieved it would be better to cut the main bat- tery down to six 8-inch guns in two triple tur- rets, as they are mounted in the Ersatz- Preussen, reduce the present high speeds some- what, and invest the saving in weight in better rmor. It is ind:°d an open question whether any other nation can meet the German challenge in propulsion machinery. The new ships are to be wholly Diesel-driven; the first laige ware ships in the world to be so engined. The 50,000 horsepower for which they are designed will be developed by two sets of extremely light-weight Diesel engincs, said to weigh only sixtesn pounds per horsepower, far lighter than any other marine Diesels now in existence. ; Of course Diesel engines cost money, much more per horsepower than steam. The lavish use of light metals and thin plates of highe grade steel costs .more money. Building in armor plates as integral parts of the structure, instead of merely bolting them on the hull, costs still more. And using electric welding ine stead of riveting adds further ‘to the expense. So when the total bill is added up the Ersatz- Preussen will set the German treasury ba $20,000,000, exactly twice the cost of a “treaty cruiser of the same displacement. Sawdust ];/1/)1‘01'0.\' Soil, ECENT reports of the sale of sawdust as fer« tilizer, while they caused much amusement at the expense of the purchaser, were not quite - 80 ridiculous as they sesmed. as fertilizer, sawdust is of no value, but it can be used to advantzge in certain types of soil. Por instance, in vary sandy soil, from which moisture is lost rapidly, a certain amount of sawdust dug in around roses and other plants and shribs will serve to hold moisture in the soil. It will help, too, to lighten heavy clay soils. This is the ony use that it has, how- ever, for so far as fertilizing is concerned the sawdust is of no value or, at best, of very negligible value. Y