U.S. SCOUT “SALEM.”
Photograph supplied by the Fore River Shipbuilding Co.
U.S. CRUISER “MAINE.”
Photograph supplied by the W. Cramp & Sons, Ship and Engine Building Co., Philadelphia.
There was no great heralding by trumpet-blast the arrival of the Dreadnought. The true significance of this vessel only became understood by degrees. The Admiralty kept its secret well: indeed, it may be doubted if an Admiralty secret has ever been so well kept before. A short paragraph in the papers was all that was vouchsafed for the edification of the public or the naval experts of other nations. It was known that a warship to bear the historic name of Dreadnought was to be launched, but the public took it for granted that it was an addition to some “programme” or other, and regarding modern battleships as too wonderful and too full of mechanism to be comprehended by ordinary mortals, was content to accept that much, and leave the rest to the experts. But the naval experts of the other powers were astounded when they learnt the march that Great Britain had stolen upon them. They appreciated to the full the importance of the new era in warship building which had been inaugurated, for they saw that England had a lead which they could not overtake, and that with her splendid resources she would be able to accept any challenge for rivalry for first position which any power might offer. The Dreadnought meant that any other warship afloat was already rendered out of date. Her gun-fire, as much by its weight as by the range of her guns, would enable her to pick and choose where and when and how she would fight, and her speed would enable her to prevent any ship, however powerful, from shrinking from a combat if the Dreadnought thought fit to insist upon one. It was even recognised that she was a match for two or three of the most powerful ships that could be brought against her, for her big guns would be equal to theirs in hitting power, and their smaller guns would be ineffective at the range at which she could fight. Again, by concentrating a portion of her fire upon one of her antagonists she would be able to crush it, and then turn her attention to the other two with the odds as represented by gun-fire distinctly in her favour. Some enthusiastic adherents of the Dreadnought even went so far as to assert that she was equal to half a dozen Lord Nelsons, but the more extreme views of this nature were rather severely criticised. It was not only in the number of big guns that the Dreadnought exceeded all previous ships, but in their penetrative quality also. Compared with those of the Majestic they are of about fifty per cent. greater power.
Lieut.-Commander Simms, however, was by no means the only one or the first to hold the views explained in his report. They were entertained by many authorities in other countries, and especially in England, and the recognition by this country of the importance of the theory led to the secrecy with which everything connected with the Dreadnought was invested.
One notable change introduced with the Dreadnought was that she had no intermediate or secondary armament. She carried ten 12-inch guns as her main battery, and some smaller guns to repel torpedo attack, but whereas the Lord Nelson had twenty-nine anti-torpedo boat guns the Dreadnought had but five, depending rather upon her smaller armament of twenty-four 3-inch quick-firers (12-pounders), and in addition she had five under-water torpedo tubes.
