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Show Writers Visit First Line British Fleet in the North Sea Speed Is Now the Navy Fetish; Cruiser Lion Put Out of Battle by Shell That Did Not Pierce Armor. SOMEWHERE LN THE NORTH SEA. via London. Feb. 11. 11 a. m. Great Britain's first -line offensive Meet, an ineom-rn ineom-rn ruble comb! nation of speed and gun power, ready for Instant action, ac-tion, was inspected yesterday by a party of French and American correspondents cor-respondents and a representative of the Associated Press was permitted to view from the bridge of a torpedo boat the naval unit which is expected to meet the first shock of a German 1 attack. In the fleet were virtually all the veteran fighting craft which have been In action In this war. but they showed few scars, with the exception of an occasional dent in their armor. The pride of place was held by battle bat-tle cruisers which in engagements from the Falkland isles to the Dardanelles Dar-danelles have borne the brunt of the sea fighting. Unpopular with officers and men before the war. because they were continually coaling, and never more than cautiously praised by the proponents pro-ponents of the superdreadnought policy, pol-icy, these huge fighting machines hold the premier position in the British Brit-ish navy, in which warship speed is now regarded as the first and most important principle of naval strategy. Latest Types of Battle Cruisers. The correspondents left the naval base under a sunny sky and, on reaching the outlying: patrol of torpedo tor-pedo boats, found the water covered with a light haze. There was no sea running. As the launch with the visitors on board turned toward the line of tattle cruisers against the horizon they cojki see the "eyes" of the fleet, in the form of a few prowling prowl-ing destroyers which keep up incessant inces-sant watch, not only to protect their mighty sisters rom submarine attack, at-tack, but to catch the first view of any adventuresome German warship which might poke Its nose into the open North sea-Looming sea-Looming through the mist could be seen the giant tripod masts which identified the fleet as including the very latest type of battle cruisers, and soon the launch was at the foot i of the boarding ladder of a huge j battle cruiser which gut its baptism of tire at Helgoland bight, and late-bore late-bore an honorable share in the Dogger Dog-ger Rank action. Pay Visit to the Cruiser Lion. Before lunch the visitors were permitted per-mitted to enter any portion of the ship they chose, and those nut too heavy got thru:ii;h the trap door In the top of a turret, the only entrance left open in war time, und occupied themselves chiefly In watching the youthful turret commander operate a huge 13.5-inch gun with the same ease that a man handles a sporting ride. From the time the charge and the projectile leave the ammunition hoist to the actual discharge of the gun, they watched the operation which makes the turret the must important im-portant part of the righting ship. The party then lunched as guests of the divisional rear admiral, who was using the cruiser as his flagship, then were taken on board the cruiser Lion, which was Admiral Eeatty's flagship In the Dogger Bank battle. With the exception of a dent in her forward turret armor and a similar scar just above the waterline, this show vessel of the British navy displays dis-plays little sign of the terrific hammering ham-mering she got when the three German Ger-man battle cruisers concent rated their fire on her. Carefully mounted in the compan-lonway compan-lonway is an 11-inch unexploded shell, which the .Seydlitz hurled through the Lion's armor below the waterline. Crippling Shell Did Not Pierce Armor. No evtden -e has ever been found to justify the story that the Lion was torpedoed, but her officers and crew are still marveling at the slight harm done her vital pans by the raJn of heavy shells. The shell which did the most damage dam-age did not penetrate the armor casing cas-ing In the engineroom, but dented It in so far that ealt water got Into a (Continued on Page Two.) WRITERS VISIT FIRST LI BRITISH FLEET (Cantlnued from Page One.) broken feed pip"- This rwiiued her speed lrom ( w'f nt y-sven to ftichipfn Unois and t'orrecl lier to witln!r;iw from the battle, in whh'h any vessel sppeiiinff lesH than I wpnty-llve knot.-5 hud no chance of keeping rnnse of Hip flpfint: Gf rinans. No Hiirn wns left of the 12-inch shell whi.-h blew in the bulkhead nf the admiral's quarters, after (?oinc through the deck, except the ranlns and cap occupying Die place of honor ainoiic; the Iin's trophies. Kven the captain's bathtub, which was hurled overboard ty the ex- plosion of an efuht-lnch shell whlcli probably came from the Uluecher, haB been replaced. The enniiT'room of the Lion showed no sipn nf the ship's ever having been in battle. ! Light Cruisers Are the Swiftest Boats. The tripod masts with (he control bridge and the crow's nest hnd not been subjected to a severe trial, an the Bpcnndary batteries of the tier-man tier-man nhips never had l.en within ranpe and the big nuns devoted their a 1 1 en tion to the more vital pa-rtH of the whip. A torpedo boat pickf-d up a portion of the prt v f rom t he lion and t he remainder from the almost equally celebrated Tiger, which looked like a newlv commissioned ship, despite the many times ?he is reported to have been sunk. The oil-burning torpedo boat tore along the impressive line of battle cruisers in the bat tie formation in which they expect to meet the German Ger-man fleet. Beyond the battle erutpors a long line of light cruisers lost ituHf in the fotf. Rrniie of these vessels are vet -erans and show signs of the rough patrol work they are called upon constantly con-stantly to do, but many are nwly commissioned and have yet to wear Hie s-ars "f service. Speed, now the fri ish of the nn vy. fragile I the zenith wll h these light cruiser. Anv of i.Ivmii could easily overhaul the fastest Hner so fjir built. I'.chlnd the Mi'ht cruisers was a great flotilla of ollin's constantly feeding the hingr s'okelmM of the latile cruiners, which cvni nt jinchor must keep no a full he;Kl of st'-am, thir turtilnes muni he rcfltrd, but never allowed to grow cold. Men of Navy Eager to Fight Zeps. Scattered about Ihe flct were ev-rr:i ev-rr:i I r't s i roycr ?o ua dronn. with light n iils'-r leaders a nd inrclmnt ships an x-arent". After sv.ecplng around the dstroy-rrH dstroy-rrH tl'ie tnrpdo boat beaded toward a pro'-fl i -cad ikpii::'i t . look 1 1 h: formidable rnmrgh 'o tic layman, but llghlly referred re-ferred t by the iftlf-pr(4 acc-innpany-jn:' the iifu-ty as a third-line null or I, ,,lt to fnilie the (Jcriuan Heel. Into II, .- North ,o p.TKO.IIlol of tiie Wiiole Heel ,ned to h,. remarkably t. and eilL-efl" inlel'..;!e,l in the Wdlk ff. S,He 1 he uncomfortable cm id 1 1 nilM under wlii'-h tlirUr piiti'ni wnr In the ,V,,rth f. .i Is ilon.-, -fhr ba 1 1 1c i!'iil;'.T I'ri lit lb-;, a I. which was visited by the party, had onlv two members of her crew in the sidi ha v. Ho'h of these men were suffering from injuries caused by football, which Is played with great zest whenever a field is available. The officers occasionally get some golf, but both men and officers must depend upon their ship-board duties tor their chief means of exercise. Rumors of the possibility of Zeppelin Zep-pelin raids on the fleet were rife ami the officers ami crews expressed an enger hope that the Zeppelins would come to give the gunners a chance to test their anti-aircraft guns. |
