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Show FIFTEEN-INCH HIR WARSHIPS Japanese to Mount Great Guns on New Superdreadnought Now Building at Kure. Tokio, July 24. (Correspondence of The Associated Press.) It is reported that guns of 15-inch caliber may be mounted on a superdreadnought which has been ordered by the navy department depart-ment and will be laid down in the Japanese naval yard at Kure. This ship was authorized at the last session of the Diet and she will be tho larg-est larg-est battleship in the Japanese navy. She will bo called tho Nagnto after one of the provinces In Southern Japan. Ja-pan. Although the official figures have not been announced, it is said the warship war-ship will have a displacement of 32,-000 32,-000 tons and a speed of 24 knots. The displacement exceeds by 1400 tons thnt of the dreadnought Yamashiro which was launched at Yokosuka last November. The Yamashiro is about the same size as the United States superdreadnought Pennsylvania, If the announced figures prove exact, ex-act, the Nagato will be bigger than tho celebrated 'Queen "Elizabeth of the British navy, more speedy than the Yamashiro by two "knots and faster fast-er than the Pennsylvania by three knots although she could bo outdistanced outdist-anced by the Queen Elizabeth. A feature fea-ture of the proposed ship will be Improved equipment for defense against torpedoes. The question of main armament seems not yet decided. It Is understood under-stood that the navy favors 15-inch guns, but guns of this size have never been made in Japan, and It is likely that they would have to be imported from England. It is doubtful if England Eng-land could turn them out during thq war. The department has likewise arranged ar-ranged for the construction of two second class cruisers, each of 3,500 tons to be called Tenryu and Tatsuta, One will be laid down at Kokosuka and the other at Saseho. A large type destroyer of 1,100 tons will be built at Maizuru. The Jatest addition to the Japanese navy is a new and powerful submarine boat which was built in France and which recently arrived at the Kure naval station. Submerged, the boat can reach a speed of over eighteen knots. Her displacement is GOO tons, and she is the largest submarine in the Japanese navy. Tho order, placed with the French navy yard in 1914, called for two boats of the same type and dimensions but ono of them was sold to France at the outbreak of the war in compliance with the special request of the French navy. The submarine was brought here on board a French steamer. 1 nn. |