246 



TOPICS OF THE MONTH. 



VI. CAN SHE GET IN ? 



Will Our New Flagship be Able to Enter our Harbours ? 



We are manfully shouldering the bur- 

 den of Empire, and soon the great 

 Dreadnought-cruiser, flagship of the 

 Australian Navy, will be in these waters. 

 She is absolutely the latest thing in 

 battleship construction. Heavily pro- 

 tected, armed with the finest weapons of 

 offence, a hghting machine as perfect as 

 the inventive genius of the greatest de- 

 signers in the world could produce. We 

 may well be proud of this formidable 

 addition to our navy, for we realise here 

 fully as much as they do at home that 

 the fleets of the Empire must be pre- 

 eminent on the waters of the earth. 

 But whilst this great ship can And 

 adequate and safe anchorage and shel- 

 ter in some of our harbours, we may 

 witness the extraordinary spectacle of 

 the might}' cruiser lying outside the 

 Heads, unable to enter the harbour on 

 which the temporary Federal Capital 

 stands. Such a sight would no doubt 

 create an immense sensation ; but the 

 humiliation of seeing our new Dread- 

 nought knocking, figuratively speaking, 

 at the gates of Port Philliix unable to 

 enter, as there is not enough water for 

 her to float safely through the Heads, 

 may after all prove a blessing in dis- 

 guise. It is pretty certain that unless 

 her bunkers were practically empty she 

 would not run the risk of attempting- 

 to enter an}- of our mercantile harbours 

 except Hobart and Sydne}-. 



WHAT HAPPENED TO THE " NEW 

 ZEALAND " ? 

 The magniflcent gift ship, the " New 

 Zealand," visited Melbourne last month, 

 but, to the chagrin of her citizens, the 

 vessel did not lie against the pier. To 

 visit her was a matter of some difficulty 

 But how mail}" of the grumbling thou- 

 sands who inspected her grasped the 

 significance of why she lay out in the 



Channel ? The reason was all-sufticient 

 — there was not enough dejtth along- 

 side Melbourne's deepest water pier to 

 float New Zealand's gift battleship 



The " New Zealand " entered the 

 Heads drawing 28 feet, and came 

 safel}- up the channel, but she had only 

 a few tons of coal left in her 

 bunkers. But once in she coaled, and, 

 like the wolf in the fable, who 

 gorged too much, she could not get out 

 again. She drew 30 ft. 9 in. after she 

 had coaled in Hobson's Ba\-. No ves- 

 sel drawing as much as 30 ft., said the 

 Harbour Master, should risk passing 

 the Heads. The responsibility for so 

 doing was left to Captain Halsey. B}- 

 pumping out water and in other ways 

 he lightened his ship, and selecting 

 the toj) of the tide and a calm sea, he 

 took out His Majesty's ship " New 

 Zealand." drawing 29 ft. 9in., safely 

 negotiated the Rip, and steered east- 

 wards to the Dominion whose millions 

 had been so patrioticall}- used in build- 

 ing this present to the British Navy. 

 What if she had scraped her bottom out 

 on the Lightning Rock in the Rip ? 

 A ghastly termination to a triumjDhal 

 visit ! 



The Captain of the " New Zealand " 

 would no doubt avoid Melljourne in 

 future, and the case will be worse for 

 H.M.A.S. "Australia," which is 400 tons 

 more than her sister. It is significant to 

 note that so furious)}- rapid is the 

 evolution of naval ships that instead 

 of taking first place in her class of 

 battle cruisers, the "Australia" 19,200 

 tons) now comes fifth, being surpassed in 

 size and offensive power by the " Lion " 

 and"Princess Ro}al,"of 26,3!;o tons each. 

 with 13.5 in. guns, and the "Queen Mary" 

 and the " Tiger," of 28,000 tons. If the 

 extra 400 tons of our new flagship cause 



