156 



The Review of Reviews, 



It is estixnaled that under such conditions more work 

 could be done in one hour by a single pump than could 

 be accomplished by the whole company of a battleship 

 taking in coal under the most favourable circumstances, 

 either in a roadstead or a dock. In regard to the emis- 

 sion of smoke it does not need a naval expert to under- 

 stand the situation. The warship that reveals its 

 pre.scnce by sending out black smoke makes itself a 

 ready target for the guns of the foe, while the flare 

 from the funnel top at night indicates its position. 

 Besides getting rid of the smoke nuisance, the use of 

 oil-fuel enables the fires to be shut down imme- 

 diately the ship is slowed. Jhis is an important 

 factor in connection with torpedo-boats, as it is 

 almost impossible to govern the coal fires, and any 



require three-quarters of an hour. As an instance of 

 how this quick-firing w^ould work, let it be supposed 

 that a wanton act of war was suddenly committed by 

 a neighbouring Power. Communication can be made 

 by wireless telegraphy from Whitehall to all the ships 

 of the Royal Navy at any point on our coasts and for 

 many hundreds of miles out on the broad Atlantic. 

 Assuming that a code message was flashed through the 

 air to the special service oil-fuel destroyers stationed 

 on the East Coast to leave immediately for a certain 

 destination, steam could be raised promptly, and well 

 within thirty minutes these terrible engines of destruc- 

 tion would have quietly left the naval base and be 

 speeding across the North Sea at thirty-five knots an 

 hour. 



■ ^I ' -A ,' ^ f -^h^r-4. -sr^—< i '*<i"Ni~^i - -" "T' ^i^^^fglHrgS 



^! -^ l ^ l -^ l -ii^r-^l-H|- ^^-H|--<H-<l^^r=^ 



Diagram illustrating the Saving in Space by the use of Oil as Fuel. 



I. The space occupied when coal is used for sleam-r.-iisiiig (the double boUom is useless for bunker space). 



2'. Thirty-three per cent, space saved where oil is used for steam-raising ; oil in double bottom. Stokers' space, 



bunker and coal hoists saved. 

 3. Forty per cent, saving over No. 2 by the use of internal-combustion engines. 



escape from the safety-valves of a torpedo-boat on 

 night duty would locate her, and possibly lead to her 

 destruction. 



READY, AYE RKADY ! 



With oil at command, our preparedness for conflict 

 at any moment is made doubly sure. If hostilities were 

 known to be impending, every fighting unit would, 

 of course, be on the alert, with decks cleared for action, 

 and the coal-bunkered ships would have banked-up 

 fires ; but in case an unexpected' act of aggression 

 occurred, and the instant despatch of war vessels 

 became imperative, the oil-ship would have a distinct 

 advantage over the coaler at the very outset. From 

 dead cold full steam can be raised in twenty minutes 

 by means of liquid fuel, whereas with coal it would 



FOR OIL-FUEL FIRST, LAST, AND ALWAYS. 



All the conditions of naval warfare are to be changed 

 by T-ord Fisher's (Commission, coaling-stations will be 

 procurable for a mere song, and will not be even 

 defended, and in a very few months the Admiralty in 

 Whitehall will re-echo the words of the United States 

 Admiral, who said, " We are for oil-fuel first, last, and 

 always ! " That is Lord Fisher's view ; that is Tilr. 

 Winston Churchill's ; and we may be sure that the 

 Royal Commission will see that whatever changes may 

 be necessary, the British Navy, soon to be the true 

 Imperial Ka\y, will fulfil its supreme task — the 

 safeguarding of the Peiice of the lilmpire and the 

 maintenance of the Peace of the World. 



