28 NOTES ON THE ARMAMENTS OE BATTLESHIPS. 



affect that portion of the service. It is also to be regretted that those of us who 

 perhaps could speak with some authority on the matters treated are, for obvious 

 reasons, somewhat restricted in the expression of our views. Some years ago 

 authoritative knowledge concerning naval development was much more freely 

 disseminated. That period of ready access to official plans and documents has 

 been followed by one of comparative secrecy. I say comparative, because no matter 

 how seriously it may be attempted to keep such data secret, those interested in 

 such matters usually find out much concerning them, and oftentimes we only 

 succeed in concealing information from our own people, who would doubtless profit 

 by the knowledge, while those we desire particularly to conceal it from have more 

 or less complete information. 



Sir William has very modestly stated that ' ' no claim is made that new state- 

 ments of the case have been embodied in the foregoing summary of points in favor 

 of or adverse to the adoption of battleship armaments comprising a large number of 

 heavy guns in each vessel. All that has been attempted is to bring such points 

 into view, fairly and briefly." 



I think Sir William is to be congratulated on the very fair and impartial 

 exposition of the case. He arrives at certain definite conclusions, and gives the 

 reasons for those conclusions, and I think his paper is one that can be read with 

 the greatest pleasure, and with very little, if any, adverse criticism. 



The subject of warship design is one that is necessarily subject to many varying 

 opinions, and sometimes the opinion of the same individual is by no means the same 

 to-day that it was last year. The most we can hope for is that those charged with 

 the responsibility of warship design shall give to this most important matter their 

 very best energies, and that those who have anything to do with the operation of 

 the completed ship should give, to those who have the immediate responsibility for 

 design, the benefit of their experience in every way possible. By such means the 

 results attained will be the best possible. 



Sir William has made most appreciative allusion to the work done by the 

 United States Navy in recent battleship development. Of course, whether or not 

 he is justified in his tribute must be left to others. I think, however, that all of 

 you, not only as members of this Society, but as citizens of this country, are espe- 

 cially interested in knowing with what care we have adopted certain principles of 

 warship armament, and it is gratifying to realize that our conclusions have now 

 been very largely accepted by our colleagues in other countries. 



Sir William has stated in effect, and I believe he is correct in the statement — 

 that the South Carolina and Michigan are the first battleships of this most recent 

 period of battleship development which have the middle line arrangement for all 

 the heavy guns, and are the very first to have that special form of emplacement 

 of turret which permits No. 2 turret to fire over No. i, and No. 3 to fire over No. 4. 

 This method of gun emplacement was not arrived at in any haphazard way; it was 

 a matter of considerable experiment. The time of making these experiments is 

 now long past, and so much publicity has been given to some of the details that I 



