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uit de pers.

aeroplanes, and a few fast cruisers, provided we can find a place to keep them in safety during war time.

In my opinion, as the motor vehicle has driven the horse from the road, so has the submarine driven the battleship from the sea.

A Costly Experiment.

Trial of the under-ivatertheory by France. (From our own correspondent.)

Paris, June 8.

Admiral Sir PERCY Scott's contention in "The Times" that the da)- of big battleships has passed in favour of submarines is regretted in naval circles here. The impression I gain may best be translated by the formula Nous avons déja passé par la The fact is that Frauce has experimenteel already in the abolition of the big unit in favour of the under-water fleet, and has suffered greatly in consequence.

The school which believed that the doom of the battleship was definitely sealed by the advent of the torpedo first came into official existence in France during the tenure of office as Minister of Marine of Admiral aube in the eighties. At that time the torpedo-boat had not reached its present state of efficiency, but at least it possessed the saving grace of comporative invisibility, thanks to its small size. When the size of the craft was increased, it defeated its own objects and brought into existence the destroyer specially designed to fight it. The aube school was succeeded by the Fournier school, which found its official and eloquent mouthpicce in M. camille pelletan, who became Minister of Marine. Under his unfortunate administration France for a time lost lier naval position and took rank after the Great Powers instead of leading in the wake of England

Admiral fournier was sensationally sticcessful in theoretically torpedoing battleships and liners by the use of the submarine. He then came to the conclusion that the underwater boat was the arm of the future. This was readily seized upon by a part)- in the State as an admirable excuse for economy by suspending the construction of large units and devoting the reduced credits entirel)- to light cruisers and flotillas.

Since that time, nearly 10 years ago, submarines have become much more precise machines. The periscope enables them to see farther than before, and their size and equipment have made them formidable. French submarines