Splash Answer

Last week another battleship slid down the ways of a British shipyard. One anchor broke after she left the ways, but the second held and the vast shell of the 35,000-ton battleship Prince of Wales floated easily in midstream of the River Mersey. Launchings have lately been commonplace ceremonies in the ceremonial-ridden British scene. Last twelvemonth has seen two battleships, one aircraft carrier, two cruisers, 16 destroyers, seven submarines launched.

But there was nothing perfunctory about the launching of the Prince of Wales. It came less than three months after the launching of her sister ship, King George

V. It demonstrated that Great Britain's biggest naval building program is well ahead of schedule. It came five days after Chancellor Hitler denounced the 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement by shouting to the Reichstag, "The basis for the naval treaty with England has been removed!" It came after long discussions in British newsorgans about the strength of the new ships compared with the Nelson and the Rodney, most modern British battleships. The Prince of Wales and King George V are of an improved Nelson class, carry ten 14-inch and 16 5 1/4-inch guns, with a 14-inch armor belt and a 6 3/4-inch deck for protection against bombs and plunging fire. The Nelson and Rodney carry nine 16-inch guns, are the only ships in the Royal Navy carrying guns that size. But since 14-inch guns have been improved, power of fire of the new ships is almost the same as the old, and number of rounds fired per minute is higher.

Forty thousand people crowded Cammell Laird & Co., Ltd.'s historic shipyard at Birkenhead. Princess Mary, the Princess Royal, only sister of the Duke of Windsor, said, "I name this ship Prince of Wales. May God guide her and guard and keep all who sail in her." Robert Johnson, head of Cammell Laird, was less restrained: "If I were in Chancellor Hitler's shoes and heard of the wonderful speed at which we can turn out our ships, I think I'd turn on my axis."

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