H.MLS. Victorious, the largest type of English battleship afloat, was successfully docked at Yokosuka on' Wednesday last, the difficult operation being completed by the evening of that day. There can be no doubt that the subject of this important success will be strongly commented on by the home papers, and it is hardly too much to say that it may possibly be brought up in the Haute of Commons, In that ovens, the general impression created is likely to be that Japan is the only Eastern nation which has progressed so far as to be able to dock the largest ships of the British Navy, thereby relegating our own Naval base at Hongkong to a second place. This will be the general impression, but the questi do the facta actually justify the conclu as to Hongkong? Our own sources of information lead us to doubt this very much, and if, through the medium of the Press in England, whose ramifications are 0 vast, this information can be shared by the British public, they ought to feel some consolation when' they Learn that if the Hongkong Dock Company had been afforded the same opportunity that has been extended to the Naval Department of Japan, Hongkong would have shown itself com: potent to dock the mammoth battleship with as much facility as the Jupanese. Timidity at headquarters, however, interfered with such an independent programme, and thus the anomaly was presented to the world of the greatest of naval Powers voluntarily confessing that her resources in the Far Enst, where the flower of her Navy has been concentrated, are far from adequate. The appended description of the enormous amount of time and Inbour entail ed at Yokosuka, before the battleship could be docked, will help to make our readers understand that the expenditure of similar efforts ut Hongkong might have accomplished equally satisfactory results, The Araught of water of the Victorians on arrival at Yokosuka, was about 28 feet 6 inches, and the authorities would not venture to dock her unless she could be lightened up to 25 feet mean, fore and aft. As already stated, this task involved an enormous amount of work, and assistance had to be rendered by another of H.M. ships in taking to pieces the greater portion of the protective parts of the internal fittings, to which must be added all ammunition, coal, water, water-tight doors, all the 6-in. broadside guns, and their Stings. Even the crew were forced to land with all their outfit, and the latter extended to the smallest superfluous belongings of the officers. At the last moment,. 500 of the crew got into the boats. The actual fittings and other equipments landed aggregated 800 tons; the weight of the 500 men inclusive of their baggage would be about 70 tons. Finally, at-the time appointed—high, water, spring tides—the Victorious was hauled carefully into dock, her draught of water being then' 24 fast 11 in, when the divers reported her keel clear of blocks by 6 inches. The caisson was put into place and all were satisfied that the Victurfous was at last in Ary-dock, where. she simply required to be cleaned and painted. But now she cannot come out again until the next spring tides, which means that another 14 days must expire. After coming out, all that vast accumulation of 700 tons of fittings, guns, and their equipment, etc., will have to be taken aboard and put in their respective places. However, the men are equal to the arduous undertaking, and no doubt, after another month's hard work, we shall see the battleship in fighting trim once more, but not before.
We are informed that, owing to the narrowness of the dry-dock at the bottom, the blocks had to be raised fully two foet, 50 that the bilge keels should clear the masonry (consisting of granite blocks) on the sides and this alone would account for two feet of lightening up. What will Hongkong say to this All credit is due to the Japanese for the manner in which they have assisted and successfully docked the vessel, the arrangements to that end having been in every way perfect.—Japan Gazette.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.