Jane's Fighting Ships, 1918. (Sampson Low. 30s. net.)— The new
volume of this standard navel handbook, now edited by Mr. Maurice Prendergast, is exceptionally interesting because it gives information about the many new and powerful vessels added to our Nary during the war. H.M.S. ' Hood,' of over 30,000 tons displacement, with an estimated speed of more than 30 knots despite her " blister " or torpedo-proof hull, oil-driven, and armed with eight 15.inch guns, is the most formidable battle.cruiser afloat. The much-discussed " Hush" cruisers ' Courageous' and ' Glorious' ere said to have turned out well in service, despite their structural defects. Five of the new monitors of the Earl of Peterborough' class, it is stated, were armed lest autumn with 18-inch guns, mounted aft, for bombarding the Belgian coast. The new sloops and destroyers are very numerous. The latest flotilla-leaders displace over 1,500 tons and carry five 4.7-inch guns, while the ordinary destroyers of the V and IV classes displace over 1,200 tons and carry four 4-inch guns ; a Z class was projected, if not under construction. The details of our new submarines are vague, but we are told that a submarine monitor armed with a 12-inch gun is actually in service, and that we bad twenty-two submarine cruisers of the K class, displacing 1,700 tons on the surface, in service before the enemy had begun to build one. The Admir- alty's prudent reticence during the war most not prevent us from recognizing to the full the tremendous energy and skill with which it maintained the overwhelming naval predominance that was the prime cause of our victory. The pages devoted to other Navies, and especially to that of Germany, are of great interest. The editor is unable to clear up the doubts as to the German losses at Jutland.
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