Event That May Mark New Era in Naval Construction.

Portsmouth, England, Feb. 10.—An immense throng, including many prominent and distinguished persons, witnessed the launching of England’s latest contribution to the world’s fighting ships, the Dreadnaught.

The launch of the Dreadnaught, the largest and most powerful battleship of the world’s navies, marks the first stage in what the British admiralty claim as the greatest achievement in naval construction. October 2, 1905, only a few days over four months ago, work was commenced at Portsmouth on the vessel, the first of what is to be known as the Dreadnaught class. The promise was made then that she would be launched with in six months. The admiralty have more than made good their boast and Britishers have another cause of pride in their navy. Another 12 months, all going well, the Dreadnaught will be commissioned and join the Atlantic fleet, thus beating all previous records in battleship building by six months.

There are two reasons why work is being rushed on the Dreadnaught. One is the great saving in cost, but the chief reason is that the ship is to some extent an experiment and it is desired to give her a good trial before commencing construction on any more or her class.