WesWorld

THE SOUTH AFRICAN TELEGRAPH
3rd of January 1924

Madras. On 1st of January Indian´s first battleship was laid down in Madras, an important step for the iberian navy to become a big player. During the ceremony Mr. Dhiren Naidu presented a model of the new vessel to the puplic and guests of honor from all over the world. Mr. Naidu is the supervisor for the project and discribed her as “Four years in the making, a dreadnought of almost twenty-seven thousand tons, carrying eight thirty-five centimeter guns developed from existing South African, German, and Austro-Hungarian designs. Able to shrug off hits of similar-sized guns at great distances, and fast enough to run down her foes. A truly modern capital ship.” The ship was further discribed as “a peculiar vessel; wide-beamed, with a slightly bulbous bow. A massive quadruple gun turret is situated forward, another aft. Super-firing over each main turret is a smaller twin turret, and other those, super-fire two more. The superstructure is a tall, narrow tower, with an imposing heptapodal mast looming over it.“



Once a model of the ship was presented her keel was laid down, accompanied by the words of the Raj, who explained the origin of the new vessels name. “Though just four generations removed from the great conqueror Tamerlane the Mongol, he was no despot bent on violence and plunder. He wed a Hindi princess, tried to reconcile Islam and Hinduism, and fostered the arts. He established a stable, effective government whose institutions evolved into those that serve the nation today. Without Akbar, there would be no India as we know it.” In a somewhat unusual step he than named the ship even though this is generally done when launching a new vessel. The Raj continues: “As we honored our glorious emperors of times past before, so do we honor them once more. The first battleship built by Indian hands shall be named for a man who built India: let construction of the Emperor Jalal ud Din Akbar begin!”

During the ceremony, which then continued with a formal dinner, South Africas Airship No. 04 circled above the City of Madras, offering her passengers a unique perspective.



Above is a picture showing SA4 starting her tour at the Aerodrom at Hyderabad two days before. She drove to Madras arriving at an airfield just ourside the city where a landing mast was installed on an airfield. On the 5th of January she´ll be back in Hyderabad to continue her regular trips to South Africa.