Supercannon

The introduction of the submarine, the aeroplane, and the dirigible, made possible by the invention of the internal-combustion engine, the use of the wireless telegraph and telephone, and the employment of lethal gases, of supercannon and possibly of aerial torpedoes make obsolete many rules formerly observed but now ignored.

Six or seven battleships, even if in good fighting trim, are little in, themselves, but they may become much if they can ever be assured of striking in co-operation with the adequate and well-trained coastal flotillas and supercannon batteries, if when moving across the Western Mediterranean, at all times spanned by wireless and aerial transport communications, the admiral-in-chief can feel, at a safe distance across his van as well as abeam and in the rear, a double and imperviable screen of weatherly and reliable aerial and submarine satellites, guarding against all possibilities of surprise, and giving time for tactical maneuvers and for his heavy guns to pound with some effect on an incoming enemy.

Teutonic autocratic Steel-City, built around a factory for supercannons by evil scientist boss, is foiled by our hero and vaguely balanced by the rosewater suburbanite colony of France-Ville.