THE CHINA MAIL, JUNE 13, 1941.
CHINA MAIL
-WINDSOR HOUSE
AT GIBRALTAR
While the rumble of coming battle grows loud- er in the Eastern Mediter- ranean a strange quiet hovers over the Western gateway. There is a great deal of talk about. Gibral- tar, but little news of any kind from the fortress it- self, standing calm above the almost empty straits with ears and guns cock- ed for the threatened at- tack. In this suspense, special interest attaches to a brief dispatch an- nouncing that Viscount Gort, now commander of the British garrison on the Rock, paid an officiai| visit to General Munoz Grande, Spanish military governor of Algeciras. In-! terest is heightened by the statement that the visit will be returned "late this month," an intima- tion that no immediate break. is expected in Anglo-Spanish relations.
We can be sure that the British general did not cross the line to discuss the weather with the Spanish general. It is not by accident that the visit
ROBIN MOOR
THE CHALLENGE AND THE ANSWER.
Canada's Navy
government seeming-Hazax and then proceed leisure-
blaze away at Newfoundland and cruisers.
than-
coincides with the change If it weren't for the Royal these are seven over-age destroy- and no more comfortable
a ers contributed by the U.S.A. and that of the soldiers in the trenches in the attitude of Vichy Canadian Navy, it might be
The merchant
Navy's third duty, the and shifts in the Franco simple matter for one of Adolf several vessels which have been in 1914-18. battleships Hitler's pocket
to converted into armed
minister said, was to serve in The Navy, however, has no Europe, adding that there were ly aimed at curbing the up the Gulf of St. Lawrence, battleships or cruisers and needs 3,500 Canadian sailors in foreign Its destroyers waters. As for Hitler's pocket power of the Spanish loosing broadsides as it went. If the latter badly.
were constantly the British navy were to suc- have a displacement of 1,375 tons battleships, they Fascists, the Falange. cumb, the situation would be and it has no fighting ships com- darting in and out and he wished General Franco has been far more desperate a fact which parable to Australia's "Canberra" they'd stay put once.
by with a displacement of 10,000 has been gravely considered
"They're your real hit-and-run Adm. Nelles observed stalling ever since the war the U.S.A. Canada Joint Defence tons and an armament topped by artists," .. started. He has made it Commission. Thus the two eight 8-inch guns. The U.S. navy dryly.
Nearly $30,000,000 was spent for... have powerful reasons for argu- of the Omaha class
..
quite clear that Gibraltar nations on either side of the border has a number of 7,000-ton cruisers
which are new ships for the Navy last year
the
and uncertain gains in ing that Canada's Navy be nearly as old as Africa are not worth the developed with all possible speed. destroyers. These mount 10
A good start has been made.
came
a
of 1918.
inch guns.
-over-age and the sum budgeted this year 6- is $56,000,000. The programme of Three of them would building scheduled will be finish- the ed this year, the Naval Minister the said, adding that it had been "a magnificent piece of work." New construction consists principally of corvettes, patrol boats and minesweepers:
By George H. Lyon
Thanks to a policy rigidly ad- hered to for many years, Cana- dian
navy officers have been trained in the world's best naval schools, such as Greenwich and Dartmouth and aboard the Bri- tish Royal Navy. Thus, while the permanent force was small it was
grave risk of opening hun- Canada's Navy was thoroughly be of tremendous help to gry and divided Spain to starved in the 20 years that fol- Canadian Navy in guarding
Armistice lowed the invading armies. Even Disarmament was in the air; for- Hitler appears hesitant ever there was to be peace. Then the economic collapse to march into the Spanish which made an end naval
of when war hornets' nest; the latest appropriations. So
was declared in September, 1939, indications are that the the Dominion had only 13 vessels commission-six destroyers, drive on Gibraltar may be,
a motor vessel and training launched from
the schooner. There were 130 officers African instead of the and 1,000 men in active service sea lanes in the western Atlantic
and 2,000 officers and ratings in and even one would add great prepared in 1939 to train officers! European side.
strength. Until Canada has such newly acquired from the Naval
recruits New coastal
got towns al- Reserve, cruisers, her Even so the conflict
Need Cruisers Badly ways will be in danger.
their training. at Stadacona, moves closer and closer to
The Navy's greatest problem, naval establishment on the east about 200 the doors of Spain. If To-day, there are
however, is training of adequate Canadian coast, or at Nadon on and ships in commission
per personnel. This was explained to the west coast. The bulk of the Spanish territory is not sonnel has jumped to 2,000 officers
me one morning at Navy enlisted men came from a volun-
Hon. headquarters by
Angus
teer reserve, which recruits them used for a passageway, and 15,000 men.
The new vessels include cor- L. MacDonald, Minister. of from all walks of life. the decisions being made vettes (baby destroyers), of which National Defence for Naval
and
Four Ships Lost Rear Adm. in France put right up to about 50 have been launched in Services,
Canadian shipyards, motor tor P. W. Nelles, his chief of staff. the Spaniards the ques- 'pedo boats, minesweepers
They train at 19 land service and Mr. MacDonald, a Scotch lawyer establishments, then go through craft equipped and ex-Premier of Nova Scotia, tion of full adherence to anti-submarine
for detecting U-boats and drop- who likes to sing Lover's Lament, stations and then can be drafted practical training at the const
the
the reserves.
#
.
w
Adm. Nelles, likewise a veteran
crack TESCTVO
declared. These two men sold
sonnel.
a
the "new European or-ping depth charges. Added to bears wounds of the last war. for active service. The Navy also der." The showdown is so near, in fact, that the ex-wer to Germany must be of 1914, is the long range plan- accepts some cadets after a rigid ner who knew where to lay his set of examinations and a three-
month probationary course. changes between Gibral-influenced by the answer hands on every
No story of the Canadian Navy tar and Algeciras must of Petain. Every move in oer in Canada when war was would be complete without tri- bute to the Fisherman's Reserve, have a definite bearing on this struggle affects the that building ships was nothing which sweeps for mines or lays depth charges in the sharp, situation. Assuming next; but time is gained at as compared with building per-
lengthy flords of the Pacific coast that the British are not the expense of Hitler. If "It takes five to six years for Their decks onco were covered: offering Gibraltar to the British are able to a man to become a lieutenant," with fish scales, but now their cald Mr. MacDonald, "Then sides are fresh with grey paint, Spain for help in defend-work on Spanish senti-
aight more to become a Lieutenant they fly the ensign and the skip-
Ho 'doesn't ing the position, it is clear ment and Spanish neces-commander.
pull per wears a smart white-topped or naval cap. The Fisherman's "Ro- that some strong argu- sity to stave off the final much weight for five years
get command of a ship of any serve knows every Japanese fishw ments are holding Franco surrender, there is always consequence. So it takes 12 to ing craft that ever tied up at ni back from joining the the chance of a turn in 16 years to produce a real officer. Pacifle wharf.
In the army you cam tari outi The dignity of Canada," says French in a policy of full the course of events. a pretty good officer in a year." Minister MacDonald, "demands collaboration with Ger- That odd chance is Better Navy's immediate task had been sufficient to meet the obligaton
than usual in a warto patrol, and guard, Canada's which rests upon us in associa Nevertheless Spain in fought, as this one is, I coastline and Ost 20xt to this tion with the United States for came the convoy Work, Destroyers the joint defence of the Nath Africa as well as Spain in the realms of the unex- have been our on Atlantic American continental
If I know. Gamdiäns; 1=Qifnk Europe is linked to pected, the untested, even this past, wintor as long an, 25,
days in a month and the life of, they will have true-Kinu or France. · Franco's ans-the impossible,
their crews has bebi Tesi dočurd Navy.
many.
ין
Mr. MacDonald said that the that she should have...a Anavy,