1937-03-12 — Page 6

THE CHINA MAIL, MARCH 12, 1937-

80 NEW SHIPS FOR NAVY

Nothing Spared In Bid To Guarantee Efficiency

Sir Samuel Hoare's Speech On Naval Estimates

London, To-day.

An inspiring description of Great Britain's efforts to reorganise the Navy was given by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Samuel Hoare, in introducing the Navy Estimates in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.

SIR SAMUEL SAID THAT THE NAVY WAS FORCED, OW- ING TO PAST INACTION, TO TELESCOPE INTO TWO OR THREE YEARS WHAT NORMALLY WOULD BE CARRIED OUT IN TEN YEARS.

Over-age cruisers and destroyers would be used for escort purposes.

Emergency Plans

Bold Offensive

The Navy still believed that the best form of defence was a bold offensive. Attack would not be the

Emergency plans were being pre-monopoly of an enemy. pared by a joint committee of the After parenthetically assuring the Admiralty, the Board of Trade and House that the naval base at Singa- the merchant marine for possible pore was within sight of comple routes in an emergency.

tion, Sir Samuel recalled the general

Satisfactory progress was being objective he had given for the naval made with the Singapore Base. base. It was as essential for any In the course of the next two or part in collective action which Bri- three months the graving docktain might have to take under coven- would be working, and they were ant, as for self-defence. now within sight of full completion He anticipated that if the naval of the base, which was absolutely programme were criticised in light necessary if the navy was to carry of these considerations, it would jout its duties in the Eastern as be for its shortcomings rather well as the Western hemispheres. than its excess, but - he

Naval Treaties

replied that in the changing situation the programme must be flexible and for the present the pro- Sir Samuel paid a tribute to the posed expansion was as much as was very great value of the Anglo-leither wise or practicable. German Naval Treaty, which was

NOW THE HOUSE WAS ASKED TO APPROVE EXPENDI- TURE OF OVER £100,000,000 AND A CONSTRUCTION PRO being carried out loyally by both GRAMME OF EIGHTY SHIPS.

All personnel in the Admiral- ty were determined to avoid any unnecessary delays.

After emphasising the comple- mentary value of the Air Force and the Navy, Sir Samuel declared that the Admiralty since the War had concentrated its attention upon war- time lessons with the view of adapt- ing construction of ships, strategy and tactics.

No Copying

naval

There was no copying of old mo dels or of foreign ships.

The design of every one of these ships bore the impress of the les- sons they were learning from the

new world.

He had no desire to under- rate the formidable-new threat from the air but they had had eighteen years to develop a counter-action, including the use of air power itself and the production of anti-aircraft weapons on a scale and preci- sion undreamed of in 1918. The effect was to make the fleet

İsides.

Size Of Battleships

He declared it was easy to under-....., In the case of battleships during rate the importance of the 1936 1937, five new ships would be laid Naval Treaty but it had brought down because, as twelve of the ex- about definite qualitative limitation, isting fifteen were over twenty years and he hoped enough naval powers old, they would otherwise be in a posi would ratify the Treaty to enable tion of serious weakness in the face Britain to ratify-Reuter.

of naval powers which had been build- ing new battleships for some years. Later: The Commons agreed to The new battleships would displace the naval estimates by 152 votes to about 35,000 tons, and have four- 57.-Reuter.

teen-inch guns and were designed 148 Under Construction for 3c battleship any exist

Jing British In asking the Commons to approve! As to cruisers, seven to be laid the programme of eighty new ships, down this year would bring under- First Lord of Admiralty saidage cruisers up to 53 and overage demand meant that at the end to 23. During recent months there had of the year, Great Britain would Sir Samuel Hoare's concluding

words were devoted to the future, of naval armaments

Salary, ale the battleship part cularly the least attractive target for an enemy air force.

Naval Bases

re

been concentration by all three have under construction the Services upon the most important markable number of 148 new ships problem of defence of naval bases including five capital ships, from aerial attack.

Taking the design of battleships! as an illustration, before any one

It had been found possible to of these five battleships was laid concentrate a great volume of the down, he said there were no less defence counter-attack in the than

four

aircraft carriers, and 17 cruisers

The size of the programme was the measure of past deficiencies.

Sir Samuel Hoare devoted his

new

-

a

Was the world entering upon

in which sooner or later it would die through outside destric- tion or by self-destruction în final catastrophe? He refused to accept the view as too fatalistic, recalling

eighteen separate designs bases' defence, which it was a speech to three principal questions that the one field in which it so

which had been tested from every much easier problem than protec- Were they building the right kind possible angle.

Every Experiment

tion of a great city.

Merchant Shipping

Considerable advance had been

of fleet for the new conditions?

What was naval policy behind the programme? What was the future of naval armaments?

While he regarded the surface rai-

far had been found possible to reach agreement on limitation, was

naval

Treaty Negotiations There had been large scale and made in the protection of merchant der as still the greatest danger to

Negotiations were going on with small scale experiments of almost vessels in narrow seas but he trade routes, so that an adequate a number of Powers with a view to every kind, including explosive ex-nointed out the possibility that the number of warships remained the bringing them within the system of periments to decide the effect of chief danger there might various explosives upon various sec- from surface vessels.

come first essential for their protection, the 1936 treaty. The main effort tions of metal

the First Lord dealt in particular of the British Government had with the question to which the

been directed to the conclusion of naval and air staffs had given closer

bilateral agreements with Germany attention than to

and Soviet Russia, but similar nego- any other of: trade communication through nar-

tiations had been proceeding satis- row seas Plans developed were

factorily with Denmark, Finland,

The result was that the ships would bear the impress of a long series of experiments, and they had concentrated attention, which naval officers of construction had given for the last eighteen years, to the problems.

They had confidential plans ready which they would be able to put into operation if an emergency arose, and there was no danger of the long per iod of fatal delay that occur red in the early years of the War.

HMS. Nelson, one the mo structed are claimed to be a tremendous advance ups

the

a

necessarily confidential but if Norway, Sweden, Poland and Tur- threat developed they were ready to valuable contribution by its readi

key. Italy was ready to make a

meet it.

ness to accept a maximum gun cali- bre of fourteen inches for capital ships, provided the other principal naval powers diâ likewise. He hop- ed, following the Anglo-Italian de claration relating to the Mediter canean, that Italy would, before long, accede to the whole treaty. If the treaty became general they might obviate a naval ran which could be qualitative as much [quantitative and past

showed that the first w2 the dangerous Competition in

was more expensive and trimental to friendly relatio tween nations than in mambers. The 1936 treaty gave them a chance to avoid a race of new types and size and he was not unhopeful

Future

British