1939-03-17 — Page 12

THE CHINA MAIL, MARCH 17, 1989

Magnitude Of British Naval

Rearmament

STRONG ENOUGH TO ACCEPT ANY LIKELY CHALLENGE

Revealed

be a very different matter from at- tacks оп defenceless merchant shipping of which they had had recent examples in Spanish waters. Moreover, this did not take into account the presence of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm or co-operating R.A.F. squadrons.

home coasts.

ANOTHER MEMEL WARNING

Memel, To-day,

"The lay of the dice is now

London, To-day.

In the case of convoys of defen- Introducing the Navy Estimates for £149,000,000, sively armed merchant ships there

would be the closest co-operation different" declared the leader of an increase of £23,000,000 on last year's which with the R.A.F. as they came into the Memel Germans, Dr. Ernst were themselves record peacetime estimates, narrow seas and approached the Neumann, yesterday in a lengthy the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty,

ACCEPT' CHALLENGE speech to Memel Deputies. Mr. Geoffrey Shakespeare, said members would Generally, the Board of Admiral- "Even now we shall not resort to be gratified that no less than £61,000,000 of that ty believed the British Fleet was force to change the situation" de- so strong to-day it could confident-clared Dr. Neumann "but we shall great total were in respect of shipbuilding and ly accept a direct challenge in but- insist, without interruption, on our engineering work on vessels of new construc-tle by any combination of foes. rights. We are no longer for-

tion programmes of 1939 and previous years and repair of the existing fleet. During the financial year now ending, 43 warships had been added to the Navy, and in the course of 1939 another 60 would have joined the Fleet. He thought the House would be some 16,500 vessels sunk by enemy impressed with the magnitude and submarine action in the last war, balance of the 1939 building pro-only 102 were sunk while in

included two fast convoy. gramme, which battleships of 40,000 tons displace- As soon as the convoy system was ment and with 16-inch gun arma-adopted in 1917 the

submarine ment, four trade protection crui-menace demonstrably diminished. sers, a large aircraft carrier, two

CONVOY SYSTEM flotillas of destroyers and 20 escort vessels of a new type of high speed and with armament designed to meet submarine and aircraft at- tack.

The fact that dockyards and shipbuilding yards would in the course of the year be engaged in building some, 200 war vessels of a total of 870,000 tons, was a mea- sure of the national productive ef- fort for naval defence which never before had been approached in peacetime.

This output would exceed by nearly 30 per cent. the annual tonnage completed in the years just before the last Great War.

the Parliamentary Secretary were

Other matters touched upon by

saken by Germany.

"Behind us stands the Fuehrer recruiting and progress of the Fleet of the German Reich who has de- Air Arin in process of transfer clared, in a manner understand- from the control of the R.A.F. to able to all, that he will not permit the Navy.

a single German to be persecuted They had just had a record year because of his nationality." for recruiting-some 18,000 of- Trans-Ocean. ficers and men having entered the Navy in 1938 picked out of 70,000 applicants.

Contracts for aircraft for the six new aircraft carriers which would come into commission from 1940 onwards had been placed and pro- As result of two years close co-duction was in full swing. Several operation betwen the Admiralty new types would start bulk deliv- and leaders of the shipping indus-ery during the year. try he could state they would be in Total personnel of the Fleet Air a position to institute a convoy or-Arm had increased from 3,000 ganisation soon after the outbreak 1937 to 6,000 to-day, and would of war on any route where it was reach 10,000 in 1942. considered necessary,

They had already in stock suf- ficient anti-submarine guns to meet all expected requirement.<

Over 9,000 officers of the mer- chant Navy had already attended a course in convoy protection or gun- nery.

STRATEGICAL DANGERS

in

Mr. A. V. Alexander (a former First Lord of the Admiralty) for the Opposition expressed qualified satisfaction with the progress vealed in the estimates speech.

rc-

UNITED STATES MAY ACT

re-

Washington, To-day. That the United States might seize Czech Government buildings until an agreement is reached garding the payment of interest on Czech loans by Germany was the only positive answer given by the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Sumner Welles, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Henry Mor genthau, when questioned by cor- respondents concerning the attitude of the United States to the deve- The Admiralty had taken mea- aures for development of the coun-lopments in Central Europe.

Both Ministers stated that try's naval power which would have been excellent in ordinary circum-developments were being closely watched by the United States Gov- stances, but his criticism was that the National Government's foreign ernment and that no official com- policy had led Britain into a

posi-munication had as yet been

ceived from Germany, concerning tion in which the Navy had to face

the changed status ⚫ and

of Czecho- Slovakia.-Trans-Ocean.

The appropriate armament and equipment for a large number of ships which would immediately be NEW COSTS

táken over

for anti-submarine They would be completing 220.-work on the outbreak of war was 000 tons a year compared with an already in stock. average of 170,000 tons in the Mr. Shakespeare then turned to a series of strategical facts years between 1912 and 1914, while the immense

progress since

the strategical dangers which it ought the ton for ton productive effort last war in scientific aid to anti-never to have had to face and which involved taking into account the submarine warfare.

might mean that even with the increasing complexity of design, SUBMARINE DEFENCE enormous expenditure, which the fuller protection and heavier arma- He said: "I cannot of course re-House was being asked to approve, ment would be three times veal the nature and extent of our its strength might not be sufficient greater for battleships and as progress. in this respect, but I be- to give the country the naval se- much as six and a half times great-lieve our methods of detecting,curity 80 vital to it. British. er for destroyers,

hunting and killing submarines are Wireless. more advanced than any others in the world."

Ав an example of this, Mr. Shakespeare mentioned that the cost of fire control gear in the King George V launched in 1912 was £11,000, while that in the bat tleship of the same name launched recently by the King was £213,000. The Minister went on to show it was not only in respect of ships that production was Increasing.

He described to members a hunt for submerged submarines whose position was unknown, in which he had himself taken part, and as a result of which experience he felt able to accept the claim of experts that in favourable circumstances, in nine cases out of ton the exact position of the submarine could be detected without any doubt.

الله

re-

WEATHER FORECAST

The Royal Observatory reports that a moderate anticyclone covers China-and the adjacent seas, it has increased slightly in intensity. A shallow depression is moving east- ward over the northest part of the Sea of Japan.

Local forecast:- N. E. winds, moderate; cloudy.

The

DECKS STIFFENED Mr. Shakespeare (adds Reuter) said that by the end of the year it was anticipated that about 1,000 merchantmen decks stiffened to carry guns.

would have their

annual meeting of the volume of defensive fire, both long and Girls will be held at 4.30 p.m. Modern warships had such ก Salvation Army Home for Women and short range, that would drive aircraft to a height at which, the Embankment Road." His Excellency on Tuesday, March 21, at No. 2, accuracy of their attacking weapons the Governor and Lady Northcote, would be seriously impaired.

have consented to be present tish warships the most modern. anti-

Policy was to concentrate in Bri- and Sir Henry Pollock will preside,

OUTPUT OF GUNS. Over the last three years the output of heavy guns had increas- Finally, he drew attention to the ed twentyfold, and of medium and success of the Nyon patrol in the light guns by five and eight times, Mediterranean as proof that those aircraft guns possible, both long-reconnaisance, speed of manoeuvre respectively. As regards mines, in control of submarines did not range and short-range. Moreover, and power of striking. torpedoes, depth charges, shells themselves underrate the capacity the defensive armatent of modern and fuses, he assured the House of British ships to carry out the warships

Only one branch of the 'Navy that the Admiralty had organised threat to sink any found submerg-shellfire and bombs alike.

gave protection against showed a definite (shortage, name- a supply estimated to suffice for at ed in certain areas:

ly skilled craftsmen. least the first year of war.

UNDERWATER PROTECTION EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Passages of Mr. Shakespeare's

AIR ATTACK.

As regards torpedoes and mines, Steps were being taken to ensure speech which were followed with Regarding attack from the air, Mr. Shakespeare said that improv-supply of an adequate number of close attention dealt with measures the policy of the Admiralty had ed-systems of underwater protec-executive officers to command the for meeting the special threats of been to concentrate in warships the tion had been worked out to pre-expanding fleet. submarine and aerial attack. My

most modern anti-aircraft guns pos-vent

a vital blow being inflicted be Dealing with battleships, Mr. As- to submarines, the Parlia- sible→→→there had been an increase in low the surface.

Shakespeare stated that one of the mentary Secretary argued that the the number of such guns of 75 per Developments in aircraft had re- "Royal Sovereign class will be re- danger, had been exaggerated cent and an attack on a ship brist sulted in the Navy obtaining a sub-placed by a ship the 1987 pro through neglect to observe that of fing with anti-aircraft guns would stantial increase

the scope

gramme. Reuter.