1940-02-21 — Page 5

THE CHINA MAIL, FEBRUARY 21, 1940-

PROSPECT

OF VICTORY

Third article of the sorleş.

In previous articles Mr. Thom- son discussed

(1) the war leaders, man-power

and suppiles,

(2) the possible fields for now

Hitler Invisions.

WAR at SEA

Where is the element of surprise in this war? In the air, because we have not been attacked. At sea, because there we have been forced to face a grim struggle.

This was not expected. IL was thought that the Germans could not carry the war against us on the seas. The German navy is much less for- midable than in the last war, whereas we have spent hundreds of millions in maintaining the power of our fleet,

The taxpayer paid heavily to keep up our naval strength. He did his duty. But there was a failure in other quarters. A failure of foresight. An error in conception,

We built a battle flect when we ought to have equipped ourselves with

a police force. We spent tens of millions

i

on constructing huge capital ships when fraction of the money, laid out on small, fast patrol vessels would have given us freedom from the sub- marine menace.

Now we are paying for the mistakes. of the men who ruled our Navy in the days gone by. And, above all, we are paying for the defects of Mr. Cooper.

*

*

•

Duff

most effective

weapon against the submarine in the last war. Sir Samuel Hoare, who was Cooper's predecessor at the Admiralty, built 17 destroyers in one year of of- fice and 16 in the next.

Cooper was the man who always wanted to fight Hitler.. He resigned from the Government because he could not get his war in 1938. Yet he did not resign when the Naval Estimates failed to equip the Navy with the ships that would afford protection to our merchant shipping against the U-boat, He was a most extraordinary minis- The most determined in his be-

ter.

-By- George Malcolm Thomson

ligerency. And the most neglectful in measures to prepare for the war into which belligerent policies might lend

its.

During his term at the Admiralty Cooper bullt no destroyers although burden of blame for the hard struggle Certainly he does not bear the whole the destroyer was the

which the Navy is now engaged in. There is also Lord Chatfield. He, too, has much to explain.

OLD AGE PENSIONS PROPOSALS

London, To-day.

He was First Sea Lord from 1833 until 1938. Yet he did not prepare the Navy adequately for war against Ger-

many.

ma-

chine-gun attack from a power-diving

Damage has been done by

machine. But the anti-aircraft guns on a ship are a safeguard against the dive,

German airplanes have inflicted some losses on would be a mistake to regard these at- fishing vessels, It tacks as mere senseless brutality. While I do not shut my eyes to the ruthless character of the Germans in warfare. due to the German belief that the fish- It is my opinion that these attacks, are ing vessels signal the approach of air- craft to our shores.

This is of course, not 5Q. And I am convinced that the Germans will, be- fore long, abandon this form of at-

tack.

✡

It appears that the war at sea must be a vital issue in this conflict. It takes the form of attack on merchant shipping by submarine, mine and air- plane. In meeting this danger we are short of patrol and convoy ships for the moment, But we need not feel dismayed by the results that have been achieved.

We have lost 122,000 tons of ship- ping, according to the Prime Minister, new tonnage and captured tonnage. after allowance has

been made for

And we have lost it out of a total of seventeen and a half million tons.

It is a most admirable and comfort ing result. If losses do not exceed this rate, every year that passes will see us with a greatly increased tonnage, on hand.

We cannot expect to capture enemy shipping at the rate of the last four months. But we can look with con- fldence to an immense increase in the " production of new vessels from our

Moreover Lord Chatfield was the technical authority responsible for re- leasing the Irish harbours Bearhaven Cobh and Lough Swilly. To-day the Admiralty would give a great deal to have the harbours back again. The yards.

lack of those bases handicaps us in the

Moving the second reading of the Old Age and Widows' task of hunting down the submarine, one million tons in 1940. I look for- I estimate that the output will be Pensions Bill the Health If we could use them it would simplify ward to a production of two million Minister said that in spite of the convoy system to an extraordinary tons a year if the war goes on. much that divided the Gov-Yet Lord Chatfield, who allowed the

ernment from the Opposition and the many hard words, he felt that both shared a cer- tain pride in being members of a legislature which had not been wholly diverted from its own task by the ne- cessities of war.

extent.

harbours to be abandoned, aral so im- destroyers, actually permitted a re- posed on us the necessity to nave more duction in the number of destroyers built for the fleet.

#

添

With this background of short- sighted policy it is not surprising that the Navy has a hard job on hand to- day. We were expecting a horizontal war at sea. A war of ships against ship. But we have got a vertical war. A war of submarine, of mine and air- plane.

Continuing, Mr. Elliot said the number of persons benefiting had risen half a million when the first act was passed to three million to- day, and while the original cost of old age penions had been about £7,000,000 to-day it was roughly £100,000,000.

Although a proportion of this figure was covered by contributions taxa-attack battleships. In the days of peace tion provided £65,000,000.,

an al

Recent events showed most universal desire to better the condition of older people, as war evidenced

by the number

.

We thought the submarine had been eliminated as a serious peril. But it has proved to be a most dangerous weapon.

We thought that the bomber would

we discussed the impending duel, And we came to the conclusion that the bomber was a terrible menace from the sky to the battleship.

Now the battle has been fought out. It has gone in favour of the battleship. The deciding factor has not been the power of the battleship to defend itself but the inability of the bomber to get

of local authorities of all political parties which had begun to make Granta out of the rates to old age pansioners. The Bill, the Minister said, proceed-home Its blow. ed upon. two principles; first, an im- provement to be made in the general penglons scheme, and, second, the responsibility for pensioners to be assumed by the State and no longer to be shouldered by local authorities. Dealing with the Bill in detall; Mr. Elliot showed that the new proposals would cost an additional £80,000,- 000.---British Wireless.

The precision machine on which ac- curate bombing depents must be used on an even keel.: But an airplane must bank in order to turn. If it tries to turn on an even keel the air- plane side slips.

So the bomber cannot“ strike its blow. Many bombs have been thrown at many battleships. No damage has | bean done.

It may be said that this is an ex- cessively optimistic figure. But if we have smaller shipyard accommodation than in the last war we employ swifter methods of production. And if the Minister of Shipping is carefully selected for his energy, drive and good Judgment, rest assured that those re- sults will be achieved,

*

*

been formidable, although not so heavy The losses of neutral shipping have

There again, we can as in the last four months of 1917. look to an in-

in the last war there was creased output from foreign shipyards derable stepping-up in that production. And capacity is on a larger scale than it to-day neutral shipbuilding was at that time.

0

consi-

naval tonnage this is much the same As for the loss we have suffered in

at the end of 1939 as it was at the end much bigger nayal tonnage than to- of 1914. But in 1914 we possessed a

day. So our loss in this war is really heavier.

But the situation now different.

is entirely We need not feel the same anxiety about naval losses. They are not so important to us.

In the last war the German fleet was in being. A huge British armada was required to watch the Kaiser's navy,

To-day we have many worries. But this time there is no German fleet to loss of everything in order to gain come forth in battle array, to risk the complete victory.

A

portion of our shipbuilding plant to the And so we can devote a larger pro-

construction of merchant vessels, We can do so with the knowledge that we will soon have made up the deficiency of destroyers which confronted us the outbreak of war,"

at

We can have this supreme confiden- ce. The peril on the sea is real. But it will be warded off by the vigilance of our naval patrols and smashed by the hammers of our shipwrights.....

(World copyright.)

TO-MORROW:

Will There Be A Blitzkrieg?

THE WORLD'S MOST PRECISE WRIST WATCH

ROLEX

WRIST WATCH chronometer

USED BY· HENSHAW

KEN WALLER FLYING-OFFICER CLOUSTON MT. EVEREST EXPEDITION And Many More Record-Breaking Flights.

Sole Agents for Hong Kong:

LANE, CRAWFORD, LTD.

'APBIJ