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SECRET.

No. 76-C.

AUSTRALIA.

C.O. No. 30760/09.

Scale of Attack under existing Conditions.

T

Memorandum by the Committee of Imperial Defence.

THE Colonial Office referred to the Committee of Imperial Defence a telegram dated the 15th September, 1909, from the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, in which he enquires whether any modification of the scale of probable attack on Australia, as laid down by the Committee of Imperial Defence in 1906, has become necessary owing to alterations during the last three years in the balance of naval power and recent naval developments; and, if so, whether any change in the armament of defended ports is recommended.

2. The telegram of the Governor-General of the Commonwealth was received at a time when the general principles affecting the defence of the oversea Dominions and Colonies were undergoing a comprehensive review and revision.

It was accordingly decided that the consideration of the particular case of Australia should be deferred pending the completion of a general Memorandum dealing with the defence of the Dominions and Colonies as a whole.

3. In the Colonial Defence Committee's Memorandum No. 417 M., dated the 7th July, 1910, which has received the approval of the Committee of Imperial Defence, the general principles of Imperial defence, as set forth in their Memorandum No. 348 M., dated the 2nd August, 1905, have been restated with modifications necessitated to meet the change of conditions brought about by recent developments of naval matériel and alterations in the naval situation throughout the world. The question of the scale of probable attack on Australia under existing conditions will now be considered in the light of the general principles stated in that Memorandum. The question of armaments of defended ports will be dealt with in a separate Memorandum.

4. It is obvious that the course of events in war cannot be predicted with certainty; and in recording the following opinions as to the probable nature and scale of oversea attack on Australia, the Admiralty desire to point out that they must not be held to have given an absolute guarantee that any particular form of operation will not be undertaken in war. All that they claim to do is to state what forms of oversea attack, having regard to the general strategic situation, they consider to be reasonably probable, with a view to furnishing a reasoned basis for the calculation of the standard of defences required at any place, so as to ensure that the defences are provided on a uniform system and that wasteful expenditure is avoided.

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5. As regards naval attack, the view expressed in the Colonial Defence Committee's Memorandum No. 362 M., that “the employment of armoured cruisers as of battle-

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ships in Australian waters is not a contingency which in the light of present and

"future naval developments, as far as can now be judged, need reasonably be

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'expected," was arrived at after an examination of the nature of the probable objectives in Australian territory as they existed in 1906.

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