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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]

Printed for the use of the Colonial Defence Committee.

SECRET.

No. 429 M.

C.O. No. 30760/09.

II.

AUSTRALIA.

Scale of Attack.

Memorandum by the Colonial Defence Committee.

THE Colonial Office have referred to the Colonial Defence Committee 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 reached the Colonial Defence Committee at a time when they were engaged in reviewing the general principles affecting the defence of the oversea Dominions and Colonies. 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.

Scale of Attack on Australia hitherto regarded as reasonably Probable.

4. In paragraph 9 of the Colonial Defence Committee's Memorandum No. 362 M., dated the 15th May, 1906, entitled General Scheme of Defence, Australia, the document referred to by the Governor-General of the Commonwealth in his telegram of the 15th September, 1909, it is stated that-

"it may now safely be assumed that the exigencies of modern naval warfare will, in all reasonable probability, compel an enemy to reserve his armoured cruisers for the more important strategical operations such as working with his battle fleets, operating against our detached squadrons, protecting his own commerce, and, in short, operating against other warships and not against land defences. The employment of armoured cruisers, as of battleships, 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 expected.

If raiding attacks on Australian ports are attempted the classes of vessels employed will, therefore, in all probability be those which are of small value for the major operations of naval warfare, such as unarmoured cruisers or armed merchant auxiliaries.

"The number of vessels which may be expected to operate together must be small, since the main hope of success will lie in suddenness of execution and in ability to eludo observation and

[241]

کرم

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