UNITED STATES NAVY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 83, 18 January 1928, Page 2

UNITED STATES NAVY.

THE AIRCRAFT PROGRAMME. NEW CONSTRUCTION PLANS. WASHINGTON, January 17. Admiral Hughes (Chief of Naval Operations), informed the House Naval Affairs Committee that the five new aircraft carriers asked for in the fiveyear programme would bring the United States to its limit of .135,000 tons for this class of ship under the "ft ashington Treaty, but an unlimited number of aeroplane carriers under 10,000 | tons each could be built without violating the treaty. The contemplated aircraft carriers would carry seventysix aeroplanes each. Mr Britton asked the State Department for an interpretation of the exact limitation on aircraft carriers in the Washington Treaty. Admiral Hughes said that ci'uisers must serve to protect the foreign trade routes of the United States. Mr McOlintock asked whether it was not more important to have aeroplanes than cruisers and battleships. Mr Britton quoted the "Manchester Guardian" to the effect that the projected naval programme was a "paper programme," and intimated that it was necessary to fix a time limit within which the ships would be built. The Assistant-Secretary of the Navy, (Mr Warner), announced that the Navy had on order 380 aeroplanes, consisting of 100 bombers, 160 observation 'planes and 120 fighting 'planes. All these were to be of trie most modern design, and would be completed within nine months. "This number alone," said Mr Warner, "is larger than any force known to be in existence in any other country."