NEW NAVY NEEDED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 63, 26 December 1935, Page 5

NEW NAVY NEEDED.

EARL BEATTY’S ADVOCACY. THREE POST-WAR. CAPITAL SHIPS (United Press Association—Copyi’ight.) LONDON, December 24. Admiral of the Fleet Earl Beatty, in an article in the “United Services Journal,” declares that it is urgently necessary to reorganise the British Navy. He says that of the 15 major ships in the fleet only three were built since the War, and only a few others have been improved to resist air and submarine attacks. Britain's naval strength in addition to these is represented by 51 ships of all classes, plus 10 building. “Half of these were built before or during the War. They are ill-equipped for attack, insufficiently protected, and too slow, judged by modern standrns,” lie says. The position of the naval air arm is hardly less disastrous, Earl Beatty declares. There are only eight air-craft-carriers at a period when aircraft are destined to play a dominant part in naval warfare. The article concludes by stating that unless the Naval Conference agrees to a limitation programme, £150,000,000 will bo required, to be .spent over a period of years, to put Britain’s defences on a satisfactory basis.