THE FRENCH NAVY.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 136, 9 June 1909, Page 5

THE FRENCH NAVY.

%20 BULLIONS TO BE SPENT,

rORTY-FIVE BATTLESHIPS.

(Received 5.15 a.m.)

PARIS, June 8. The Naw Council has decided that forty-five battleships should form the j fighting line of the French navy, and that the effective life of each battleship should ,te 20 years. "The" necessary construction to effect | ■this will involve spending a sum of 120 -millions sterling in ten years. • Iβ an article headed ""The Debacle of ■ bur Navy. Neither men nor guns, nor projectiles." which he contributed to the *>latin." M- Doumer, formerly president of the Chamber of Deputies, and a ineinj, er of the commission of investigation into the state of the navy, fully con- j firmed all that has lately been said abou f it. He pointed out that the political | . situation of Europe and the grouping of j 'tie nations had led to the concentration ! 'of France's naval power in the Mediter- i xanean, and so at Toulon. The active ■ equadron contained six battleships of the j •Patrie class, and three cruisers of the Gambetta class. This was not a - force, hut its quality was good, and "tritn its flotillas it ought to prove effective. But a few weeks ago, when complications, now averted for a while, seemed imminent, it was not ready for j active service. Each ship should have a j I crew of 700 men, but about 100 were r lacking to each. As for the material, '■one of the battleships had no shot for its email guns. Another battleship is yet , waiting for one of its four big guns, .which came to grief last year, to be replaced. It, as well as two sister ships, had long been without some very necessary guns, although, as M. Doumer ob- . serves, they ought always to be kept prepared for action. As this is the conedition of the active squadron, the state of the reserve squadron may be imagined. | •'ln all its ships, personnel, material, and upkeep are lacking." People, M. Douijner remarks in conclusion, will say that 'ruch a state of things has long existed. (This may be, l>ut one thing- has changed. fTen years ago France was still the second i naval Power in the world. No one doubted this fact. And what place does she hold now? The fourth, or even the rank. How has she fallen from her high position ? What are the reasons ? (The Committee of Investigation has ad- • located a bold policy, and one in entire opposition to the Minister for Finance, -Srho consistently refused to support large naval credits, but who will probably be How forced to supply the sinews for the return of the fleet to something of its former power.