SERVICE NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 152, 29 June 1926, Page 5

SERVICE NOTES.

JAPAN AT GENEVA

CONTINING LIMITS OF DISCUSSION. ON" QUESTION OF DISARMAMENT. I From Our Special i LONDON. .May 7. Our friends the Japanese are very thorough and eminently practical—when they wish to be. Their suggestion that everything not practicable should be rigidly excluded from the forthcoming pow-wow at Geneva, when the representatives of the Powers will discuss the miich-talked-of disarmament question, is worthy of the very best attention of those immediately interested. Unfortunately, when such conferences meet, cracks who invariably bring in irrelevant matte:- cannot be eliminated, and. therefore much valuable time is lost in discussing mere academic questions.

There is so much difference of opinion in what is really essential to conduct war on decent and honourable lines that it is highly improbable any all round conclusions can be come to. Each State hugs to itself what it believes to be its own best weapon, and as doggedly favours the abolition of the weapon which could be used most deadly against it.

The question of poison gases will certainly occupy a great deal of the time of the conference, but, to my mind, more will turn on the submarine question — what does and what does not constitute honourable submarine warfare. Personally. 1 do not think that anything constitutes honourable submarine warfare, for the simple season that no submarine can carry oft the survivors of a torpedoed ship. In the olden days, the survivors of a defeated ship were usually treated with some consideration, and certainly no British ruan-of-war ever left an eneniy in a sinking condition without making " some provision for the survivors. The "best that can be said of the submarine is that it is a cruel weapon, and the pity of it is that it should have been forced" upon our own nan' by the action of other navies. While Japan, at least theoretically, is disposed against poison gases, she believes that the submarine is an essential weapon to her safety, and to the danger of a potential enemy. For that reason she is improving and strengthening her underwater navy, in which the U.S.A. is rivalling her. By all accounts the submarines' of both these Powers are really submersible cruisers, designed to remain long periods at sea without refuelling, and" carrying a very heavy armament. We know, beyond any doubt, that our own. navy now possesses at least one submarine capable of doing anything between 23 and 27 knots. Submarines of such dimensions would be a mighty factor in a Pacific Ocean war. where naval bases are so few and far between. Japan is presently building 20 submarines, and some little particulars are known of at least half of these. One is of 5970 tons surface displacement. two of 1500 tons, and the remainder about 1000 tons displacement. Eight of the 1-300 tons type are already in active commission, have engines of 0000 horse-power, and 15.5 knots surface speed, while the armament consists of one 12-pounder, one machiue gun. and half a dozen torpedo tubes. Others are provided with dropping gear discharges, and altogether present v formidable array for under water service. Tlie biggest under-water boats in the service of the U.S.A. are of 2164 tons displacement, 21 knots speed, and carry an armament of one five-inch gun, two machine guns and half a dozen 21-inch torpedo tubes, and their magazines hold 10 of these weapons. A still larger one, to be known as the V 4, will carry, when completed, a six-inch gun. four 21-inch torpedo tubes and 00 mines, within her displacement of 2890 tons, while she and two sisters ot hers, V 5 and VG, are calculated to give 17 knots surface speed, and two-thirds of that when submerged. In our own service the submarine XI has, apparently, reached the maximum limit of usefulness. On the surface she displaces 253-3 tons, and when submerged 3000 tons, and her surface speed has been placed as high as 25 knots (unofficially). Her armament (officially) comprises six 21-inch torpedo tubes. She has a length of 350 feet, with a comparatively narrow beam, and no one with the slightest pretensions to naval knowledge could mistake her for other than a long-distance cruiser, capable of keeping up a series of attacks from unexpected quarters. Such a submersible cruiser would be capable of even chasing and sinking a fast enemy cruiser. Apparently there is no dearth of aspirants for military glory, notwithstanding the rigid physical, medical and educational tests to which the would-be recruit for the regular army is subjected. The War Office "has just announced that once a man has passed from his colour service to the Army Reserve he will not be allowed to rejoin, unless in exceptional circumstances—a delightfully vague contingency, which might mean anything. In these days of low wages and much unemployment" men who have just passed into the reserve experience a considerable difficulty in getting work in civil life, and" not unnaturally try to rejoin the colours. The War Office, however, is engaged in building up a big and cheap reserve, and the comparative plentif ulness of recruits for a short service further complicates the problem of what to do with time-expired men.