UNDERSEA CRAFT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 155, 4 July 1927, Page 7

UNDERSEA CRAFT.

Britain Would Prefer To Ban Submarines. | USEFUL TO SMALL POWERS. i j (British Ofllcial Wireles-. > | (Received 1.20 p.m.) RUGBY, July 3. The Technical Committee of the Xaval Limitation Conference at | Geneva continued its discussions yes- ! terday on submarines. A communique states that pro\isional ! agreement oil some points which were ! left untouched at the previous meeting | was reached. ! The newspapers state that armament ! of five-inch guns for Mibmarines had al- , ready been accepted when the committee j met and questions of tonnage and age j periods of large and small vessels were considered. As already stated there was little opposition to the British proposal for limiting tonnage of coastal defence submarines to 000, but some of the delegates doubted whether 1(500 tons for foreign vessels was large enough in case | of Powers unprovided with distant bases. ! British Proposals Modified. The "Sunday Times" says it would I appear that the Technical Committee I after close examination fixed 1800 as the j maximum tonnage and laid down 13 ! years, as against the British proposal of ] 1j years fur the life of submarines. The "Observer'' says the British proposal for dividing cruisers into two categories, large and small, is now being examined and is facilitated by the fact that Britain has supported her proposal with detailed reasons. At present the United States has 129 submarines, built or building, Britain has 74, and Japan 05. Tl!e British standpoint, shared by the United States, is that it would be better for the world if submarines were definitely barred as a war weapon, but this is opposed by the smaller naval Powers, who look to submarines as their chief weapon of naval defence, as they were proved during the war to be a deadly menace to surface ships.