CUTS IN U.S. NAVY OPPOSED

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25933, 13 October 1949, Page 5

CUTS IN U.S. NAVY OPPOSED

Admirals Speak At Inquiry CRITICISM OF AIR STRATEGY (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Oct. 11. Admiral William Blandy, Com-mander-in-Chicf of the United States Atlantic Fleet, to-night urged Congress to prevent further “unwarranted” cuts in the Navy’s strength. Testifying before the House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee, Admiral Blandy said that any war with Russia would be a long, world struggle, not merely an atomic blitz. He expressed the hope that Congress would amend the law for the unification of the armed forces. Referring to the order by the Secretary of Defence (Mr Louis Johnson) cancelling the construction of a 60.000ton aircraft-carrier. Admiral Blandy said that the United States would quickly lose command of the seas if the Navy was forbidden to build bigger and better carriers. Admiral “Blandy also made these points: (1) If war broke out the Russian army would have little difficulty in overrunning Western Europe and capturing its vast industries. (2) The United States did not intend to obliterate the cities, factories, and people of her Western European allies with atomic bombs. (3) United States ground forces would have to move across the sea as they did in the Second World War to dislodge and defeat the enemy, and a powerful navy was needed to protect and control the sea highways. Admiral Blandy also challenged the argument that there is no need for a big navy because Russia is not a naval Power. He said that the United States Navy lost 10.000 men at Okinawa, where there was no enemy fleet. “Ruthless” Air Strategy The committee heard Admiral Ralph Ofstie, an atomic bombing expert, attack the Air Force’s atomic bombing strategy as “ruthless and barbaric.” Admiral Ofstie. a member of the Atomic Energy Commission’s military liaison committee, said that the Air Force was bent on repeating its “historical mistake” of the Second World War. Mass atomic bombing of an enemy’s cities would contribute little to the winning of another war, but would “sow more misery for us to reap in the next post-war era.” Admiral Ofstie added: “My criticism is aimed at the kind' of bombing that includes random mass slaughter of men, women, and children. If we consciously adopt a ruthless and barbaric policy towards other peoples, how can we prevent the breakdown of those standards of morality which have been a guiding principle of our democracy since its inception?” Admiral Ofstie quoted British and American surveys to show that the bombing campaign of the last war was not decisive. Yet, he said, the theory persisted that industrial centres were most vulnerable targets. Captain J. Sides told the committee that German anti-aircraft rockets designed to search out and destroy bombers flying at 485 miles an hour at 65.000 feet, had fallen into Russian hands at the end of the war.