USE OF AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27592, 24 February 1955, Page 7

USE OF AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

U.S. Admiral's Reply To Critics (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) CINCINNATI (Ohio), February 22. Admiral Robert Carney, Chief of United States Naval Operations, said yesterday that nuclear progress was reaching the point where shipboard guided missiles could be tipped with atomic warheads for defence against air attack. Atomic power plants for aircraft were closer than had been expected, and might have attractive possibilities for use in seaplanes. He predicted that atomic propulsion would become “commonplace in our navy.”

Admiral Carney made his statements in an address to the Cincinnati Chapter of the Navy League, the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, and the Naval Reserve Advisory Council. His speech was a vigorous reply to recent criticism of aircraft-carriers by Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery, and suggestions by United States Air Force officials that sea transport would be hamstrung by enemy submarines at the start of a war.

Without mentioning Lord Montgomery by name, Admiral Carney referred to ‘‘critics from overseas who have sincerely proffered their help to us in determining the future strategy of the United States.”

Lord Montgomery, who is Deputy Supreme Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, said in recent speeches in the United States that no more carriers should be built. • Admiral Carney said of the criticism: “We must carefully consider the source of such advice.” He said it was not necessarily imbued with an understanding of United States problems.

Aircraft-carriers were well defended, and hard targets to hit. “You should see what happens to an approaching aircraft when a modern surface-to-air guided missile sallies forth to extend its greetings. And do not forget that the atomic art is reaching the point where guided missiles could be tipped with atomic warheads. That kind of flak could make large segments of the sky untenable,” he said.