Threat To Pacific Peace Seen

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31061, 17 May 1966, Page 1

Threat To Pacific Peace Seen

The greatest threat to peace in the Pacific was the determination of the Communists not to have peace in South-east Asia, said Vice-Admiral P. H. Ramsey, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (air), United States Navy, in Christchurch yesterday.

Admiral Ramsey is visiting New Zealand as guest of honour for Coral Sea battle commemoration ceremonies to be held in Auckland and Wellington this week. He said that as long as the Communists were determined against peace in South-east Asia there would be no peace. However, it was hoped that the endeavours of the United States, Australia and New Zealand in Vietnam would help bring the Communists to the negotiating table.

Admiral Ramsey’s main concern is naval aviation. He said aircraft carriers would be a major force in defence for the next 50 to 100 years. They had proved their worth in the Second World War, and since had proved it again and again in such campaigns as Lebanon, Suez, and the Dominican Republic. Attack carriers would retain their importance because they helped provide a flexible response to aggression, and gave mobility and enabled a rapid reaction. They also helped to provide a reaction of any required intensity. Nuclear Carriers There would be few if any more conventionally-powered carriers built in the United States, and approval had recently been given for the construction of several more nu-clear-powered aircraft carriers in the next seven years. Although nuclear carriers were more expensive than conventional vessels, they were more economical in the long term. In the main the carrier force comprised two

vital sections, attack carriers and anti-submarine carriers. Submarines were very important in naval warfare, and their importance had certainly not decreased since the Second World War. There was a difference in the roles of the submarines built by the United States and by Russia, however, for the United States built them primarily to provide massive retaliation in the event of attack, and to hunt enemy submarines, rather than to interdict supply lines. Admiral Ramsey said one development which could transform naval aviation was the development of a satisfactory vertical take-off aircraft. That would mean that carriers could be much smaller, which would, in turn, mean that they could be much cheaper. The United States and Britain had cooperated on the development of vertical take-off aircraft, but at present it was impossible to provide both the vertical take-off facility and the needed in-flight performance.

Speaking of the Fill aircraft, Admiral Ramsey said that at present the manufacturers were remedying faults in the design such as high drag. He thought the aircraft had great potential. Admiral Ramsey was met at the airport by Mr H. J. Walker, M.P., who represented the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake); the United States Ambassador (Mr H. B. Powell) and Mrs Powell; the Chief of Naval Staff (RearAdmiral J. O’C. Ross); the commander of the United States Navy Antarctic base at Harewood (Commander W. H. Withrow); and Mr D. A. Johnston, reception officer for the Internal Affairs Department.

The DC6 aircraft, in which he flew from Sydney, landed at Christchurch Airport about 4 p.m., and he was greeted by a guard of honour and band from the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. He will visit Mount Cook today, together with Mrs Ramsey and Mr and Mrs Powell. On Wednesday he will fly to Wellington, where he has several formal engagements. To See Minister

While in Wellington Admiral Ramsey will meet the Minister of Defence (Mr Eyre), and will be guest at a luncheon given by Mr Holyoake. He will meet the New Zealand chiefs of staff, lay a wreath at the Wellington Citizens’ War Memorial, and call on the Governor-General (Sir Bernard Fergusson). Admiral and Mrs Ramsey will leave Auckland by air for Fiji on Friday.