Russia boosts carriers

Press, 18 September 1976, Page 7

Russia boosts carriers

By HENRY STANHOPE, defence correspondent of ; “The Times," through NZPA London

! A fourth aircraft-carrier may now be under construction in the Soviet Union, and a minimum of six are now likely, according to the new) y-published “Janes’ ■Fighting Ships, 1976-77.”

With some 390 submarines and 246 main surface ships jin service, the Soviet Navy seems to have stopped growing in numbers. However, 1 there has been a steady imjprovement in the capability ! of individual ships and the navy’s experience of over- ; seas operations has been ibuilding up at a fast rate. : Captain John Moore, the editor of "Janes,” renews his ! criticism of the “gross waste” in N.A.T.O. navies through the continuing lack jof standardisation. There has been little advance in this ’respect, he says. ' The emergence of as many as 11 new classes of frigate ■ in the West will further contuse a situation in which ’N.A.T.O. ships need spares

for more than 60 differing radar sets, ammunition for more than 30 types of gun, a multitude of missiles, and several kinds of fuel oil pumped through hoses with different kinds of connection.

A “regrettable” lack of uniformity in doctrines and frequencies has also added to the difficulties of staffs faced with co-ordinating operations, as well as for those who have to provide support for the fleets at sea, Captain Moore says. He also argues that, with more than one in four of Britain’s merchant ships east of Suez at any one time, it makes no sense to set the southern boundary of N.A.T.O.’s operations at tae Tropic of Cancer in the Atlantic. With both East and West apparently intent on avoiding full-scale war, there is a need for a widespread presence and imaginative concepts to avoid the harassments and smaller confrontations which are more likely, Captain Moore adds.