DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 125, 19 February 1921, Page 7

DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA

ADMIRAL KING.-H ALL’S ADVICE.

Admiral Sir G. F. King-Hall, Commander in-C'hicf of the Australian Naval Station from 1910 to 1913. in an interview with the London representative of the Sydney- ‘ Sun,” says — "I totally disagree with Admiral William Henderson’s statement that the existing type of battleship is obsolete. Battleships, however modified, will always be the final .arbitrament in war. . lioweyer ihe aircraft or the torpedo develop, the gnu will remain tho final champion of the war. Most of the flagofficers w.elre engaged on /the narrow waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean, where the submarine and aircraft had advantages which they can not maintain on wider waters of tho world. We must not generalise for the great world empire from 100 narrow premises. "As an instance take Australia, with its thousands of miles of coastline, heavy gales, tempestuous seas on tne southern coast, and tropical conditions on the northern coast. When I left for Australia to take command. ‘Jackie’ Fisher urged me to try to get the Australians to rest their security upon submarines, and Have hundreds round the coast, scrapping other programmes. I was taken aback, and did not attempt to do so. I now ask. anyone what would have been the result had the policy been adopted. I soy nor emphatically that submarines and aircraft alone for Australia would mean that she would be the prey of any strong Eastern Power, and a very easy one, too. Australia X needs every class of vessel. Great Britain, as the heart of the Empire, needs the same, in order to be able to send battleships and cruisers to any part needin s...,P ro tcction or “Generally, I favour Lord Jellicoe’s plans, and see no reason for modifying them at present, except on the grounds of expense and exhaustion. There is no doubt that the battleship will be modified, and will be the same as in the Napoleonic wars, in which huge threedeckers were the exception, and handy two-deckers formed the backbone of the fleet. The projected leviathans will be found too costly ami cumbrous, and probably as vulnerable as smaller 'armoured vessels. "The Australian bn.se should be as near to a foe as possible. There ,is no likely foe southward, but there is (north 'y ar d- The main base should be at Fort Stephens, with a strong .subsidiary base, in the north-west, and lesser bases in the south. But until funds .are available Sydney seems the best base.”