NAVAL COSTS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 149, 23 March 1928, Page 11

NAVAL COSTS

NO PROSPECT OF DECLINE IN UNITED STATES

INDICATIONS OF APPRECIABLE UPWARD TREND

REPORT OF APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE

A committee of the United States House of Representatives, reporting on the Navy Appropriations Bill, says it can see no prospect of declining naval costs in the’ near future, and that all indications point to an appreciable upward trend.

By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.

Washington, March 21.

The annual Navy Appropriations Bill, reported in the House of Representatives to-day, provides for the largest expenditure since before the Washington Conference. The total of 369,190,259 dollars includes funds for continuing construction on ten vessels now building, modernising two others, including gun elevation, beginning work on two new airships, building two more submarine salvage vessels, and additional aeroplanes, and maintaining the Marine Corps in home activities and in Nicaragua and China. The committee says that it can see “no prospect of declining naval costs in the-near future,” and “all indications point to an appreciable upward trend.” LARGE OUTLAY ON BIG CRUISERS. The'large outlay in 1929 is explained by the fact that a'll the eight _lO,OOO-ton cruisers authorised in 1924 will be under construction at one time. Looking into the future with an eye on the sixteen new vessels recently authorised, the report declared that the funds required would “swell the aggregate of future annual Appropriation Bills to sums considerably in excess of' the total Bill herewith presented.” The total of the direct appropriations is about 20 million dollars above those of 1927, but with appropriations already authorised in the urgent Deficiency Bill at the present session, the increase will be nearly 43 INCREASED VOTE FOR AVIATION. The present Bill does not carry, funds for the new programme. Its principal feature is that aviation gets the lion’s share, totalling 31,315,000 dollars, or an increase of over 50 per cent. In 1927 the Appropriation Committee published in its report the testimony given at the hearings, and it transpired that Mr. C. D Wilbur (Secretary of the Navy) and other naval officers rejected the 'proposal of the chairman (Mr. French) of the sub-committee to cut

expenditures by agreeing with Britain and Japan to decommission part of the fleets. Mr. Wilbur contended that ship operation was needed in order to keep the crews in training. TESTING BOMBS FROM AIRCRAFT BRITISH EXPERIMENTS ADVANTAGE OF HIGH SPEED FLIGHT London, March 21. In the House of Commons the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. W. C. Bridgeman, told Commander Kenworthy (Lab.) that experiments were being carried out with scale models in tanks to test bombs from aircraft, designed to explode under water on the hulls of shins. They were also watching American experiments. It was not in. the. public interest' to reveal the results. Commander Kenworthy; Are yon aware that the American experimentshave shown that large bombs from air- . craft could disable or sink the most modern ships ? Are experiments with models in tanks sufficient? ' Mr. Bridgeman: All our experiments are not made with models, in tanks. Sir Samuel Hoare, in reply to a question said that the late Lieutenant Kinkead since 1927 had had experience with various types of-aircraft.- He tested'the machine the day before he was killed. The Air Ministry had received no evidence .that ethyl-petrol fumes hadanything "to "do with the accident. ' ' Asked what was the. practical advantage of flying at these high speeds, the Minister replied that there were great and distinct advances ih engines and the designs of aircraft and floats.— A.P.A. and “Sun.”