BRITAIN’S NAVY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 21, 19 October 1938, Page 6

BRITAIN’S NAVY

Her New Grand Fleet

WHAT EXPANSION MEANS IN SHIPS AND MEN

It was an event of historic significance when, on May 3. 11.M.5. Afridi was commissioned at Portsmouth. In ordinary circumstances the commissioning of a new destroyer would not excite much comment. In this case the simple ceremony was a portent, wrote Hector C. Bywater, the “Daily Telegraph’s” naval correspondent recently. The meaning of that portent is fully recognised in naval and diplomatic circles at home and abroad. For the Afridi, of 1850 tons, is the first unit to be completed of a naval construction programme which embraces nearly 600,000 tons of new fighting ships, a figure that exceeds half the aggregate tonnage of the British Navy of 1935. She is, in fact, the forerunner of the future Grand Fleet which: is being built to guard the 80,000 miles of seaways that constitute the arteries of the British Commonwealth. Fourteen years of unilateral disarmament had left those arteries dangerously exposed, as we discovered when the Mediterranean crisis arose iu the autumn of 1935.

A Dangerous Policy. To consolidate our position in that sea we had, almost literally, to "recall the legions” by detaching ships from every foreign station to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet. During those critical nine months it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to provide adequate protection for shipping ou any routes but those iu home waters, the Mediterranean and the African roundabout. It was while the crisis was still acute that the Afridi and six sister vessels were ordered under a supplementary vote to the Navy Estimates of 1935. Their unusual size and heavy armament were a tacit admission that our earlier post-war destroyers were outclassed by the big flotilla leaders in which certain Continental navies had specialised. For the sake of economy we had been building ships which, good in themselves, were inferior in tonnage and gun-power to potential opponents —a false and dangerous policy which ignored the tragic lesson of Coronel and other bitter experiences, such as the one-sided Pegasus-Koenigsberg duel. In consequence of the Mediterranean crisis and the steady deterioration of the general political situation, the longdelayed restoration of the navy was tackled in earnest in the spring of 1936. Still hampered by treaty restrictions —which, infer alia, forbade the building of battleships before 1937 and kept our cruiser tonnage within arbitrary limits —the Admiralty laid its plans for the rebuilding of the fleet. An unobtrusive census of all naval shipbuilding and armament resources was taken. The result was surprising. Jump in Production. Firms which had been working at low pressure during the years of economic depression boldly offered to accept contracts which would entail a threefold increase in production, and when the offers were accepted the subsequent orders were fulfilled according to promise. Heavy ordnance and armour-plate plants which had lain practically idle since the war were reconditioned and put into service again. The most serious problem to be solved was the shortage of skilled labour. This still persists, though it is being overcome as the larger number of apprentices entered in the’ past three years advance in training. The Navy Estimates for 1936 provided for two battleships, two aircraft carriers, seven cruisers, 17 destroyers, seven submarines and many auxiliary vessels. This was by far the largest programme to be introduced since the war, yet it proved to be well within the capacity of the shipbuilding and armament industries. The following table shows the building programmes for 1936-38, inclusive:

Collectively these ships form a powerful and well-balanced fleet, the last unit of which should be in commission by 1942. Five of the battleships belong to the King George V class, 35,000 tons, protected by 7 massive armour, engined for a speed of about 30 knots, and armed with numerous 14iu. guns, hard-hitting, longrange weapons with a high rate of fire. Their anti-aircraft batteries are the most formidable ever installed in British men-of-war.

Air Arm’s Revival. The two battleships of the 1938 programme are to be larger, though they will not exceed 40,000 tons. They are to mount lOin. guns. It is understood that further battleships will be provided for in next year's Estimates. Four of the aircraft-carriers now building are ships of 23,000 tons; the fifth may be somewhat larger. Their designed speed is approximately 31 knots, and they are reported to have accommodation for 70 aircraft. Together with the 22,000-ton Ark Royal, which is to be commissioned next mouth, they will take to sea some 420 aeroplanes, a total that will be considerably increased if, as is anticipated, five of the older carriers are retained on the active list. Furthermore, at least 100 aircraft will eventually be borne in battleships and cruisers fitted with catapults. When it is mentioned that at the beginning of this year the Fleet Air Arm had a total strength of only 230 aircraft, the magnitude of the Admiralty’s effort to develop naval aviation will be appreciated. Both before and during the Mediterranean crisis the dearth of cruisers gave rise to anxiety. These ships fulfil so many functions that the demand for them must always outrun the supply. Upon them devolves the direct responsibility of guarding the trade routes —under the protecting wing of the battle fleet —and in view of the enormous area of set) to bo covered it is clear that the present authorised establishment of 60 modern and 10 over-age cruisers is inadequate. That this total will be increased in the near future is considered inevitable.. Value of Submarines. Destroyers, too, ap the Navy's “maids of all work,” are in constant demand for duty as battle fleet screens, convoy, and anti-submarine work. Even when the construction programme is

completed we shall have only lOS modern destroyers, plus about 60 old boats dating from the war period. The omission of destroyers from the 1938 building plan has evoked criticism, but there is reason to believe that a number of these vessels will be ordered next year.

On the question of submarines naval opinion is divided, one school doubting their value to the British Navy, and the other maintaining that they are Indispensable both for reconnaissance ami attack.

Both schools agree, however, iu deprecating the tendency, observable in. recent speeches by public men, to dismiss the submarine as an out-moded weapon no longer to be regarded as a serious menace. Naval officers are under no such illusion. Submarines are just as dangerous to merchant vessels to-day as they were iu 1914-18, and, despite all the progress in detection and counter-attack methods made since the Great War, no commanding officer of a warship would feel comfortable if he knew that enemy submarines were in bls vicinity. In addition to the impressive programme of new construction tabulated above, the dockyards are working at full pressure ou the modernisation of older vessels. Battleships, battle cruisers, cruisers, and destroyers have been, or are to be, thoroughly reconstructed, and although a rejuvenated warship can never be the equal of a new unit, reconstruction adds years to its useful life.

Refilling the Ranks. So far only the material aspect of naval rearmament has been considered, but it is hardly necessary to say that the backbone of the Royal Navy is in its man-power. During the years of forced economy the Fleet was grievously uiider-manned, aud serious hardship was inflicted on the personnel by the disproportionate amount of foreign service which bad to be performed. Moreover, as practically all ships were short-handed, officers aud men were overworked. To-day, in spite of the large increase in personnel—from 89,863 officers aud men in 1933 to 119,000 in the present year—the Fleet is still under-manned, since the total includes nearly 12,000 boys who are not yet fully trained. To cope with the great influx of new entries all the existing training establishments have had to be enlarged, and two new ones established —H.M.S. Caledonia, formerly the liner Majestic, at Rosyth, and H.M.S. Wildfire at Sheerness. Except in certain artificer branches, there has been no difficulty in filling up the depleted ranks of the Navy. Boys and young men of the best type have responded in their thousands to the ageold call of the sea, eager to swerve under the White Ensign. Limitations of space preclude more chan a bare summary of the other measures taken in, the last three years to restore British sea-power. Plans have been laid for reorganising the fleets and squadrons at home and abroad when the construction programme matures. The Fleet Air Arm, so long the Cinderella of the Services, is to be developed on a scale undreamt of until recent times. Cargo Sliips’ Defence. The whole problem of commerce protection on the high seas and in narrow waters has been reviewed in the light at modern conditions, with the result that plans for safeguarding the nation’s food carriers have been prepared to the last detail. It is not pretended that these arrangements are infallible, but they are sufficiently elastic to provide for the most unexpected contingencies. With the co-operation of shipowners the Admiralty is preparing to equip the greater part of our ocean-going merchant fleet with the means of self-de-fence, such as guns for low and highangle fire and anti-mine paravanes. Defence courses for Merchant Navy officers were instituted last year, and over 5000 such officers have already graduated. There is an acknowledged shortage of cargo-carrying ships—about 200 fewer than we had in 1914—but, except for this consideration, it might be claimed with confidence that Britain is in a far better position to-day to meet a challenge to ‘her sea communications than she was at the outbreak of the Great War.

Much of the credit for all that has been achieved in the way of preparedness on the lines I have indicated belongs to the retiring First Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fiet Lord Chatfield, who will always be honoured by the Navy both as a great sea captain and as a naval administrator of the first' order.

1938.1937.1038. Tl. Battleships ... 3 2 7 Aircraftearners o *2, 1 5 Cruisers 7 7 7 21 Destroyers ... 17 16 — 33 Submarines .. 7 3 17