THIRTY MILLIONS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 30, 4 August 1921, Page 7

THIRTY MILLIONS

FOUR BIG BATTLE-

CRUISERS

PROVISION IN NAVAL ESTIMATES

KEEPING BRITAIN UP TO DATE.

(0NIIE» MUSS ASSOCUTION.-COPIMSIT.)

(AUSTRALIAN - NBW ZEAMND CAILE ASSOCIATION.)

(Received August 4, 10 a.m.)

LONDON, 3rd August.

Colonel L. C. Amery, Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, speaking in the House of Commons in submitting the, Naval Estimates, which include provision for four capital' Ships, said this, provjsion did not mean a policy of competition or challenge, but simply the feplacemont of obsolete ships. A ■ few hours of actual fighting in the late war had sufficed to revolutionise ideas as.to tho necessary type of battleship. Other Powers had not been slow to make uso of that experience, and there were at present under construction ivhole battle fleets of a type incomparably more powerful than any afloat at the Battle of Jutland. Japan would have eight completed by 1925, and eight more completed by 1928, while the United, States would have twelve of these supreme engines of war, each over 43,000 tons, completed by 1925. The construction of four ships could not, under the circumstances, be regarded as provocative; on the contrary, the Admiralty might be open to a charge of allowing the Navy to fall below the standard of other Powers. This was a rislo only to be justified by the general financial situation and the airability of avoiding any step that invited a competition in armaments on the ove of a conference the object of which was to avoid competition. (Cheers.) In the matter of design we were not trying to steal a march on other Powers, but were only bringing ourselves up to date with modern developments. The new ships would be ' "battlecruisers" of the Hood type, but improved with regard to armaments and protection in the light of war experience. They would be equipped with 16-inch guns. The day of> submarine or aeroplane had not yet arrived, and therefore the capital ship remained the pivot 'of naval warfare.

The ships would be constructed in private yards, as/the Government dockyards were not large enough for ships of such size. It was intended, as soon as finances permitted, to bring the Government dockyards up to date. Mr. Asquith, referred to the resolution of the Imperial Conference deferring commitment to a naval policy until after the result of the Washington Conference is known. He gravely doubted if it was necessary or wise at present to commit ourselves to these new ships. He put their cost at thirty millions, which was a serious commitment at the moment.