THE BRITISH FLEET

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 91, 14 October 1926, Page 18

THE BRITISH FLEET

ITS REDUCED NUMBERS

THE LIMIT OF SAFETY

SERVICES MAINTAINED INTACT IN WARTIME.

One is sometimes tempted to wonder whether the lessons of ten years ago i". jegard to the Navy have been forgotten by our nation, writes Archibald Hurd in the "Daily Telegraph." The seamen of our race, men of the Royal Navy as well as of the mercantile marine, did not disappoint the country's hopes or confidence when the , Great' War descended on us. This country was not invaded; our food supplies, though interfered with by the submarines, never failed us; the, English Channel ivas bridged with ships, and that bridge, carrying millions of soldiers and their supplies, was maintained .intact for upwards of four and a half years; the fighting forces, in more distant theatres were supported regularly and amply; even. the. "Atlantic ferry" was maintained in face of all,the- enemy's ingenious tactics, and American troops wero poured into Europe. And yet, in face of achievements exceeding any- I thing hitherto conceived as possible, who cares very greatly what happens to the Fleet, or is moved by tho present distresses of our Merchant Navy, with hundreds of ships lying idle? When tho House of Commons discusses ■ tho financial provision that should be mado for the Royal Navy some M.P. is certain to raiso cheers by asking, against what foes is it necessary to guard? That question is an old device. It was asked repeatedly throughout all tho years when Germany was building up her sea-power. Even as late as the spring of 1914 resolutions were being sent to Mr. Asquith, as he then was, by gatherings of his followers protesting against the precautionary measures which his Government were taking.. In' a sense wo were arming.against Germany, but in a wider sense we were just maintaining a tradition handed down to us by the Elizabethan seamen and their successors., Sou may read all about it in "The History of the World," which Sir Walter Raleigh, a soldier by training wrote when he was languishing in prison 300 years or so ago. Shakespeare had something to say on the same subject. We needed a strong fleet in those far-off times, because this is an island. It had not then a population of 45,000 - 000 people; its inhabitants numbered about 4,500,000; it supplied all its needs from its own soil, while to-day two»thirds of our people live on overseas supplies; tho world-wide Empire, whose highways are tho oceans, did not then exist. But these men of Queen Elizabeths day were convinced that a strdhtr Navy—the strongest fleet afloat—was essential, and they and their successors of Jater ages made great sacrifices to'1 maintain it. ■ . THE UNFORESEEABLE FUTURE. Let it bo conceded that we have specified enemy in view against whom we must now arm; but let it also be confessed that wo cannot be gazing into a crystal or by other means foresee what the future may unfold. Let it be also remembered that a man-of-w-ir cannot bo built in less than two or three years, and that it takes three times as long to train efficient officers and men to man whatever shipa we may bo able to send to sea in an emergency. It may arise in European waters or In somo distant sea—-no one can toll where a blow may fall. Tho keels which are laid now and tho officers and men who are being moulded into th,o fine virile pattern with which wo havo become familiar, will have to suffice for many years hence in circumstances which no one can forecast. Even the Opposition ha 3 agreed, by its recent voto on Mr. Lansbury's egregious motion in the House of Commons, that we noed somo sort of Navy. Is tho navy small enough to satisfy that section of the nation which has forgotten the extent to which wo.aro dependent on the sea for food and raw materials? I doubt whether tho question in that form has over before been asked; but it seems nioro appropriate in present conditions to put tho matter in that way than .to pose tho unnecessary inquiry: Is tho navy strong onough to meet every probable requiroment? Any M.P. ought to bo ablo to provide an answer from studying tho Navy Estimates of tho pa3t ten or twelve years, with the aid of tho current Navy Lists. Members of Parliament, irrespective of party, aro supposed to examine such documents at least as carefully as an ordinary man oxamines his own accounts; but, of couwo, thoy do nothing of tho Iriml. I wonder if auyono except thu officials who prepare them is really familiar with tho figures presented annually to Parliament, showing the sums which it is proposed to devoto to tho upkeep of tho fleet, or has any conception of how tho money is spent? The Navy Estimates aro very illuminating. They show how radically tho fleet lias bebii cut down, until in capital ships at sea it is weaker than tlio United States navy; wo have in full commission only twelve ships of the lino, and there aro. fifteen under tho Stars and Stripes,' and there will soon be eighteen; we are also weaker in all other vessels, except cruisers. But such comparisons aro invidious. Thoy aro only of interest aa an indication of. tho heights from which we havo fallou—from superiority over any two fleetß to inferiority to ono fleet. And yet thcro are still groans over tho burden which tho navy imposes on tho taxpayers of this country! EXTENT OF DECLINE. Tho full extent of our deciino is reflected in the following statement, showing the strength of tho Royal Navy, so far as battleships, battlecruisers, destroyers, and submarines are concerned, on the cvo of tho war and at the present time:— , ' .Tuly, May, 1914. 1920. Capital ships In full commission 37 12 Capital ships with reduced crows 30 9 Capital ships paid off 1 l Cruisers In full commission .... 41 31 Cruisers with reduced crews .. 54 7 Cruisers paid oft 2 4 Destroyers' in full commission... 11(1 fi4 Destroyers with reduced crews.. 192 113 Dostroyers paid off .14 6 Submarines in full commission . 72 46. Submarines with reduced crows. — 9 Submarines paid off .. — — •Including destroyer leaders and torpedo-bouts. If account be taken of every warship of every description, including auxiliaries of all kinds, the contrast between tho state of the fleet on the eve of the war and to-day is even more notable, in view of the revelation which was made during that struggle of the importance of small craft. We had 306 men-of-war in full, commission^ with 302 with reduced crews and eighteen paid off; now the 306 have been reduced to 210, £he 302 to 201, and in place of eighteen vossels paid off there are twenty-four. Tho fleet is a mere skeleton of what it was in the early summer of 1914. These comparisons, let it be noted, are not concerned with the fleet during the war, when it attained enormous proportions, with 1211 pennants flying in regular men-of-war and 3831 auxiliary craft in commission. The battle fleet which we could now send to sea on mobilisation is less than one-third -the size that .'.b was when the war opened; tho cruisers havo been cut down by *nore than one-half, and of destroyers and submarines we possess

65 per cent, only of the numbers which existed in July, 1914.

How much smaller must the navy be before it will be accepted as small enough? For while ship 3 have been scrapped by the hundred, officers and men have been "put upon the beach." For every 100 officers on the lists twelve years ago there are now eightythree, and for every 100 naval ratings we have sixty-eight, tho whole personnel having been reduced by 31 per cent.—by nearly one-third. How much further must the movement go, representing an irreparable loss of skill in the use of naval instruments of war, as well as in seamanship? The one failure of the Admiralty to obey the command to economise at all costs and in every direction has been in respect to the dockyards. The staffs of these establishments have been cut down only by 5 per cent., in face of the shrinkage of the .fleet for the repair of which the dockyards exist.