NAVAL INCREASE

Evening Post, Issue 149, 20 December 1935, Page 5

NAVAL INCREASE

ASKED BY LOKD BEATTYj

COMMAND OF THE SEA

Great Britain needs to spend at least £150,000,000 on naval building, in the opinion of Admiral Earl Beatty, before she can keep, her command of the seas and play her ,part in enforcing world peace, says the "New York Times* London correspondent. ' , ■ Lord Beatty declared the Britisfi Navy must have at least thirty ne\y; cruisftrs, 110 new destroyers and flotilla leaders, - and six new squadrons' of.; naval aircraft. • In addition he -urged" that coast defences at Gibraltar, Malta, and Singapore be strengthened- speedily and that- five battleships and twa battle cruisers be reconditioned from stem to stern. ; . There is especial interest in Lord Beatty's demands because the Government has stubbornly refused to tell the country how much, it wants in the way of naval re-armament." Lor& Beatty has been speaking recently oii behalf of Government candidates in. the election campaign*'and his viewjs are believed to be those of othei: Admiralty leaders. . .«.. "Command of'the sea," he wrote ii». the "Evening Standard," "is an esserii tial element in any- scheme of collective security for the. enforcement ot peace by sanctions,'economic or armed. It is because doubt has now arisen as to whether our Navy is in fact in 4 position to'carry out this all-important role that its wholesale reconditioning is so urgently.necessary. IT' NEEDS STRENGTHENING. "-■ "First of all,' the battle' 'fleet needs to be strengthened, for it is the foundation, of the whole structure> of naval strategy.' It must be too strong for any enemy to beat or even tto rislc fighting. : ' i "We are precluded at present from undertaking new battleship construe-, tion by the naval treaties.to which wj& are a party, but we can, of course, recondition any existing vessels or scrap them.and replace theni by; new onesi At least the five oldest of: our twelve battleships and two of our three battlfc cruisers—all: over twenty years old-** are overdue for such treatment. *_ ■ "Failure to reach an agreement at the forthcoming naval conference may, of course, necessitate even a more e» tensive programme of battleship cot* struction than this. ' ' - t "On our cruisers will fall continuous onerous' duties in the- event of -anj? armed action in the cause of collective ■ security. Here again our cruiser cori« struction is presently limited by navajfc treaties. But we badly need moQ|i of them. At least half as many agau* as we now have would hardly "be ade* quate for all our needs. • 1' "Some 110 new destroyers and flotilijjy leaders, too, should be built in placs ox the older craft and the oldest submarines ought to be similarly dealt with. Finally, the fleet's air arm. should be increased by 50 per cent, or half a dozen more squadrons." |; SPREADING THE COST. - Lord Beatty suggested the total colts^ of £150,000,000 could be spread over-a, period of years in the same manner as^ the Government's five-year plan folpspending £100,000,000 on roads. Etc estimated £100,000,000 of the totali would be heeded for replacement build* ing, £ 30,000 JJDO for additional cruisers.; and £20,000,000 on naval bases and? naval aircraft. "' "It is-to be hoped," he wrote, "that* the naval conference will, be so success-^ ful in its results as to.make this ■ ex-? penditure unnecessary, But should it| fail, we .shall again .build up. thaiBritish fleet to* a condition of fitness,to do its worki in the preservation 6&T British peace and world peace." The Italian naval experts, Rear AcU. miral Raineri Biscia and Commander* Margottini, returned home after three meetings with Robert Craigie of the Foreign Office, Vice Admiral .William M. James, Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, and Captain V. H. Danckwerta of the Admiralty. Officially the talks were described as satisfactory, but there is every reason to believe a wide gulf still separates the British and Italian naval authorities. ■,'■ ~ All indications, in fact; are - that; Pacific.rivalries will be less troublesome at the impending naval conference than the purely European rivalries of .the British, French, and Italian fleets. In the minds of British naval exper.ts.the swarms of new shifv which Lord Beatty demanded will be needed not against the United States or.even, the Japanese Navy, but against the kind of threat Britain is now facing in the Mediterranean and which she may have to face in the future in th» Mediterranean and the North \ Sea an i the same time. '.'*!*