REPLY TO JAPAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1939, Page 9

REPLY TO JAPAN

AMERICAN NAVAL POWER

TWO 45,000-TON BATTLE-

SHIPS

MAY HAVE 18-INCH GUNS

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

WASHINGTON, March 29,

It is announced that President Roosevelt has approved plans for the construction of two 45,000-ton battleships. Approval was given on the basis of information that foreign Powers were laying down vessels exceeding 35,000 tons. The new battleships will be streamlined and 880 feet in length, which is 130 feet longer than the six 35,000-ton ships at present under construction. The beam will be 108 feet, ensuring easy transit through the Panama Canal. They will be equipped with three gun turrets and will have increased armour-plating and greater fuel capacity, allowing for a wider radius of action. Increased batteries of antiaircraft guns are responsible for the increased tonnage. The ships may mount 18-in. guns, which would be the most powerful in the world. The estimated cost is 85,000,000 to 100,000,000 dollars (£17,000,000 to £20,000,000) each. The "New York Times" comments that the construction of the new vessels is interpreted in informed quarters to mean that the Government has evidence that Japan is building three 40-000-ton battleships. It is true that Japan has established 15-mile restricted zones round her shipyards.

There have been persistent rumours that Japan is building great battleships, of up to 46,000 tons, and these reports cannot be verified because Japanese naval building is now' done secretly. At the end of 1937 the "Giornale d'ltalia," the editor of which is known as "Mussolini's mouthpiece," published an article stating that three 46,000-ton battleships, armed with 16in guns, were being constructed, in addition to 63 other men-of-war. By 1941 Japan would have twelve capital ships, the newspaper declared. Other rumours declared that the bore of the guns on the new ships would be 18in. Under the 1936 Naval Treaty Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States were restricted to battleships of 35,000 tons, armed with 14in guns. Japan's refusal to conform to the treaty provisions caused the armament to be raised to 16in, and the escalator clause could always be invoked to permit of other deviations from the treaty. The huge battleships are held to be a threat to the United States because of their great cruising range.