THE BRITISH NAVY

Evening Star, Issue 22524, 17 December 1936, Page 11

THE BRITISH NAVY

SHORTAGE OF CRUISERS LOWEST SINCE THE’EIGHTIES p»eis Association—By Telegraph—CopyrigW LONDON, December 16. (Received December 17, at 10 a.m.) Attention is again directed to, th« shortage of cruisers, which Mr Hector By water, the ‘Daily. Telegraph’s naval expert, says is the lowest. since; the ’eighties. The scrapping of five C class at the end of the year under , treaty obligations will leave only 44 completed) cruisers, plus Australia’s four, but only 20 of these are post-war ships. At the beginning of the year the Empire will have only 35 ships under the official age limit of 16 years. Sixteen ships are at present being built or are projected, but before they are completed five existing vessels will be obsolete, leaving by 1939 only 46 under age. TENDERS FOR NEW CAPITAL SHIPS . LONDON, December 16. (Received! December 17, at 11 a.m.y Sir Samuel Hoare announced in the House of Commons that he was placing orders for new machinery for the Valiant and the Queen Elizabeth, and was inviting tenders for capital ship* for the 1937 programme. TWO NEW BATTLESHIPS LONDON, December 16. (Received December 17, at 2 p.m.) Mr Hector Bywater, in the ‘ Daily Telegraph,’ says -it is now clear that the battleships King George the Fifth and the Prince of Wales will be laid down early in January. They will bo the first units of a new squadron of five.