NAVY UNDER-MANNED

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 July 1933, Page 10

NAVY UNDER-MANNED

SHORTAGE OF 20,000 TO 30,000. Hector C.. Bywater, “Daily Telegraph” Naval Correspondent writes: The British Navy is suffering from an acute shortage of man-power, the position being such as to cause ’the Admiralty “worry and apprehension” —to quote the First Lord himself. Inquiries I have made in wellinformed quarters disclose a state of affairs which would .be 'decidedly alarming if war were even remotely possible within the near future. So ruthlessly has our naval per-.

' sonnet—active ana-reserve —uceu *c- " duced that it is now far smaller than ■ that of the United States and well ■ below the Japanese total. Acording to the best judges, senior ‘ officers with exceptional war experience, the Navy is now 20,000 to ’ 30,000 short of the minimum establishment requisite to cope with an emergency. It has, in fact, absolute- ! ly no reserves of man-power. We have sunk to third place in the most vital element of sea power, and whereas ships may be built in two 1 years or less, it takes at least thrice as long to produce even a moderately efficient bluejacket and ten years to train an officer. 4 t

AMERICAN COASTGUARDS. | The following /table ■exhibits the jj man power of the three leading, naval t Powers, in 19;>2-33: z Active Reserves. Great Britain 91,400 33,806 I U.S.A. . . 107.000 42,500 [ .Japan .. 88,000 50.000 | To the American figures must be p added 11,866 officers and men of the jj Coastguard Service, which in all but n

UUcIM V ILC-, HIUVU j name is a branch of the regular Navy, i In a. national emergency • all fight- jj ing ships now on the Navy List fl would, of course, be mobilised. These > comprise fifteen capital ships. six fl aircraft-carriers, cruisers, fl about 150 destroyers, and fifty sub- fl marines, with some sixty sloops and j| mine-sweepers. To man all these > vessels with normal complements, fl 75.000 officers and men are required, fl but as war complements are consid- 8 erably large.-, the number needed to li place the Gleet on a war footing is at fl I n , t 011 o d

least 80.000. S .Bin in addition to the regular shins I of (lie Navy, a large number of auxiliary craft, would have to be com- J missioned for patrol, escort. mine- H ’ swooping, anti-submarine, and other ! duties. These, at. a conservative esti- . mate, would absorb from 25,000 to 4 ; 30,000 naval ranks and ratings. Moreover, big programmes of new , construction would be put. in hand without delay, and it would be necessary to have crews ready for them on completion. There would be .a heavy demand for officers, petty officers and ratings to superintend the training of new entries. If a crisis arose the Admiralty would be faced with the alternative of laying-up a. portion of the Fleet

or slaking everything on swift and decisive victory.