NEW NAVAL BASE

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1934, Page 3

NEW NAVAL BASE

FOR NORTHERN CYPRUS. The British Admiralty has given orders for the erection of a new naval base in North Cyprus, and H.M.'S. Ormonde, the survey vessel, lias been ordered to take soundings (s'ays the “San Francisco Chronicle”). The Egyptian Government, acting on the advice of the British Admiral in charge of its marine, has ordered the deepening of Alexandria harbour at a cost' of £15,000.,000. When this work is complete another' anchorage for British battleships will be available on the North African coast. .Thesd decisions have been taken within a fortnight of the announcement that' Turkey intended to increase her Navy by placing orders in America or Japan for two cruisers and two destroyers, and the announcement by Italy that she intended to build two capital ships. This, it is said in naval circles in London, completely upsets the naval balance of po\yer in the Mediterranean, especially as the flagship of the Fleet, H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, which was ba'dly holed in the Dardanelles in 1915, has again had a riiishap and is due to be scrapped in any case’ in a couple of years.'

As long as Turkey was amenable in pre-war days to British influence the Admiralty supported the Sultan’s control of the Straits. Now the naval staff is opposed to it, but it realises that remaining an open waterway can become a two-edged sword, permitting a powerful Mediterranean fleet inimical to Biitaiij to shelter in the Narrows and threaten the Suez Canal. The. base at Cyprus will guard the ijiole of the Dardanelles, and. for that reason the- decision has been taken. .■Soviet Russia, which supports' Turkey’s'claim to fortify- the Straits.'is, according to the Admiralty, now in a position to build cruisers and destroyers on the Black Sea. Under'‘'the Five-year Plan a. big iron and stee.l plant has been erected with "'Belgian assistance at Yusovka and at Tagahrod. As the Black Sea is the only Russian ocean that does not freeze, the Admiralty foresees a big fleet growing up gradually in these., parts. The latest figures'to reach Britain re? ga’rding Turkish armaments ' are alarming Whitehall, as Turkey is. on the' niost cordial terms with both Russia and Persia, her only considerable neighbours. It is, therefore, assflmed that the re-armi/ig of 'the Turk' is not unconnected with this hunger for oilfields under. British control: • .

Whitehall is perturbed by the .am nouncement that after the Turkish Budget, which is balanced, has been submitted to the Grand National Assembly for sanction, an additional vote of £12,500,00.0 will be asked .'as a supplement to the sum for national defence; dr 11 per cent of the total estimated expenditure, £ 115,'000-,000. This has taken London by surprise, as all the prophets declared the-re would be'a reduction. During the .five financial years from. 1927-JR when national expenditure' rose from £115,(14'6,750 to £ 141,(>35,0.00, national defence oh the average claimed only' £36,000,000. In 1931 tfie amount fell to £22,795.000. ; "Sinee'then Turkey has made pacts with each' of her neighbours' and led the way to a Balkan federation, Why,

then, it is asked in London, do the Turks, at a time when they need every penny for industrialisation and when the whole world is in the grip of a crisis, suddenly raise their expenditure to £50,000,000 on the army and coastal defence?

NOT INCLUDED. Moreover, according to information now in London, this enormous sum does not include the £37,000,000 appropriated this year for naval construction or the sum for the maintenance of 30,000 gendarmes—ex-soldiers armed with Mannlicher's and under military discipline. It is openly acknowledged in London that the Turks could “play the deuce” with Trans-Jordania, Irak, and Palestine if they ran amuck during a European conflagration. This, it is believed, can only be at the back of the mind of Angora. In order to meet this menace Britain is making another Malta of Cyprus and strengthening rather than relaxing her grip on Egypt. The harbours of Greece have for a. century been treated by British ships as though they were colonial ports. Greece looks to England for protection no longer, and her ports are now at the service of the Turkish and not the British’ fleet: destroyers could dash from Greece to the canal, in a few hours, and, using the inlets of Hellenic coast as bases, submarines and torpedo boats could menace British mercantile shipping bound for India’ and Australia. The Greek Government has announced its intention of building three small torpedo boats in its own arsenal. These are the reasons that have impelled Whitehall to build new bases at Cyprus, as Haifa, "being in mandated territory, cannot be used for aggressive purposes. Intense irritation has been caused in Whitehall by the announcement that Turkish squadrons will sail down the Suez' Canal to pay a visit to the Persian Gulf, from which they were driven out by the Peace Treaty. The visit is announced as a return for the courtesy’ of the Shah’s visit to Angora. In London it is taken as a hint that Turkey "and Persia are pursuing a common ’ policy of driving Britain from' the Central' Asian oil fields as’ soon as opportunity offers.