BALANCED FLEET

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21633, 9 February 1945, Page 2

BALANCED FLEET

ESSENTIAL UNITS ALLIED NAVAL POWER japanesfTfutility (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Feb. 9. "I am not going to make any prophecy about the end of the war in the Pacific, but I can say it is going better than we expected, and we are more than satisfied." said Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, in a press interview prior to his departure from Wellington. "The United States capture of Leyte was about two months ahead of schedule, and things are going very well.” He said he had not seen as much of New Zealand as lie would have liked, but there would be a "next time.” He expressed his appreciation of New Zealand’s co-operation, and said he would get all the help from the Dominion that it could give. The New Zealand fighting ships were available to him if he needed them, though at the moment there was no pnl.if in taking them away from the line job they were doing. He emphasised the importance of New Zealand maintaining its navy after the war. “Being an island, you must have a navy," he said, "and you must have a naval air arm. I hope it will increase in strength." “Lack of Air Support” A.sked about Singapore, he said it would regain its former status as a big British naval base. Its strategic position was most important, and Australia was a long way as a base. "Maybe," ho added with a smile, “we will have to ask New Zealand .forj more' money. Singapore’s fall Ivas tragic, and was due chiefly to lacl| oft air support.” • ; He emphasised the importance of the battleship. "We must have a balanced fleet, and the modern battleship is part of that fleet. A classic example of the value of the battleship was the sinking of the Scharnhorst by the admiral’s own fleet. It was done, he said, completely without air assistance—not even reconnaissance. Then again there was the dash of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau up the English Channel. It was not possible io deploy ships to stop them, and the air arm could not stop them. The only thing that could have stopped them was sea-power.

Japanese Navy Inferior

Control of the sea was essential to air and land operations. People were apt to forget that it would be quite useless to have an army and air force without sea-power.

Sir Bruce did not have a very high opinion of the Japanese Navy. The Japanese on the sea had not displayed the determination one would have expected. They had a definitely inferior navy, and realised apparently it was quite hopeless for them to come out and fight a much superior fleet unless they were sure of knocking it out. Their policy was obviously not to go into action. The Allies had no reliable information as to the Japanese capacity for replacements. but the Japanese material resources were not very great, and a lot of their shipping had been sunk.

Fuel oil was one of. their big problems, because they depended on shipping for their supplies. “There is no doubt the Japanese fleet, eventuahv will have to come .out and fight." said Admiral Fraser, “and to win this war we will have to land on Japan itself.”