RECORD PEACE-TIME BUDGET FOR U.S. DEFENCE FORCES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22655, 4 June 1948, Page 5

RECORD PEACE-TIME BUDGET FOR U.S. DEFENCE FORCES

(10 a.m.) WASHINGTON, June 3. The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee yesterday approved of the United States biggest peacetime military Budget of 10,197,000.000 dollars, thrice the amount ,

spent in 1941 when America was preparing for war.

The recommendation is in addition to approximately 3,000,000,000 dollars which Congress in May authorised fpr new aircraft for the three services.

The appropriations are: Army, 5,618,000,000 dollars; Navy, including the Marine Corps, 3,687,000,000; Air Force, 892,000,000. The authorised strengths are: Army, 790,000; Marine Corps, 552,000; Air Force, 444,000. The Navy's appropriation includes funds for: 1. The construction of a 65,000-ton aircraft-carrier, the largest in the world. 2. A “killer ship” to combat submarines. 3. Two high-speed submarines and two other submarines of “an entirely new character,” not otherwise described. 4. The conversion of a carrier and two submarines into vessels whose nature is kept a secret.

One of the general defence measures will be the construction of a radar screen in the United States and Alaska, costing 160,000,000 dollars. Later today the House passed the Air Force and Army appropriations and sent them to the Senate.