THE ROYAL NAVY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11323, 29 September 1930, Page 2

THE ROYAL NAVY

• OVERSEAS DIVISIONS THE DIOMEDE'S FUTURE "The cruiser Diomede; which has been' under repair in Chatham dockyard since the end of last year, is to. commission on 27th' August for 1 rials, . which . will last .until loth Ocff tober, states a writer in the London “Truth." She will then recommission for service, and presumably will return to the New Zealand Division, since her name still appears in the Navy list, as belonging to that force. Probably the question of the future of Hie little squadron will be discussed at the Imperial Conference. The general view in New Zealand seems to be that the money expended upon the maintenance, of: these ships -of the Royal Navy would be move usefully spent in the, development of a local air force. Now that, tiie Admiralty are only to have 50 cruisers in their name, I am not sure that they would wholly regret the disappearance of the New Zealand Division, although it is nice to have the upkeep of two ships borne by a Dominion.

“I am not suggesting that the Now Zealand Division is not ‘worth while.' 1C does much useful police work amongst the South Sea Islands, which frequently have little affairs of their own. But with (lie coming reduction in our cruiser strength the Admiralty may lie forced t.o ‘keep up appearances on dwindling resources. The China and East Indies Squadrons are the last likely to be reduced. The America squadron merely maintains our prestige, and, having surrendered the trident, we'must be prepared to sacrifice prestige as an inevitable condition of the process. The African Squadron having shrunk to‘two ships, could not be touched further without disappearing altogether. ‘'The fact, is the word 'squadron' lias became rather a misnomer in our pre-sent-day methods of. employing our ships ,011 foreign service. For the purposes of command there must always be some form of grouping, but in practice an admiral overseas very rarely indeed sees bis ships in company. They scatter over the whole of tlieir cruising zone, and probably it is true to 4a y that at no average given time could any of the forces in the outer send: concentrate under a week. Collective training sop ms to bo a thing of (lie past in our foreign service squadrons _ eX cepting, of course; the Mediterranean —and what Vas formerly regarded as their tactical heresy appears to make no appreciable difference to efficiency. The high mobility of modern ‘ warships has been the chief, factor in the growth of independent: cruising. I think that any changes in our naval distribution will be along the lines' of still further developing independent cruising, on the principle oi 1 sprinkling our sea strength, about the oceans instead of bundling it in spots. Indeed, only by such a plan can we continue to get full value out of our shrinking fleet."