The Hawera Star THURSDAY. JANUARY 21. 1926 BRITAIN’S REDUCED NAVY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 21 January 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star

THURSDAY. JANUARY 21. 1926 BRITAIN’S REDUCED NAVY.

IK*livered «>ery evening by 5 o'clock in Havrero, Mansia. Normarby, Okoiav.a, Eltbain, Mangatoki. Kaponga, A ken, HurlcvviUe. Calca. Waverlcy. Vtokoifl. WhaNainara Ohongai. Mercmcrfi, brawr a - *-' 1 Ararat*.

Chan'M's in the distribution of British battleships which the Admiralty has approved to take place this spring (our autumn) will lower the lighting etii-ciom-v of the sea-going fleet and diminish its readiness for war. It is proposed to reduce the four Iron Duke elass battleships from “full commission’* to “special complement,” and to employ these ships in training boys ;l t s( >a. The Iron Duke class comprises, besides the ship from which it takes the name, the Marlborough, Emperor of India and Benbow. They were completed in 1914, steam twentyone knots an hour, and carry teu 13.5 guns. These ships are at present on the Mediterranean Station, but will bo transferred to the Atlantic in exchange for the Resolution anrl Royal Oak, more modern battleships, faster, and of heavier armament. When the transfer is made, the Atlantic Fleet will again have two battle squadrons, as it had before the redistribution of 1924; but it will be much reduced in effective strength. This tleet will retain the bat tie-cruiser squadron, consisting of flu* Hood and Repulse; but towards the close of last year its cruiser squadron was reduced to four ships, and its fully-manned destroyers from three Hotilias to two. From a hundred and two fully-manned lighting units of all classes in the early part of 1924, and fifty at the beginning of last year, the Atlantic Fleet, in the next month or two, will be reduced to thirty-six units in full commission. The contemplated changes do not touch the constitution of Ihe Reserve Fleet, which, unlike that before the war, when there were about twenty-eight battleships in various stages of readiness in the Second and Third Fleets, is very deficient of armoured ships. Moreover, the four battleships now in reserve, the King George Y., Ajax, Centurion and 'Thunderer, must be scrapped this year under the provisions of the Washington Treaty, whether or not the new battleships Nelson and Rodney be finished. Those whose memories go back beyond tin* war. to the days when the twopower standard was Britain’s rule, cannot but be struck by the manner in which the spirit that prompted the Washington Conference lias influenced the plans of the Admiralty. Of course, it would be foolish to pretend that there is only the one purpose behind the reduction of Britain’s strength at sea. Without doubt the genuine desire for a prolonged peace has had its effect, bur the economic factor lias been at least equally powerful. Indeed, it is very doubtful if the Washington Conference would have been convened but for the crushing burden of armament costs on the Great Powers; and, similarly, considerations of economy have had a

great deal to do with the steady reduction in Britain’s sea-power. Yet there were many occasions before 1914 when the nation could ill afford to spend so large a proportion of its income on the Navy; but in those days public opinion was not awake to the folly of overpreparedness. Now, while every loyal subject of the King wishes to see the senior arm of the Services kept at a sufficient strength fo guarantee the adequate protection of British interests in all quarters of the globe, the feeling is that reasonable limits should not be exceeded, but. that nations, having for so long trusted in big guns to keep the peace—and 1 rusted so often in vain—should Itv the more simple and direct method of trusting one another.