NAVAL PROBLEMS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 19 August 1927, Page 8

NAVAL PROBLEMS.

AMERICA'S SURPLUS QE DESTROYERS. EARL JELILTOOE’S VIEWS. LONDON, July 1. The Technical Committee of. the Naval Conference bias been examining the proposals relating to the cruiser dlass of vessels. The British proposed that this ■ class be divided into two Classes, namely, an Sin gun cruiser ol a maximum displacement ol tons, and a Gin gun cruiser of la maximum displacement of about 7500 tons. The Japanese and American delegations both requested the necessary time to examine this proposal .in the light of the effect it mould have on tihe navies of each Power concerned during the life of the Treaty. In lan interview, Mr Gibson, the American delegate, said that the experts were making satisfactory progress in their work. As to the British proposal to divide the cruiser class into two categories, this, he said, could only be decided on after a careful study of tlie whole question of the ratios of the different Powers under the Treaty and the existing tonnage. r Eie American delegation has neither tasked nor received fresh instructions from the. State Department, but Mr Gibson admitted that thev wore awaiting “comment” from Washington with regard to the British proposals. Til the meantime the Japanese statement that thev are willing to agree with Great Britain in the matter of capital ships has created a deep impression in Conference circles. Concerning the number of destroyers possessed by the United States. Admiral Jones said that the United States were well ahead of Great Britain in that class of vessel, as they possessed 110 more. Altogether, said Admiral Jones, the United States possesses .about 80S destroyers, and the reason of their being so numerous was that during the war they, at the request of the Allies, con fined their energies to the construction of destroyers as anti-submarine units, and stopped the construction of other types of vessels. Earl JelTicoe. who is now hack in lion don. hut who will return to Geneva about July 10. has given his impressions of the Conference. Too much emphasis, he said, could not he placed’ on the supreme importance to the British Empire of her sea. Communications, as she would starve in three weeks were her trade routes cut. Particularly the prosperity of the Dominions depends absolutely on the freedom of sea communications. There is indeed no other nation in The world in the same position as the British, to whom the sea is her life, for though some other nations have to import a certain amount of raw materia] for their industries, no other nation depends almost on tire! v upon the sea for the import of food. Tie wen ton to say he was sure other nations must rcengnise Great Britain’s peculiar position in this respect, and sympathise with her. New Zealand sends something like 85 per cent, of her exports to the Mother Country, and 92 Per cent, to the Empire, while about the same figures apply to. Australia. One of the difficulties with which the Conference was faced (said I>-*'d .Triliooe) Was the adoption Tf ' the 10. GOO tonnage and Bin gun for cruisers as brought into being at the Washington Conference, creation of this tvpe of vessel having made it more or less the usage of each nation to build up to- t.Tuvfc cl a-rcl. •wTmcvh- ntait-mral'l-v a uncart imon tlie taxpayers, and rather forces every nation noth sea communications to protect, to conform to that (standard of vessel. whereas before the Washington Conference the free i o f cruiser in existence was, iais a rule, a very much smaller vessel.