U.S. NAVY

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 4 January 1928, Page 5

U.S. NAVY

SEVENTY-ONE NEW VESSELS

SEVEN YEAR’S PROGRAMME.

BILL MAY BE MODIFIED

BY CABLE —PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. NEW YORK, Jan. 2.

The Washington correspondent of the “\ew York Times” says the Naval Building Bill, patterned after the programme submitted by Mr Wilbur, Secretary of State for the Navy, m December, provitung for 71 new vessels costing nearly 500,000,000 dollars is now in the making and will probably be ready for consideration by the. House of Representatives ia the middle of February. . , The recommendations, covering 7vessels and providing for an expenditure of 720,000,000 dollars, will be modi, tied in important particulars, ihe number of craft will be sealed down, with consequent reduction in the amount involved, and probably will include two modern salvage ships as a result o± the S 4 submarine tragedy. Provision empowering the President to suspend building “in the event ol an international conference on the nm: Ration of armaments” will be deleted. According to the leaders of the House Naval Affairs Committee an effort wi.l be made to lengthen the period of construction to seven years in order to limit, the annual expenditure to 100,- , 000,000 dollars, believing any larger sum not warranted at this juncture. ■Sentiment in the Senate. is said to favour a programme approxiniating the one formulated by Mr Wilbur, -and support for that has been gained by a statement that it ivas “not in conflic. with the financial programme o± the President.” ... Opinions differ among authorities con. eeming" the probable cost of the Wilbur programme. The leaders in Congress believe the ultimate cost of 71 ships would exceed by at least 2a per cent, the estimate given. Members of the House Committee declare emphatically tiiat if the new fleet be authorised the Covernment should go ahead with the work and not limit its activities to the mere preparation of blue prints. It is believed that the cruiser and submarine items will be among those pruned and it is known that some leaders of the so-called navy bloc will offer amendments providing for battleships, despite the administration s. feeling that battleships at this time might lead to protests from other signatories to the Washington Treaty.

Mr Wilbur explained in December that the estimated cost was merely speculative, but submitted a schedule totalling 720,000,000 dollars. The estimates were ’as follow: Light cruisers, 17 000,000 dollars each; destroyei lead ers 5.000,000 dollars each; submarines, 5,000,000 dollars each; aircraft-carriers, 19 000,000 dollars each. This wa s the largest navy programme submitted since 1016 It provided for 25 light cruisers, nine' destroyer leaders, 32 submarines, and five aircraft-carriers.