STEALTH SUGGESTION

Northern Advocate, 3 May 1935, Page 7

STEALTH SUGGESTION

GERMANY’S NAVY SEA SUPREMACY AIM BUILDING ACTIVITY. : y.;, - . GOING AT FULL BLAST. [United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph. — Copyright ..l (Received 9 a.m.) LONDON, May 2. The naval correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph,” Mr Hector Bywater, states that information, which is not yet available to the public, concerns the reality of the German 1 bid for sea power. At least 12 months of active preparation in drawing office, shipyard, steel works and gun factory preceded the official avowal of the new programme. Eleven German capital ships ; : and cruisers have been built since 1929,. all with a greater cruising radius than any British - man-o’-war known. The ordnance shops at Essen and Dusseldorf are working at full blast, and the heavy armour-plate factory at Grusonwerk is on overtime. This activity is not explained by the programme of 12 small submarl- - Germany can build in secret, and probably will do so. While there is *no immediate perturbation in London - about U-boats, the cruiser position is regarded as serious.. Already there are six German cruisers, more heavily gunned than the new ships of the Leander and Arethusa types, and individually superior to any of the 26 older vessels which comprise ; half the British cruiser , strength.. Other German cruisers are about to be started of equal gun power and far superior armour protection than any of Britain’s 10,000-ton ships. In the light of these facts, says the writer, a substantial enlargement of the British naval programme may soon be inevitable.