“NAVY SECOND TO NONE”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 14 November 1928, Page 5

“NAVY SECOND TO NONE”

NAVAL BOARD STATEMENT

WASHINGTON, 12th November

The General Navy Board to-day issues a statement of policy approved by Mr Wilbur calling for an American navy second to none, ''maintained in sufficient strength to support the United States’ policies of commerce and guard continental and overseas possessions.” The statement asks for the construction of cruisers exclusively of the 10,000 ton type, armed with eight-inch guns, and the application of the 5-5-3 capital ship ratio of the Washington Treaty to auxiliaries.

The statement takes on greater emphasis from the fact that it is published the day following Mr Coolidge_s speech favouring more 10,000 ton cruisers. It is expected to have an important inlluence on Congress when the 274 million dollars hill for building fifteen 10,000-ton cruisers and one airplane carrier, now pending in the Senate, is taken up when that body meets next month.

The statement asserts that the fleet should he well balanced and should he kept at the top of efficiency through an active programme of replacement. The statement is definitely against building small cruisers. General statements in the Navy Board policy are particularly interesting —“to ensure the strength of the navy for exercising ocean-wide control of the seas, with particular reference to the protection of American interests on overseas and coastwise commerce.” Next in importance “to cultivate friendly and sympathetic relations with the whole world by foreign cruises to support in every possible way American interests, especially expansion and development of American foreign commerce and merchant marine." FRENCH PRESS COMMENT

(Received 14th November. 9.25 a.m.) PARIS, 13th November.

There is considerable press comment on the speeches of Mr Coolidge and Mr Kellogg. “Le Temps,” after a tribute to the American war effort, which it savs France has never belittled, adds:

“(t creates a painful impression when Mr Coolidge asserts that other nations losses must he discounted because they have claimed reparations and increased their territory. France will never admit that sacrifices can he counted solely in terms of money. Blood and gold cannot he weighted against one another. “Le Temps” concludes: “It would be a mistake to expect America to initiate anything going beyond her own interests.”