GERMANY’S NAVAL PLANS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 14 June 1930, Page 7

GERMANY’S NAVAL PLANS

THEIR SIGNIFICANCE “It is remarkable, to say .no more, that Germany was’ not invited to the recent Naval Conference, the Liverpool “Post” remarked recently. “It was perhaps felt that, in his present disarmed condition, she had no real interest in such deliberations, and might, therefore, be left out of account. But, in fact, she may well prove to be a very important factor in the naval disarmament movement. It looks, indeed, as if the promoters of the conference had failed to appreciate the significance of Germany’s intention to build five ‘pocket battleships of the Ersatz Preussen type. This type, the last word in armoured vessels' of the class, is likely to,become the. model of other naval Powers. Already the French Admiralty is reported to be studying hc/v it can go one better on similar lines. . . . Obviously, if Germany persists in her naval ambitions, her neighbours, especially France and Poland, are likely to increase their strength. That, in turn, must logically lead, on the maxim of parity, to an increase in the Italian navy. Wliafc will become of the Three-Power Pact in such circumstances? A clear obligation to apply the ‘safeguarding clause’ would then arise for Great Britain, and it would be very strange jf America arid Japan could avoid following in our steps.”