JAPAN’S POCKET CRUISERS
PROPOSED VESSELS A MENACE [By Air Mail—From Our Own Correspondent] LONDON, 3rd March. It was certain that, once Japan refused to come into line on naval shipbuilding under the Pact, we should have constant scares from the Far East. Already there is talk of Japan embarking on a programme of pocket cruisers, on the post-war German model, and these warships are rumoured to be dessigned to carry 12-in. guns, and have a speed of 30 knots with a tonnage of only 16,000. Vessels of this description, if they are really practicable, would defy anything yet afloat in the cruiser class. They could blow them out of the water without coming within retaliatory range So, if this report has any foundation at all, we shall see a sudden development of international competition in cruiser-design. No sea-going nation could possibly allow its commerce to be at the mercy of vessels like this, against which no convoy less than battle cruisers would avail. Thp corollary to pocket cruisers of this kind would be 45.000-ton battleships carrying 18-in. guns. And that is just what Washington’s information leads us to expect Japan to build.
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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 29 March 1938, Page 10
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192JAPAN’S POCKET CRUISERS Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 29 March 1938, Page 10
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