NAVAL RIVALRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19094, 12 August 1925, Page 16

NAVAL RIVALRY.

THE BID FOR SUPREMACY.

RISE OF THE UNITED STATES. By NAVIS. As we are about to be visited by the navy which shares with that of the British Empire the honour of being the world's greatest, a few words may be said about the fact that the competitors for positions among the world's great naval Powers are constantly changing. To-day, at the end of the first quarter of the present century, another navy for the first time in history claims to share with U3 the position of "first navy in the world"— a fact which would cause not a few statesmen of the last century to turn in their graves. As is well known, that other navy is that of the United States, and its present position may be said to date from the famous Washington Conference on Naval Armaments, when it was decided that the navy of the United States should occupy the premier position jointly with Great Britain. To Japan was granted the next place, and after Japan, France and Italy, also joiptly, and as tor the remaining powers, it was le|t for them to fix their positions among themselves.

The Washington Conference was the first in the world's history on which the great navies have "officially" been placed first, second, third and so on. Before that epoch-making event, the positions of the great fleets were fixed by the policy or the wealth of the Powers concerned and not "by order." It would perhaps be of some interest to start at the beginning of this century and follow the changes that have occurred up to the present time Britain's Pre-war Dominance. The century started with the British Navy being first in every possible way, as it had been during the whole of the proceeding century. In fact, at that time the British Navy was more than twice the size of its nearest rival, France, which came second, as it had done for a very long period. There was no, doubt, however, that it came a rather bad second, while Russia was accredited tiiiid, Germany and the United States equally fourth, Italy and Japan fifth, and the last navy to ue inciudeu among the Grest Powers was that of Austria. The ing Powers were then as now of the minor order, and have never within recent titties been in the running for places, although those of Spain and Holland once occupied positions of the greatest importance. The unquestioned superiority of the British Navy continued year after year until the end of the Great War. but the other positions were changed frequently. France continued to hold the second place until about 1905, when her position could be seen to weaken, mainly owing to political weakness, frequent changes of government ana the ideas of various "schools" of naval thought.. Also, in this year the naval might of Russia was shown to be as "a house built on sand." and in consequence of her complete naval defeat by Japan, Russia fell to the last position among the Great Powers, while victorious Japan ascended several rungs of the ladder. Now also, the efforts of Germany and the United States were beginning to make themselves felt, so that in the year 1905 the positions were:— First, Britain; second, France; third, U.S.A.; fourth, Germany;, fifth, Japan; sixth, Italy; seventh, Austria and eighth, Russia. «

Geimany's Naval Expansion. France was not destined to cling for long to the second position, and in another two or three years the U.S.A. had annexed it, with Germany third, France fourth and the rest as before. About this time—l9o7-B—the United States reached its zenith as second naval power, and it was then that the "Great White Fleet" made its famous cruise round the world and its visit to Auckland will ever, be remembered. At this time, also, sinister omens could be seen by those who were sufficiently awake—namely the determination of Germany to reach the second place, the purpose of which was' surely patent to all who cared to think. Thus the first German " Fleet ,Law " started the great German Naval Scare of 1909, when a belated effort was made in j Great Britain to maintain the " twopower standard,"—namely that the British' Fleet should be equal to those of the nest two powers combined. France 'no* slipped from the fourth to the fifth placi, Japan going up one. So, by 1910 or 1911, by Herculean efforts, Germany had reached the e«cond place, which she maintained by a steadily decreasing margin from Great Britain up to 1914.' Other powers, however, also viewed the rise of the German Navy with some alarm, particularly France and Russia. France began to see her weakness in the Mediterranean against the two other partners of the Triple Alliance, Italy and Austria,, and Russia her hopeless weakness in the Baltic, so both these powers commenced building programmes which would have made far-reaching differences in the naval situation had the Great War not intervened when the projects were barely half-way through. In 1914 the ?ositions were: —Britain, Germany, J.S. A., France, Japan, Italy, Russia and Austria. Japan at this time was quiescent, largely owing to financial stringency.

The Effect of the War. With the outbreak of war in 1914, everything was changed and the positions of the naval Powers were decided solely by the fortunes and chances of war. Britain, for the sake of her very existence, had to maintain her place, and, above all, to beat her enemies, which, •fortunately for all of us, she did, and to accomplish this the British Navy was greatlv increased, but largely ra special types 'of ships for particular purposes, such us submarine hunting, convoy escorting and mine sweeping. The other European combatants, owing to their efforts on land, were not able to add - to or keep their navies up-to-date, so their relative positions had to slip back. This applied to France, Italy, Austria, and Russia. However, while tho struggle rased in Europe, the outside Powers, the United States and Japan, increased in wealth, and being largely undisturbed by wai, had the opportunity of greatly increasing their naval forces, so that the end of the war saw remarkable changes in the distribution of naval power—by victory, defeat, collapse, or a new wealth.

At the close of the war, therefore, the positions wereßritain, United States, of America, Japatf, Frauce and Italy, in that order, ' and the rest nowhere. Germany had ignominiously surrendered, Austria was reduced to nothing, and Russia had completely collapsed as a civilised power. Then it was that Britain .saw that she could not afford to keep up a navy on the inflated scale of 1918, and a ruthless policy of scrapping and retrenchment was instituted. The United States and Japan were fast approaching toward a bitter and dangerous naval rivalry, which almost amounted to preparation for war. So, thus the way was being paved for the Washington Conference. When the conference was called, and the Powers invited to it, all readily grasped at the opportunity to stop a ruinous competition. It is not possible now to go into .the results of this conference or even to make remarks as to whether it has or has not killed all competition in naval armaments, but, whatever has been the outcome, one thing must never be lost sight of, namely, that the British Empire entirely depends for its existence on the sea, and therefore on its navy.