NAVAL ARMAMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20597, 23 June 1930, Page 8

NAVAL ARMAMENTS.

American opinion of the Naval Treaty and its implications is indicated by the plans of the United States Navy Department for the modernisation of eight more battleships. The process, it is announced, will add approximately 3000 tons to each ship, mainly in deck armour and protection against submarines. These alterations will not increase the total battleship tonnage allowed by the Washington Treaty—as a matter of fact, they leave still a margin of 50,000 tons —but they considerably increase the efficiency of each ship as a fighting unit. There is no ground for saying that, if these plans are given effect, the United States will do anything contrary to the agreement reached at London; but the plans give proof of the point, often overlooked in discussion of the recent treaty, that it did not achieve reduction of naval armaments. This point is well put in the official organ of the League of Nations Union: "The word 'limitation' can more appropriately be applied to the results of the conference than the word 'reduction,' for in many cases there will be an actual increase, either slight or considerable, in the tonnage of a particular class of vessel possessed by a particular country as

a result of the treaty. . . . That is worth pointing out as a corrective to any tendency to disproportionate enthusiasm over what has been achieved." What has been called "the capital ship holiday," proclaimed by the treaty—a prolonging of the life of the heavy ships by another five years—does involve the eventual scrapping of battleships, fivo by Britain, three by the United States, and one by Japan; but the ships to be given up by the United States are older and weaker than those to be scrapped by Britain and Japan. Yet, in spite of the acceptance of apparent parity in battleships, there will be considerable advantage to the United States in respect of age, gun-power and speed. The plans for increasing tonnage manifest America's determination to make the advantage as great as possible.