BIGGER NAVY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23129, 30 August 1938, Page 11

BIGGER NAVY

AMERICAN PLANS EYES ON WAR CLOUDS HUGE BATTLESHIPS ALASKAN AIR BASES GREAT STRATEGIC ROAD By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received August 20, 8,50 p.m.) . WASHINGTON, August 00 With C3 r es on the gloomy war clouds, the United States Navy Department has drafted an impressive tentative construction programme for 1939. It includes one or two battleships in addition to the six already appropriated, four cruisers, six destroyers, six to eight submarines and tho enlistment of 5000 more men. A most significant development is a recommendation that the battleships should bo of 45,000 tons. The plans are near completion and it is anticipated President Roosevelt will give his consent if ho is satisfied Japan is exceeding the treaty limits. The construction of an 18,000-ton aircraft-carrior is under consideration, but its postponement until 1940 is probable. If Mr. Roosevelt approves, the programme will bo submitted to Congress in January. The Navy Department has also worked out a 10-year construction plan to implement .the decision of tho last Congress to increase under-ago ships by 20 i>er cent. Air Defence Plans The United States Army is seeking £2,500,000 to establish an air base in Alaska, supplementing the defensive measures proposed by the Navy to protect the shortest route to the Orient. Mr. Louis Johnson, AssistantSecretary for Air, has returned from an aerial survey in Alaska, in the course of which lie inspected air base sites and also alternative routes for the proposed 2200 miles all-weather road through British Columbia from Seattle to Fairbanks, Alaska. Fairbanks is suitable for training, but fog over the encircling mountains will tend to isolate the area from the sea. Alternative bases suggested arc Juneau or Gnstaflson's Point.

The growing realisation of Alaska's strategic importance is indicated by the recent establishment of a seaplane base at Sitka, a request to Congress for a £1,250,000 base at Kodiak Island, and the despatch of GO seaplanes to Alaska for summer training.

The transpacific route via Alaska and the Aleutian Islands is 1-100 miles shorter than via Hawaii. President's Statement

Declaring that besides developing adequate defence forces it is the Government's obligation to use vigorously its good offices in promoting world peace, Mr. Roosevelt, in a letter to the editor of the Army and Navy Journal, published in its 71st anniversary number, says:— "As others decrease their armaments wo will gladly join them by reducing those which present world conditions force us to provide for our own protection. Nothing wo have done contemplates aggression, and nothing goes beyond what is necessary to establish proper safeguards." THE RUSSIAN FLEET NEW CAPITAL SHIPS LONDON. August 28 Russia is concentrating on building capital ships, which will take the offensive and force an enemy fleet into decisive engagement, attacking him if necessary in his own waters, says the Moscow correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. This is a new naval policy outlined by the official naval organ, Red Fleet.