BRITAIN'S NAVY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23143, 15 September 1938, Page 15

BRITAIN'S NAVY

EMPIRE PROTECTION • EFFICIENCY OF SHIPS THE NEED FOR MEN ADDRESS BY COMMODORE , Tho opinion tha.t tho ships at present being built for the British Navy wer® second to none was expressed by Commodore H. E. Horan, Chief of Naval Staff, when addressing a gathering air-, ranged by tho Auckland branch of the> Navy League, in the Lewis Eadv Hall last night. Commodore Horan,emphasised the value of the in Empira defence and asked for assistance in fostering the sea spirit. The president of the branch, Commander C. H. T.; Palmer, presided over a large attendance.

Commodore Horan stressed the importance of overseas trade to til® Empire and referred to the decrease in the number of ships and the personnel of the British mercantile marine since 1914. Compared with the years just prior to the war, the numbed of ships over 3000 tons in the < overseas trade had decreased by one-third, while', the personnel was 59,000 smaller, he said. That hpd resulted from owners buying larger and faster vessels in order to have more ecpnomic services.

Smaller Trawler Fleet

Men and ships of the British trawler; fleet were numerically fewer than in 1914, he added. These decreases meant that each man and ship was far more valuable to the Empire than they were before the war and it was imperative that not a single life or a single ship should be lost. Accordingly, be looked upon tlic naval position as requiring much greater effort, control and organisation than in pre-war years. All Empire trade routes were flanked by great powers, and without. proper protection they could .be severed. While the greatest responsibility of controlling these routes and of protecting shore bases probably rested with the Navy, it was necessary for • all the armed forces under the Crown to share in this work.

After discussing aerial activitv and wireless telegraphy as new factors which had arisen since the Great War, Commodore Horan made an examination of the Navy as it was to-day. "With regard to men," he said, "the position at Home is perfectly satis* factory except in the ca.se of the entrance of skilled engineers, but we training apprentices to fill the ranks of these most important ratings in the service."

The Navsl Reserve The numbers in the Royal Naval Reserve had dwindled and the question arose as to who should replace them, he added. In any future war it was hoped to use more members of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve to fill important positions in naval and armed merchant ships, but account had to be taken of the time necessary to train men for various posts. Owing to the need for economy and to treaties relating to limitation o£ armaments the shipping position toward the end of 1935 was not, in his opinion, satisfactory, said Commodore Horan. Since Britain had embarked upon a £1,500,000,000 scheme of defence, however, the Navy was getting its share and the ships w6re "coming out." It was to he remembered that the building of warships took a considerable time so it was not possible to see results in numbers at once. Men also had to be trained to man the ships.

Lesson for New Zealand The design of the new ships had given the Admiralty much thought and those now being constructed were second to none, he ctffltimied. That was tne right principle because it wa« not fair to send men to sea in inferior or older ships than those which they were going to meet.

Quoting the sinking of the Wairuna off the Kermadcc Islands by the German raider Wolf in June, 1917, Commodore Horan said that although people in New Zealand were a long way from the centre of world troubles, trouble might come to New Zealand. It was therefore necessary to see that we did. not lack the bases and ships which were essential for the control of sea communications.

Addresses in which he stressed the value of the Navy to the Dominion were given by Commodore Horan to pupils of the Cornwall Park Primary School and the Epsom Girls' Grammar School yesterday afternoon. Certificates were presented to members of the Neavy League at both schools, and a Union Jack was handed to the Epsom school on behalf of the league.