NAVY'S PROBLEM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 13

NAVY'S PROBLEM

FAST GERMAN SHIPS BRITAIN'S HANDICAP DEFENCES AT GIBRALTAR DEEP SHELTER TUNNELS -LONDON, April 29 The British decision to retain H.M.S. Repulse in European waters reduces, but does not remove, the embarrassment which, from a strictly naval viewpoint, must remain until Britain completes her new and faster battleships, and must be intensified whenever German battle-' ships are operating outside the North Sea and Baltic waters. For the next 18 months Britain will have at most three ships possessing the speed and gunpower necessary to cope with Germany's five battleships. Ships in Gibraltar Area

Powerful units from three fleets are concentrated in the Gibraltar area. These include the • battleships Ramillies (British), Bretagne (French) and Lorraine (French). Germany's'.squadron is disposed thus: At Ceuta (Morocco), the battleship Admiral Graf Spee, one destroyer and six submarines,. with a. depot ship; at Malaga (Spain), the battleship Deutschland and two destroyers; at Algeciras (Spain), the cruiser Koln; at Cadiz, four destroyers and nine submarines; at Tangier, the cruiser Leipzig (also France's Mogador, Volta and Forbin, and H.M.S. Grafton). - Probably there aro an additional dozen destroyers and two French cruisers in near by waters. *. It is announced that the main units of the British Mediterranean Fleet will soon arrive at Greek ports, where they will remain until May 5.

The battleships Barham and Malays are expected at Navarino, and the cruisers Shropshire and Devonshire and five destroyers at Yatika Bay, near by. The visit was planned about 10 days ago. V

The United States Ivavy Department has informed the Fronch Government that several United .States destroyers will visit Cherbourg next month. German Fleet's Arrival Special correspondents who recently flocked to Gibraltar yesterday described the German Fleefc sweeping- in to the Mediterranean and splitting up toward various points, while the finishing touches were being put to Gibraltar's defences, including landmines and new lines of anti-tank wire on the road to La Linea, in Spain. . The special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph at' Gibraltar said: "Farseeing preparations have been planned on the assumption that, in the event of war, howitzers on the Spanish and Moroccan hills will make impossible Gibraltar's use as a naval base. The garrison cannot be dislodged, and would . cling .to the Rock, to prevent warships of any other Power using the harbour." have been prepared to r protect the entire population from air raids."