SEA POWER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22197, 26 February 1934, Page 9

SEA POWER

BRITAIN IN THE EAST LONDON, February 16. Emphasising that Britain’s post-war ships have sacrificed fighting power to luxury and speed, Captain Bernard Acworth, R.N. (retired), in a book entitled “The Navy and the Next War,” considers that if, in the event of an Anglo-Japanese conflict in 1936 the navy proceeds on existing lines, the main body of the British fleet would take two months to arrive on the scene, while Japan, whose every unit is ready at an hour’s notice, could reach Hongkong in Tour days. The British fleet .based on Hongkong consists of seven cruisers, nine destroyers, 12 submarines, and five sloops, and it would be opposed by the whole Japanese sea power. With an advanced base in Formosa, Japan could capture Hongkong in a fortnight and dictate terms. The Rodney and the Nelson should never be allowed to disfigure the sea. The ideal battleship would be an 11,980 tons coal burner, with a speed of 17J knots, 12in armour, six 13Jin guns, and a radius of 6500 miles. Fifteen of these could hold the Japanese until the arrival of the rest of the fleet.