DESTROYERS TOO FEW

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19884, 10 March 1939, Page 14

DESTROYERS TOO FEW

PROBLEM FOR BRITAIN NAVIES COMPARED LONDON, Feb. 23. The Admiralty’s annual Return of the Fleets of the chief naval Powers, which lias just been issued, reveals that Great Britain and the United stales are weak in modern destroyers and other anti-submarine craft Britain has only 97 under-age (under 16 years) destroys, plus 62 over-age, including five Australian The United States has 47 underage destroyers and 162 over-age. This weakness is thrown into relief by the fact that Germany has 43 submarines built and 29 building or projected. Italy has 97 built and seven buiiding. Great Britain has only 44 under-age submarines, France 76, the United States 20 and Japan 39.

The return is based on information furnished to the Powers concerned, according to which Japan intends at present to build no more aircraft carriers to add to her six aircraft vessels, and five seaplane carriers, of which two have not been finished. The return gives Japan nine battleships although the re-armlng of tho formerly demilitarised battleship Hiei is authoritatively reported. If this report is true, Japan has actually 10 battleships.

Germany is building five 10,000-toll cruisers armed with Bin. guns, which is her full quota of these ships under the Anglo German Naval Agreement, but she has only six light cruisers serving, and nine building. Four, how ever, are projected.

Undoubtedly these are considered enough to serve the German needs for scouting ships, whereas Great Britain with her responsibilities through the world, has 61 cruisers built, of which 21 are over-age, and 21 building. Italy intends to build 12 3300-ton light cruisers, armed with B.Sin. guns. The Admiralty classifies France's 32 2100 to 2800 ton destroyers, which are armed with Sin. guns, as “light cruisers"; and Germany’s two completed capital ships, Gneisenau and Scharnhorpt, as “battle-cruisers,” not “battleships."