NAVAL ARMAMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 20208, 20 June 1927, Page 6

NAVAL ARMAMENTS

One point in the programme adopted by the United States delegation to the Naval Armaments Conference at Geneva will require careful consideration, and doubtless will be received with some reserve by the British representatives. This is the proposal that the ratio of light cruisers should correspond to that already fixed for capital ships by the Washington Agreement. Doubtless the Americans adopted the 5-5-3 ratio because it has already received international assent, but the duties of the light cruisers differ so widely from those of the capital ships that the two cannot be reduced to a common basis when it comes to a question of fixing the numbers to be employed by each of the three principal naval powers. The

capital ship is essentially a ship of battle. She is the unit of the battle line, and her purpose is to fight in fleet engagements. The light cruiser, on the other hand, acts as a scout for the capital ship, and as a protective screen, but in addition is used for police purposes and for the protection of the lanes of commerce. It follows then that while a ratio of 5-5-3 may be applicable to capital ships as a means of keeping naval strength to certSfn proportions, the ratios for light cruisers must be governed by other circumstances. There is very little fear that the United States and the British Empire will be involved in war and it is therefore possible to compare their positions without any misunderstanding. The United States has a long seaboard to protect and her fleet must be in a position to guard two distinct fronts, but the naval forces of the British Empire have a longer sea-coast and in addition must undertake police work in wider seas. People who live in tranquillity and move freely from one country to another are apt to forget that the absence of piratical interference with seaborne commerce is due, not to the higher moral standard of the world, but to the dangers attending enterprises of the kind owing to the police swarming the oceans. The people who rob banks, and stick up trains would under. Zake piracy if they could “get away with it.” In the Chinese seas pirates still operate because the authorities there are unable to suppress the traffic. Recently a British warship descended on a nest of Chinese pirates that had been operating more impudently than usual and wiped out the headquarters of the buccaneers with excellent results. What would happen if the light cruisers available were so reduced in numbers that the policing of the seas had to be reduced? That means the retention of the British light cruiser strength, and if the 5-5-3 ratio is adopted the United States will have to build more cruisers than she really needs. If the American proposals are seriously considered, there will be some interesting arguments on the question of the ratios and it is doubtful jf a satisfactory decision on this matter will be reached.