PREVENTED SPREAD OF WAR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 103, 9 April 1936, Page 5

PREVENTED SPREAD OF WAR.

BRITISH FLEET IN MEDITERRANEAN. Press Association —Copyright. London, April 8. “The British fleet in the eastern Mediterranean more than anything else prevented the war between Italy and Abyssinia from spreading to a general conflagration, yet that fleet was brought up to the necessary strength only by drawing on the home, China and American stations and even on the Australian and New Zealand naval forces,” declared Captain Altham in an article in Brassey’s Naval Annual.

“The effort required to restrain even a second-class naval power necessitated denuding our home and overseas squadrons to an extent which would have made it most difficult to safeguard our ocean shipping if trouble had arisen elsewhere,” he proceeded. “In fact the Fleet’s strength is so reduced that when it is put to the test it is found to have no margin over the second-class standard.”