IS THE NAVY READY?

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1933, Page 13

IS THE NAVY READY?

CASE OF OUTBREAK OF WAR BRITAIN’S ARMS REDUCTION. NAVY, ARMY AND AIR FORCE. To Englishmen and Englishwomen who for some years have striven to convert the Continent from an armed camp into a peaceful community of nations, the sabre-rattling and war talk of the past week must have proved a bitter disillusionment. . , Against Great Britain, at least, the charge of increasing her armaments in defiance of the Versailles Treaty falls to the ground. Her Air Force has been reduced; her Army is admittedly no more than a highly efficient police force for the maintenance of peace wtihin the wide borders of the British Empire. The Navy, recognised throughout tire world as a necessary bulwark to an island country and a maritime empire, has been reduced from the great fleet of 1914, and the still greater armada of 1918, to little more than a shadow of its former strength. . The battleships of 1914 have been reduced from over seventy to fifteen, and the cruiser fleet from 129 to approximately 50. Furthermore, of the fifteen ships of the line, all but two are over age and terribly costly to maintain; and of the cruisers, a very large proportion are obsolete. The same applies to our tor-pedo-boat destroyers. We can thus, with clear consciences, detached minds and cool heads, consider the bear-garden from which we are mercifully separated by the English Channel NEW FEARS. It is not part of a naval correspondent’s business to express views on the political rights or wrongs of the question now at issue, but he must be expected to comment on the military situation, as he sees it, from a seamans point of view. . There is a haunting fear of universal calamity, involving Great Britain, should war break out, and though fear may sometimes be a useful check on belligerency, it more often precipitates what it fears. This country, rightly or wronger, is committed to the Locarno Treaty, which, so long as it stands, commits England to intervention inicertain eventualities, and in a direction which cannot certainly be foreseen. It is widely believed that such intervention must involve the civil population of this island in decimation by bombs and poison gas from the air, and the young manhood of the country in a second ghastly slaughter on European battlefields. But there are grounds, I think, for believing that the air terror is exaggerated for reasons into which I have neither the space nor the inclination to enter, as this is outside my province. It is well, however, to remember that that intensive air raids are only possible from near the French coast, And that bombing aeroplanes, unlike commercial aeroplanes, have a double journey to make, a fact too often overlooked 9 Whether or no Great Britain is committed to the raising and landing of great armies for operations on the Continent I cannot say, but one thing is clear: the Continental strategy of the late war, if repeated, would be voluntarily undertaken and would be contrary to our traditional island strategy, which, until the late war, was restricted mainly to the sea. THE LONDON NAVAL TREATY. The truth is, we are now in a position, uncongenial to the average Briton, of necessarily supporting the claims of the stronger naval Power. The only alternative, to put it bluntly, is a policy of peace at any price, which must be repugnant to every man who believes in justice and in the validity of moral law. Unhappily, the Navy to-day lacks just those very ships which justify confidence in our ability to defend ourselves. The new high speed and therefore extravagantly costly cruisers of the Leander class would be needed for duty with the battle fleet, and are thus neither available nor suitable for convoy, which is the only sure method of protecting our food supply. The London Naval Treaty, carried out by Great Britain with the strictest regard to the letter and the spirit of its terms, contains Article 21, which was carefully inserted by the late Government, the pacific character of every member of which has never been disputed. This Article reserves the right to construct sufficient ships to meet our minimum needs of security should it in any way be threatened by non-contract-ing Powers. Great Britain is thus free to equip herself with what she at present lacks —sufficient trade defence vessels to guarantee the integrity of the people’s food under any circumstances that might arise. The ships we need do not require to be large or of high speed. Their tonnage need not exceed 4000, and their cost would be moderate. Such ships threaten no one and can transgress no frontiers. Indeed, in so troubled a world, a British Navy capable of absolutely guaranteeing our seaborne food and commerce is probably the greatest agency in securing the pacification of Europe without an appeal to arms.