BRITISH NAVY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 849, 24 August 1933, Page 1

BRITISH NAVY.

Big Programme Planned for Near Future. OBSOLETE SHIPS TO GO. United Press Assn.—By Electrlo Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, August 23. j Mr Hector C. Bywater, writing in I the “ Daily Telegraph,” says that pro- | posals which represent the only alterj native to Britain’s collapse as a great j Naval Power are expected • to be subj mitted by the Admiralty in the near j future. It is felt, says Mr Bywater, that the latest American and Japanese programmes have administered the death blow to naval limitation by agreement. The Admiralty’s proposals may be expected to provide twenty-five new cruisers, equal in tonnage and armament to the best foreign craft; an annual quota of from fifteen to eighteen destroyers, in order to make up the huge deficit; a large submarine programme; a great increase in the naval air force, and the addition of at least 10,000 men to personnel. The fleets of the United States, Japan, France and Italy have been practically rebuilt since the war, while Britain has been dependent in a large measure on obsolete ships which may be death traps in battle.