The Waikato Times SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1936. NAVAL ARMAMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 9817, 22 February 1936, Page 8

The Waikato Times SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1936. NAVAL ARMAMENTS

The report from London that “ Britain lost a big battle •with the United States by failing to secure an agreement to reduce the size of capital ships,” illustrates plainly the different policies of the two Governments. The same issue was raised at previous conferences with regard to the maximum size of cruisers, the British wanting smaller craft and the United States a larger vessel. The reasons advanced by the American authorities were based on what their expert advisers deemed essential. They stressed the fact that Great Britain had naval bases, or harbours that could be used as bases, in all parts of the world. That made it unnecessary for the British to have a large type of cruiser, capable of travelling a long distance without refuelling. A cruiser sufficient to patrol the sea lanes would meet most of the British requirements. America, on the other hand, had practically only one naval base overseas, at Hawaii, so that she needed a vessel with a much longer cruising range and altogether a stronger fighting unit than the craft desired by the British experts. The Americans carried the day with regard to the cruisers, but the British Government, of course, could build whatever type it most desired. The discussion with respect to battleships probably has followed much the same course. The Government at Washington would not agree to the tonnage of the capital ships being limited to 25,000 tons, and the maximum has therefore been fixed at 35,000 tons. The large battleship is regarded in America as essential for naval defence. It must have an extended cruising range because of the distance between naval bases. Doubtless the Japanese will see in this demand an intention on the part of the United States to construct a fleet capable of operating in Far Lastern waters if necessary., The construction of such huge craft will entail enormous expenditure, and that is the aspect that may give the Japanese Ministry trouble. They have obtained the freedom to build whatever they like in the shape of naval vessels, but at the beginning of the year they had only nine battleships whereas the United States had fifteen, and the cost of equality on that basis alone would almost cripple Japan. In any case Tokio seems destined to pay heavily for the prestige that naval equality was said to ensure.