INDIAN NAVY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18659, 7 April 1926, Page 13

INDIAN NAVY.

NEW COMBATANT FORCE. COMMISSIONS FOR INDIANS. (FROM OUR OWN COHHESrONDENT.) , LONDON, February 12. Subject to tho necessary legislation, it has been decided to reconstruct .the Royal Indian Marino as a combatant force to enablo India to enter upon tho first stage of Iter naval development, and ultimately to undertake her own naval defence. Subject to his Majesty's approval, the service will be known as "The Royal Indian Navy," and will fly tho White Ensign, Its functions in peace time will be: — A. The training of personnel for service in Avar. B. Tho services required by the Indian Government in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf* C. The organisation of the naval defences at ports which arc under the control of tho Indian Government. D. purvey work in the Indian Ocean.

E. Marino transport work for the Government of India. The Fleet will consißt in its first stago of development of four sloops, two patrol craft vessels, four trawlers, and two survey ships, together -with ono depot ship. Tho inauguration of the Royal Indian Navy will bo entrusted to the personnel of the existing service subject to any necessary readjustment of cadres.

Indians will be eligible for commissioned rank, and the changes Which this policy involves will be carried out as soon as agreement has been reached in consultation with tho Admiralty on the details of administration, organisation, and fihance. A National Consciousness.

"It should bo affirmed at once," writes the naval expert of the "Daily Telegraph," "in order to allay any misunderstanding, that the decision of the Indian Government marks no departure from the policy with reference to Im-

perial naval defence which the Admiralty has urged on Successive Imperial Conferences. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa have each in turn made arrangements, varying in character and extent, for the protection of their coasts and sea-borne commerce.

It is, therefore, appropriate that the Indian Government, in view of the chango in tho Constitution of India which has taken place in redtent years, should adopt a similar policy on much the same lines. In the long run this will not merely enable Indiana, sea officers as well as men, to take their fitting part in the defence of their shores and shipping, thus ministering to tho awakening national consciousness q£ 'the Indian peoplej it will also tend to relieve the British taxpayer in some measure of the heavy burden which he has borne for so many years. Proud Naval Traditions.

"The reorganisation of the Indian Marine on a lighting basis will be the less difficult because India has proud naval traditions. It possessed a Navy, which did good service, often under conditions of embarrassment, from the

time of Charles 11., during the long and splendid record of the East India Company, down to the date of the Mutiny. It won high prestige in not a few engagements, but when the Mutiny was at an end the Indian Navy was abolished on the score of economy, and in its place 'the Indian Marine,' in the main a non-combatant force, was constituted under British officers, but with Indian crews, for transport and duties of that nature. Eeliance was thenceforward placed on tlio Eoyal Navy for the protection of Indian waters. Under that arrangement the Admiralty has for many years past maintained an East Indian Squadron, which, though it has greatly varied in strength at different times, has been regarded as nn essential link in the chain of Imperial naval defence. "The re-establishment of the Indian Navy is the corollary to the change which has already been effected in the Indian Army, Indians now receiving the King-Emperor's commission, and being gazetted to certain regiments which have hitherto been exclusively under British officers. As the Indian military officer receives his trainyig at Sandhurst or other military establishments, the future officers of the new Navy will also undergo courses of training in this country. Those who are charged with the development of the Indian Navy will, of course, enjoy the same advantages in the matter of expert advice from the Admiralty as have been enjoyed by those in control of the existing Navies of the Dominions."