POSITION IN THE NORTH SEA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1617, 7 December 1912, Page 5

POSITION IN THE NORTH SEA.

MEDITERRANEAN FORCES. In the House of Commons, Mr. Winston Churchill, First lord of the Admiralty, m the course of th® resumed debato on the Supplementary Navy Estimate on July 24 last, made an important statement as to the relative strength of the British and German navies. His main points ivero We should have 33 battleships in full commission at a time when Germany had 25; we should havo the Fifth Battle Squadron of eight more battleships fully manned, with active service personnel, against the four German parent ships which would be in the reserve. We should thus have a total of 41 battleships manned with active service personnel against Germany's • 29. It was true to say that eight out of thtee 41 ships would be at Gibraltar, but the Admiralty would arrange they should be in home waters at such time as their presenco there would bo required. ' Continuing his analysis, Mr. Churchill remarked:— He had stated the absolute British minimum of full commissioned ships at 33; we should always have four out of tilefive squadrons immediately available. On the other hand, ho had stated the absolute maximum of Germany. The Admiralty considered this quite sufficient, taking everything into consideration. In addition, there would bo the Seventh and Eighth Battle Squadrons, and at the end of 1914, 12 other 'battleships in the material reserve. Mr. Churchill then gave the following forecast of the strength of the British and. German navies in ships of the new all-bag-gun typqs at various periods:— Dreadnought Battleships. Fourth Quarter of Britain. Germany. 1913 18 13 1914 24 18 1915 27 17 Dreadnought Cruisers. Fourth Quarter of Britain. Germany. 1913 8 4 1914 9 5 1915 10 0 Reverting to matters of general poliov. Mr. Churc&ill stated:— If large developments took place in the Mediterranean, it would be necessary for us to add to our naval strength there. It might oven bo necessary to construct a new battle squadron for the Mediterranean. That position, however, had not yet been reached. Wo should be in a position to increase our force there in 1915 without new construction. j Dealing next with the criticism that ho had .described the dangers, but had done nothing to meet them, ho said:— As to construction, Germany this year is laying down two new largo armoured, ships, we arc laying down four; next year Germany will lay down one extra ship, we shall lay down two. This year Germany is laying down two small cruisers; we are laying down eight. In tho next eighteen months Germany •will bu reinforced by 21 destroyers; we .ohaJJ, 1m jrclsjorad hx 4a,