THE ROYAL NAVY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 72, 22 September 1930, Page 11

THE ROYAL NAVY

OVERSEAS DIVISIONS

THE DIOMEDE'S FUTURE

"The cruiser Diomede, which has been under repair in Chatham (lockyard since the end of last year, is to commission on 27th August for trials, which will last until 15th October, states a writer in London "Truth." She will then recommission for service, and presumably will return to the Now Zealand Division, since her name still appears in the Navy List as belonging to that force. Probably the question of the future of the little squadron will be discussed at the Imperial Conference. The general view in New Zealand seems to be that the money expended upon the'maintenance'of-these ships of the Royal Navy would be- more usefully spent "in the'development'of a local air force. Now that the Admiralty are only to have 50 cruisers in their name, I am not sure that they would wholly regTet tho disappearance of the ISJew Zealand Division, although it is nice to have the upkeep of'two' skips borao by a Dominion. "I am not suggesting that the New Zealand Division is not 'worth while.' [t does much useful police work amongst tho South Sea Islands, which r.^uently have little affairs of their own.' But with the coming reduction in our cruiser strength the Admiralty may be forced to ' keep up appearances' on dwindling resources. ,The China and East Indies. Squadrons are the last that are likely to be reduced. The America Squadron merely maintains our pres-' tigo, and, having surrendered the trident, we must be prepared, to sacrifice prestige as an inevitable condition .of the process. The Africa Squadron having shrunk to two ships, could not be further touched without- disappearing altogether. "The fact is the word 'squadron 5 has become- rather a misnomer in- our pre-sent-day methods of employing our ships on foreign service. For the purposes of command there must always be some form of grouping, but in practice an admiral overseas very rarely indeed sees his ships in company. They scatter over the whole of their cruising zone, and probably it is true to say that at no average given time could any of the. forces in the outer seas concentrate under a week. Collective' training seems to be a thing of the past in our foreign service squadrons—excepting, of course, the Mediterranean—and what was formerly regarded as their tactical heresy appears to. make no appreciable difference to efficiency. The high mobility of modern warships has been the chief factor in the growth of independent cruising. I think that any changes in our naval distribution will be along the lines of. still further developing independent cruising, on the principle of sprinkling our sea strength about the oceans instead of .bunching it in spots. ■ Indeed, only 'by such: a plan can we continue to get full value out of our shrinking fleet." . ■' .