CRUISER SITUATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 136, 10 June 1937, Page 17

CRUISER SITUATION

GERMANY & BRITAIN

THE WEAK NEW SHIPS

Naval officers, who are officially "silent," have their'own way of projecting their views, wrote the London correspondent of the "Sydney Morning Herald." It is known, therefore, that they are seriously perturbed by the fact, that of the fourteen new cruisers to be built under the British prtgrammes of 1936 and 1937, not one will be the equal of similar ships how under construction for the German navy. The consensus of naval opinion is that these vessels will be "inferior" both in fighting strength and tonnage. ,

Recently, in the House' of Commons, Mr. Churchill stated that' the rate of British naval building would make it impossible' for Germany to exceed for many years the strength equal, to 35 per cent, of that of the British Navy, which was accorded to her under the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935. He alluded to this as a comforting example of the, sanctity of international undertakings."'" :' Yet the new cruisers being built for the British Navy are of two tsrpess; both inferior to the nety German;. cruisers. The British cruisers', ajje either of>,Booo tdnsir 0f'5300 ton^'mßuntihg'a fna||' armament of? 6in.'guns' in each case) Germany has under construction three cruisers of 10,000 tons, which will be armed with Bin guns, and the German Bin gun is a weapon" indeed. . Th'e-reason for this is to be found in the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and in the Naval Treaty of last year. \ A POINT OVERLOOKED. . Under, the. Anglo-German v: Naval Agreement, Germany :is entitled..ito:: 3s ncr cent; of'trie •British -naval, strength, in each category,of warship. Thus, since' the British Empire has 12 cruisers mounting Bin guns, Germany "is entitled to build four of such ships, No account is taken of the fact that the majority of the British cruisers of this type were completed eight and nine years ago, when the development of air power was not recognised as it; is today. ' '- ■' '■'■;■ The London Naval Treaty of 1936vinr; stitutpd a "holiday" in the building;of cruisers with Bin guns. -This "holiday^: is designed to last six years, and applies'only to the Powers signatory-to the treaty. Moreover, that treatyfixed" the maximum, displacement ;i or cruisers mounting 6in guns at oOOQ The treaty has so far been ratified only by America, but Great Britain; is. considering herself bound by it in |he framing of her building programmes, although she has six cruisers of 9000 tons,and several (of the Australia class) of 10,000 tons, which, however, are mounted only with 6in guns. Britain, on the completion of her re-armament programme, will, have, predominance in numbers in every type of warship except the submarine, but, though she may be all-powerful in capital ships and destroyers, it is the cruiser which is all-important in modern warfare. Larger battleships exceeding the 35,000-ton limit of the London Naval Treaty will be necessary if the restriction of guns to 14-inch calibre is not enforced, according to Mr. S. V. Goodall, Director ■of Naval Construction at the Admiralty,' who read a .paper, on "Uncontrolled .weapons and warships of limited displacement" at; the. opening of the spring meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects... >. ■ GUNS AND ARMOUR.

Dealing with -the size- 6f ■ guns •in battleships, Mr. Goodall pointed out that whereas in"1915 only about 10 per cent, of the displacement of a ship was devoted to protection against torpedoes, mines, and aircraft, at-least a'quarter of the 35,000 tons of the 1936 battleship was absorbed.for these purposes. Deck armour, subdivision, and additional secondary armament for use against torpedo craft and aircraft accounted for the increase. The demand for this involved a reduction in the main armament. In designing the capital ships allowed by the 1936 treaty, account had to be taken of the length of life required of those ships, and the possibility during that period of further developments of uncontrolled weapons (torpedoes, mines, and aircraft). When this was done, the wellbalanced design for a 35,000-ton ship would, in the present state of technique, be found to be the ship with 14-inch rather than 16-inch guns as the main armament. The London Treaty, however, did permit 16-inch guns if the signatories of the Washington Treaty failed to conform to the 14-inch gun limitation. In that 'event it would be interesting to see what sacrifices in other respects were accepted in the 16-inch gun ships. This warning from such a source is particularly timely, because the restriction of guns to the 14-inch calibre will not be effective, since Japan has declined to be bound by it. The United States will put 16-inch guns into her new battleships to be laid down in July. There.is reason1 to believe, howeevr, that the European Powers will. for technical reasons, follow the lead of Britain and iribunt only 14-inch guns,. - • ~ '~ -x