THE RUSSIAN NAVY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 21, 26 January 1938, Page 11

THE RUSSIAN NAVY

GROWING STRENGTH

BIG SUBMARINE FLEET

An astonishing report on the naval power of Soviet Russia has been published in Berlin on the authority of the' German Admiralty, writes Hector Bywater in the "Daily Telegraph and Morning Post." It states that Russia already possesses the largest submarine fleet in the world, a big programme of other construction—heavy cruisers, fast light cruisers, destroyers, and other craft—is in hand, with several 35,000-ton battleships projected, and new naval bases of the first rank have recently been created in Far Eastern and European waters.

According to the German report, there are now in the Baltic and the White Sea 16 large, 30 medium, and 25 small submarines; in the Black Sea 30, and in the Far East 50 boats of various sizes, making a total of 151 submarines. Italy, with 108 boats built and building, has hitherto been credited with the largest undersea fleet.

The report farther states that the building of submarines is still going on, as is that of several "A" class cruisers armed with guns exceeding 6in—probably 7.lin—and a number of very big flotilla leaders, one of which, the 3500-ton Tashkent, was launched from an Italian yard recently.

It is pointed out that by a special clause in the Anglo-Russian naval agreement of July, 1937, the Soviet Government may be relieved of the obligation of furnishing information about the' strength of its Far Eastern naval forces. NAVAL BASES PLANNED. A great programme of naval base development is asserted to be well advanced. The island of Kotlin, in the Gulf of Finland, is now equipped with up-to-date fortifications and harbour works, and is described in the report as the "Malta of the Baltic." It constitutes an outpost to the defences of Kronstadt and Leningrad. In the Far East Vladivostok has been transformed into a thoroughly modern naval stronghold. But remote both from the open sea and the Manchukuo frontier, and therefore beyond reach of surprise attack, an entirely new naval base has been established at Komsomolsk, on the Amur River. Another new fleet base has been built at Poliarnoie on the White Sea, not far from Murmansk. Here, it is stated, a large dockyard has been founded, and thanks to a current from the Gulf Stream the new1 port remains navigable even in winter. The canal now connecting the uuii of Finland with the White Sea will enable Russia secretly to transfer light naval forces, such as submarines and destroyers, from the Baltic to the Atlantic, at least during the summer, it is added. If the statements and. figures contained in this German report are accurate the Soviet navy has already become a formidable factor. As regards the number of Russian submarines, I was informed earlier, on excellent authority that there were then between 40 and 50 boats at Vladivostok alone, and that structural parts of new submarines were periodically arriving at this base by the Trans-Siberian Railway, ready to be assembled in the local dockyard.