NAVAL ARMAMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 155, 29 December 1938, Page 8

NAVAL ARMAMENT

• THE BUILDING RACE

DEMOCRACIES TWO TO ONE

JAPAN UNDISCLOSED

(By Air Man. from 'The Post's" London Representative.)

NEW YORK, December 7

The state of the naval armament race between six great Powers is disclosed by the Intelligence Department of the United States Navy, as at November 15, with the exception of Japaji, which has refused to furnish particulars of naval building since December 31, 1936, when the London Naval Treaty expired. The tables, based on official information, indicate that the ratio between the democracies, Great Britain, France, and the United States, to the totalitarian States, Germany, Italy, and Japan, is two to one —an overwhelming naval superiority, which it will be impossible for the dictatorships to reduce, appreciably, at least, for many years to. come. For the five nations (excluding Japan) combatant construction, now under way, totals 1,821,470 tons, which includes 25 battleships, of a total of 880,500 tons; 12 aircraft-carriers, 231,300 tons; 38 heavy and light cfuisers, 358,600 tons; 159 destroyers, 228,475 tons; and 89 submarines, 122,{j95 tons. Allowing for varying prices and wage standards, the completed cost of the battleships alone will be £300,000,000. Including the Japanese figures, as at the end of 1936, which show,a total of 898,691 tons—the correct total would probably be! considerably higher—the fighting tonnage of the six great navies at this moment is about 6,700,000 tons. Of'this, Great Britain has 2,133,648 tons, the United States 1,618,085, France 793,959; a 4otal of 4,545,692 tons for the three democracies, compared with 1,253,033' for Italy and Germany—an approximate advantage of 3 to 1, or. with Japan included, 2 to 1. MILLION TONS OF BATTLESHIPS. ■ Battleships - make up by far the greatest single item, a total of 25 capital ships, all of the superclass, now building or appropriated for, not including three vessels, each of 40,000 tons, which Japan is reported to have under construction. Great Britain, of this total, has seven ships, averaging 37,000 tons; the United States six, each of 35,000 tons; France, five, averaging 33,500 tons; Italy, four of 35,000 tons; Germany, three of 35,000 tons. With the Japanese appropriation, this makes a grand total of 1,000,500. The democracies provide for 635,500; the other nations 365,000 tons. The total cost is estimated at £320,000,000. The next most important class is aircraft-carriers. The total being built is 12—Great Britain five, the United States three, France and Germany two each. Italy has no aircraft-carriers under construction. The total tonnage involved is 231,100. of which all but 38,500 tons is for the democracies. The completed cost of these ships will be about £70,000,000, Cruisers building number 44, of a total tonnage of 358,600; 22 being for Britain,..lo for the United States, 9 for Germany, j 3 for France, none for Italy. The total i cost % estimated at £100,000,000. £60,000,000 FOR DESTROYERS, Of destroyers, 159 are building, totalling 228,475 tons—42 for the United States, 42 for Germany, 29 for Great Britain, 27 iov Italy, 19 for France. Owing to the wide divergence in tonnage and varying wage costs, the total outlay can only be roughly estimated —and £60,000,000; For submarines, the totalitarian States have a majority of one —55 to 54. Germany is building 28, Italy 27, France 22, the United States 19, arid Great Britain 13. The completed cost is a \matter of guesswork, as the!y range from 250 to 1500 #ons. The total would probably exceed £30,000,000. This does not, of course, include Japan. Without giving consideration to the secret Japanese programme, the total cost of the naval construction race, now under way, counting only ships built or appropriated for, would approxidate:— £ •, Battleships •• 300,000,000 Aircraft-carriers 70,000,000 Cruisers 100,000.000 Destroyers 60,000,000 ■ Submarines 30,000,000 Total "560,000,000 Japan ' - 40,000,000 Aircraft-carriers , and auxiliary ships 100,000,000 Grand total ...... 700,000,000, None of these totals, takes into consideration the 1939 building programmes. They simply show the situation as it exists today—the overwhelming naval superiority of the democracies over the totalitarian States.