SOVIET FLEET

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19998, 25 July 1939, Page 5

SOVIET FLEET

RAPID DEVELOPMENT GERMAN REVIEW LONDON, July 13. A review by the German Admiralty describes the Russian, naval programme as being larger than is generally assumed. In the Leningrad area alone, it states, four yards are working at full pressure in new construction work, including a 35,000-ton battleship, three heavy flotilla leaders, two aircraft-carriers, and 72 submarines.

The fortress and naval base at Kronstadt is said to have been developed on an impressive scale, while the approaches to Leningrad are guarded by a 50-mile zone of shore batteries and minefields.

Sixty new submarines based on Vladivostok, of which 30 are oceangoing vessels, and also 30 fast motor torpedo boats, are said to indicate Russia’s formidable concentration in the Far East. It is estimated that first-line aircraft at Vladivostok total between 600 and 900.

Heavy building for the Soviet's Black Sea programme is reported to be making progress at Nikolief and Sebastopol, principally in the construction of submarines.

Mr. H. C. Byvyater, the naval correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, states that if the figures for the Far East are correct, the menace to Japanese communications must be regarded as serious. He adds that, even if there is some exaggeration of the position, there is ample evidence from more impartial sources that the Red Fleet has become a powerful factor in both the Baltic and the Far East.