NAVY OF BRITAIN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20095, 15 November 1939, Page 7

NAVY OF BRITAIN

MANPOWER AND SHIPS INCREASED PERSONNEL LAST WAR COMPARED PATROL OF SEAS (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 11 a.m. RUGBY, Nov. 14. The active personnel of the Royal Navy allowed for in the 1939 naval estimates was 133,000. With the reserves now serving and 50,000 men to be enrolled under the national service Acts, it is anticipated that the war total of the British naval personnel will be brought up to 229,000. At the outbreak of hostilities in the 1914-18 war, the personnel of the Royal Navy was 201,000, which increased to 407,000 at the time of the armistice. In that war, however, there were many more battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers absorbing larger complements than we now possess, or are necessary, for dealing with the much smaller German fleet. Tremendous Reserves The tremendous reserves of naval manpower and ships Britain possesses were illustrated in the recent speech by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr, Winston Churchill, when he mentioned that the number of Britain’s anti-submarine and patrol craft had been trebled since the beginning oi hostilities. In the last war, the number of vessels in the auxiliary patrol increased from 745 on December 31, 19f 4, to 3714 at the time of the armistice, even after heavy losses. In November, 1918, (the mine-sweeping force alone comprised 72G vessels — 110 regular naval ships, 52 hired paddle steamers of the excursion type, 412 fishing trawlers, 152 herring drifters, and 10 shallow-draught minesweepers of a special type. The work of mine-sweepers and the auxiliary patrol craft of all types, including trawlers, yachts, drifters and motor boats was one of the outstanding features of the last war as it is to-day. These little ships were manned almost entirely by officers and men of the merchant navy and the fishing fleets and by civilians from every profession and walk of life eager to serve afloat.