Battle Fleet in Far East

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 32, 1 November 1937, Page 6

Battle Fleet in Far East

Our Own Correspondent.)

BRITAIN'S PLANS China War Has Hastened Matters PROTECTION FOR N.Z.

(From

WELLINGTON, This, Day. From information avaiiable Ihere 8 is indicated that New Zealand may have the most powei-ful naval' protection in her history at an early date. The information makes it clear that the Far East crisis has made Britaiil determine to expedite the creation of a" new Far East Fleet. Somo time ago Sir Samuel Hoare, when First Lord of the Admiralty, revealed that the policy of the Britisli Government Was to adopt a "fwo-hemisphetes" standard of naval strength as soon as present construction plans permitted this to bt done. The plan, it was revealed, wa* to send out to the Far East statioili with headquarters at Singapore, war* ships of a capital cost of som# £70,000,000 and representing. an annual cost of £12,000,000" for upkeep. Tht fleet will include five battleships, 10 , cruisers, 24 destfoyers, two aireraftcarriers, 18 submarines and 12 escort Vessels, besides the usual depot ships, repair vessels, minelayers and minesweepers. The despatch of this fleet, however, was not contemplated before 1940, when British capital ships now being built will be about to be placed in commission. At that tijne the British Navy will include 20 capital ships. The Sino-Japanese crisis, however, has placed a new construction on affairs, and it is now believed that the five battleships to be sent out will leave Britain as soon as the modernisation of them is completed. They are all Quecn Elizabeth-class ships, and the work on them has been proceeding for about three years. The capital cost of the reconstruction is over £2,000,000 per ship, very little short of their cost at the time they were built. The Malaya and Warspite have already been completed and" the other ships, the Queen Elizabeth, the Barham and the Valiant, will be modernised fairly soon.

This will- inean that Britain will onc» again have a battle fleet in the Pacifie. It will also mean that for the first time Japan will be confronted by a battle force, of another nation besides the United States. It will place a formidable barrier between Japan and the South Seas. It can be said definitely that the reports at tke time of tke Im- . perial Conference tkat Britain would not send ker fleet east of Singapore kave absolutely no foundation in fac4. In the waters which the new fleet will cruise there are 400 shipz of more than 3000 tons and flying the British flag at sea every day of the year. Also, it is possible to reveal tkat one undertaking of Britain at tke time of tke Iinperial Conference wai' tkat ske would reinf.orce ker Far East fleet. Recently it kas been xeported tliat New Zealand kas undertaken to pay an udditional sum towards the cost of the fleet in consideration of the fact that she is granted this additional pro-. teetion.