ROYAL NAVY

Hokitika Guardian, 23 September 1930, Page 2

ROYAL NAVY

NEW ZEALAND DIVISION

LONDON, August 21

The announcement of the recommissioning of the cruiser Diomede leads the paper “Truth” to make some its flections on the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy.

“Probably the question of the future of this little squadron,” says the writer, “will be discussed at the Imperial Conference. 'Pile general view in New Zealand seems to be that the money expended upon the maintenance of these ships of the Royal Navy would be more usefully spent in the development of a local air force. Now that the Admiralty is only to have fifty cruisers, to its name, I am not sure that it would wholly regret the disappearance of the New Zealand Division, although it is nice to have the upkeep of two ships borne by a Dominion.

“I am not suggesting that the New Zealand Division is not ‘worth while.’ It does much useful police work among the South sea Islands, which frequently have little affairs of their own. But with the coming reduction in our cruiser strength the Admiralty may be forced into rearranging the existing dispositions of our overseas squadrons. We cannot continue to keep up a mien ranees of dwindling resources. The Chinn and East Indies Squadrons are the. last that, are likelv to he reduced. The American Squadron merely maintains our prestige, and having surrendered the trident, we nmsfc be prepared to sacrifice nrest’ige as an InevPnble condition of the process. The Africa Squadron, having shrunk to two shins, could not he further touched without disappearing altogether. SCATTERED SQUADRONS. “The fact is the word ‘squadron’ lias become rather a misnomer in our pres-ent-day methods of employing our ships on foreign service. For the purposes of command there must always be some form of grouping, but in practice an admiral overseas very rare-' ly indeed sees Jjis ships in company. They scatter over the whole of their cruising zone, and probably it is true to say that at no average given time could any of the forces in the outer seas concentrate under a week. Collective training seems to be a thing of the past in our foreign service squadrons—excepting, of course, the Mediterranean—and what was formerly regarded as sheer tactical heresay appears to make no appreciable difference to efficiency. The high mobility of the modern .warship has been the chief factor in the growth of independent cruising. 1 think that any changes in our naval distribution will be along the lines of still further developing independent cruising, on the principle of sprinkling our sea strength about the ocouns ipsteud of bunching it in spots. Indeed, only by such a plan cau bo continue to get full value out of our shrinkage Fleet,”