America Builds, Britain Cuts Down

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 255, 18 January 1928, Page 9

America Builds, Britain Cuts Down

NAVIES OF THE NATIONS By Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright. WHILE America plans great additions to her navy, to equal that of Britain, the idea on the other side of the Atlantic is to reduce the building programme still more, and perhaps cut down the Admiralty’s administration staff.

A 25 per cent, increase is necessary in the Administration’s new construction programme to provide the United States with an adequate navy, Admiral C. F. Hughes, Chief of Naval Operations, told the House Naval Committee. The Admiral defined a reasonable navy as a fleet with “a fair chance” of doing something, and an adequate navy as one that had a “sure” chance of doing something. Asked if it was the Navy’s thought to have a fleet equal to Britain, he declared that the Navy did not wish a competitive building programme, but “that thought was the underlying idea.”—A. and N.Z.-Sun. BRITAIN USES AXE ONE BIG CRUISER LESS EXTRAVAGANCE INDICTED Reed. 11.54 a.m. LONDON, Tuesday. The Government has decided on further cruiser reduction beyond the decision of November 23. Instead of laying down three 8,000tonners in 1928-29, only two will be laid down, saving £5,500,000. It is understod that the Army estimates save nearly £1,000,000. —A. and N.Z.-Sun. Reed. 11.30 a.m. LONDON, Tuesday. The Select Committee on the

Estimates scathingly indicts Admiralty extravagance. It points out that in 1914 there was a staff of 1,900 officers and civilians. Now there are 3,026, though the Navy’s personnel has decreased from 151,000 to 102,257, and the ships in commission and reserve from 618 to 394. The Admiralty claimed that the more specialised and complex work justified the increase.—Sun. LONDON, Tuesday. The Select Committee on the Estimates says substantial reductions in the Admiralty staff can be made without impairing the efficiency of the British Navy. Sir Oswyn Murray, Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty, in reply, says the Navy, although smaller, is very much more complicated. The labour entailed in making a contented Navy, and by the elaboration of equipment of modern ships of war, is beyond all comparison greater than it was in 1914.—A. and N.Z. Outlining the Admiralty’s policy on November 23, the First Lord, the lit. Hon. W. C. Bridgeman, said that 11 cruisers of 10,000 tons were being built. The published programme did not extend beyond 1929. It embraced one 10,000-ton cruiser and two smaller cruisers in each of the years 1927, 1928 and 1929. A new situation had arisen at Geneva, because although the British proposal to limit the number of 10,000 ton cruisers had not been accepted, the discussion left the hope that a limitation might eventually be reached. The Government was therefore reluctant to lay down any more 10,000 ton cruisers. The Government had dropped one 10,000 ton cruiser and one of the smaller cruisers from the 1927 programme. The substitution of a smaller one for the 10,000 ton vessel in the 1923 programme was also under consideration.