WORLD'S NAVAL POWERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3156, 6 April 1909, Page 3

WORLD'S NAVAL POWERS.

ERA OF THE DREADNOUGHTS.

HOW THE NATIONS STAND.

A writer on naval topics recently made the remark, apropos of the enormous sums now being spent upon battleship construction throughout the world, that "battleships are cheaper than war." Shockingly wasteful though an up-to-date naval policy is in many of its aspects, there can be no dobut that it is preferable to a weakness in warships and personnel which would invite attack and subject the nation-.to defeat in case of hostilities. There is that_ much grim consolation for the patriots of the affected nations in the knowledge that, at the present time, there are in course of construction in,the world's naval duckyards over 40 "Dreadnoughts," the costs of each will be anything from £1,750,000 to £2,000,000. That is the activity in respect of two types of war vessel only—the battleship and the modern armoured cruiser. It takes [no account of all that is being done in the production of smaller vessels. Some of the 40 Dreadnoughts have been launched; of others little more than the keel plate has been laid. Seven such ships, in addition to the 40, are completed, or should be. These are tne Dreadnought, Inflexible, Indomitable, Invincible, and Bellerophun, belonging to Great Britain, and the Satsuma and Aid, belonging to Japan. The Dreadnought and the Satsuma were the first conerete expressions of the lessons learned at Tsushima. The latter was begun first, but the Dreadnought was first in commission by many months, and her name i£ used to mark a departure in naval architecture and armament scarcely less revolutionary than that initiated by the Monitor 50 odd years before. For 12 months her advent practically paralysed work in every naval deckyard out of Great Britain and Japan. But in imagining that in the Dreadnought Great Britain had—"thrown down a gauge which no Power in Europe was technically or financially capable of taking up," a woeful mistake was made. Germany, of all the Great Powers with naval pretensions, was hardest, hit by the introduction of this "new era of giant battleships carrying a powerful battery of guns of heavy calibre," and as the recent events have shown, she is the country which most effectively took up the challenge the existence of the Dreadnought threw down. GERMANY'S ANSWER.

As Sir W. H. White, formerly for many years Director of Naval Construction and Assistant Controller of the Royal Navy, shows in a series of letters which he contributed to the "Spectator" in December and January last, Germany is spending during the. current financial year a sum of £20,023,500 on her navy. That sum is three time more than the expenditure for 18»9-1900 and twice that of 1902-3. Of the grand total, nearly £11,000,000 will be devoted to new construction and armament. Half a million is to go in the development of submarines. "There will be in process of construction ten first-class battleships, four large armoured cruisers, seven smaia cruisers, and twenty-seven torpedo-boat destroyers. . . Germany is within her rights, of course, in adopting this policy and energetically carrying it into effect. . . .

Under the Act of 1900 the first-class German battleships laid down were of 13,200 tons, and cost about £1,250,000 each. After the Dreadnought was commenced the vessels Taid down under the new German law of 1906 had displacements raised to 18,000 tons, while their costs exceeds J81,800,000. The further Maw of 1908, which shortened the official life of German- battleships on the effective Hat from **°2s I to 20 years, and so involved an accelerated rate of completion for the shipbuilding programme followed upon, if it did not result from, the publication in 1907 of an official statement, prepared by the British Admiralty, in which nine out of the 20 battleships appearing in the German list were declared to be obsolescent. , It is true, no doubt, that there was no intention in either case to provoke German feeling, or to cause increased activity in war-ship-building in that country; but the result was unquestionable, and it should be a lesson for the future." Sir W. H. White says that the development of the Austrian navy during the last few years, and the increased expenditure on new construction, are proportionately greater than the corresponding movement in any other country, except Germany; and it is a significant fact that those two countries are closely allied." The most potent influence on Austrian navy policy is that of Italy; and vice versa. The writer already quoted shows how in ten years Austria, previously content with vessels costing *400,000, has expanded until she ''is now building three- battleships of 14.300 tons, each of which is to carry four 12-inch and eight 9.4-inch guns, the estimated cost of each vessel being £1,700,000. Italy was content, up to 1908, to, build battleships of 12,400 tons armed with 12 inch and twelve 8-inch guns, but, in view of the Austrian programme, she is now at work on vessels exceeding eighteen thousand tons. Austria has replied by. inviting naval constructors to submit competitive designs for battleships of twenty thousand tons qo 'carry single-calibre big gun' armaments (similar to those of the Dreadno jght and her successors) and to attain very high speed. If three ' such vessels are laid down, it is anticipated that the annual expenditure on new construction will be increased to £2,700,000. which will exceed by nearly half a million the average total naval expenditure from 1900 to 1908, and will greatly surpass the corresponding expenditure in Italy." BRITAIN'S TRADITIONAL FRIEND, ITALY. While on the subject of Italy, some of Sir W. H. White's remarks on the navy of that country may be quoted: - "At the present time the Italian ■ navy includes eleven modern battleships afloat, two of which are incomplete; their aggregate displace-

ment approaches 136,000 tons. Ten armoured cruisers are built or building, their aggregate displacement being nearly RO,OOO tons; the oldest of theee vessels was launched sixteen years ago Four are still incomplete. Last year the Minister for Marine proposed the construction of two battleships, each exceeding 18,000 tons in displacement, designed to carry ten or twelve 12-inch guns, and to have a very high speed (22 to 23 knots). One of these vessels is actually in progress, and the other will probably be proceeded with this year. In addition to this armoured fleet, Italy possesses a number of swift small cruisers and a powerful torpedo flotilla, which includes seventeen destroyers less than twelve years old, about 125 torpedo boats of various classes, and six submarines. During the last ten years, the total sum voted in the naval estimates of Italy has varied from about £4,600,000 to £6,300,000. The traditional friendship between Italy and Great Britain and the important influence which the existence of a powerful Italian fleet must ex- ! ercise upon the maintenance of our position in the Mediterranean make it a matter of the highest importance that Italy should not decline from her position relatively to other Mediterranean Powers or lose the place that has been so hardly and honourably earned amongst the war fleets of the FRENCH NAVAL DECADENCE.'. Students of naval questions in France are concerned because of the greater activity of Germany in that direction. Sir W. H. White contrasts the position thus: — "For 1909 the German Navy Estimates exceed 20 millions while the French Estimates provide for £13,37 6,000, showing an increase since 1900 of about £12,500,000 lor the German annual naval expenditure as against £BOO,OOO increase for the French. Next year Germany proposes to lay down four armoured ships of the largest and most powerful types, and will have fourteen battleships and armoured cruisers in process of construction; whereas France as yet proposes to commence no new vessels of these classes, and will have only eight such vessels building and completing unless a supj plementary programme is adopted." The writer, after further reviewing the position, concludes "that the , ' national spirit of France has been at "and"that it will not permit the disappearance of her navy from the high position it has so long occupied." France is building six first-class battleships of 18,027 tons displacement oacb, but the com- '_ mencement of each was much delayed. The construction is both costly and tedious, and generally the position is such as to draw recently from M. Rousseau, writing in "Le Temps," the following criticism:—-"We in France have been far too long ready to accord every virtue to defensive tactics which entail all the risks of losing without any of the chances of winning. ... In all seriousness our navy, in which everything has been sacrificed to the defensive, only exists at all by favour of the few . offensive vessels witn which the too rare prudence of some of our former Ministers of Marine has endowed it; but of vessels of real offensive power we do not possess sufficient to make up a squadron equal to the half the fleet of Admiral Evans (the United States fleet which visited Australia.) We have six battleships building, but they do not fill the deficiency either as regards the United States or Germany, and we must have others with the least possible delay." In the same article M. remarks:— fl "In whatever direction we turn we | notice how much the oiminution of ] British power reduces the chances of peace."

JAPAN AND THE STATES. Japan has, in addition to the Satsuma and Aki, six other battleships or armoured cruisers of the Dreadnought class in course of construction, and all should be completed by March, 1911. One is expected this year, and three next year. The United States has the Michigan and South Carolina, vessels of 16,000 tons, almost completed, and four other battleships of 20,000 on the stocks. These latter will be superior, it is said, to any British ship now afloat, in defensive and offensive power. Jn ten years the United States has spent nearly £63,000,000 on new ships and armaments. This year's apportionment for the same purpose is £7,800,000, while the total navy vote closely approaches to £26,000,000.