NAVY ESTIMATES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 March 1939, Page 6

NAVY ESTIMATES

HEAVY APPROPRIATION IN BRITAIN PRODUCTION OF SHIPS & armament. HUGE INCREASES SHOWN. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) RUGBY, March 16. Introducing the Navy Estimates for £149 millions in the House of Commons, Mr G. H. Shakespeare (Parliamentary Secretary for the Admiralty) said members would be gratified that no less than sixty-one millions of that great total was in respect of shipbuilding and engineering work on vessels, or new construction programmes of 1939 and previous years and the repair of the existing fleet After outlining the magnitude of the building programme for 1939, he went on to deal with the huge increase in production, stating that not only had there been a tremendous increase in respect of ship production, but also armament output had shown an enormous increase. The output of heavy guns alone had increased twenty-fold. OLD BATTLESHIPS value as convoy guards. BRITISH & GERMAN BUILDING. (Received This Day, 12.50 p.m. LONDON, March 16. In the debate on the Naval Estimates' in the House of Commons, Mr Winston Churchill, referring to the decision to scrap one of the Royal Sovereign class in 1942 and another in 1943, said Germany would soon have five cruisers definitely superior to anything except battlercruisers. These would be super Emdens and in the- event of war they were capable of inflicting heavy losses on our trade. No cruiser dare come within range of the Royal Sovereigns, which were ideal vessels to bring in convoys from Australia, the Cape and South America.

Mr A. Duff Cooper, answering Mr Churchill, said there must be a limit even to the lives of battleships. If we retained the Royal Sovereigns, Germany would have, the right to begin battleship construction in 1942. Either a great disaster would happen before then or we would enter upon a happier period. ’