WORK FOR NAVY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 November 1940, Page 5

WORK FOR NAVY

IN HONOURING GUARANTEE TO GREECE FORMER FIRST LORD’S SURVEY. POSSIBILITIES OF STRIKING AT ITALY. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) RUGBY, October 31. Listeners to the 8.8. C. war commentary tonight heard with interest the former First Sea Lord,' Lord Chatfield, answer his own question, which came toward the end of . his address. “What will be the effect of our Fleet’s responsibilities of implementing our guarantee to Greece?” he asked.

“Obviously,” he said “that will be considerable. The Greek navy' consists of a cruiser, 23 torpedo craft, and six submarines. They are well trained and will play a part alongside ours. Italy, by invading Greece through Albania, can maintain her armies by the short sea route across the Adriatic —not an- easy sea for our fleet to operate in—but always there are possibilities of night actions. “If Italy plans to extent her operations by sea to the Greek islands, our fleet may be given that opportunity to strike which it has waited for. The laws of strategy teach you your enemy's weak spot, and those sea and air forces we can spare from the defence of these islands against Germany should enable us to strike some violent blows against Italy. KNOWN BATTLEGROUND. “Italy’s objects may be to divide our military forces so as to weaken our risistance in Egypt. But our sea and ail’ power will be of more value to help Greece than a large army sent to Salonika, with all that that would mean in transport and supply. The waters of Greece are no new battleground for us. Thanks to Greek hospitality, our navy for years has exercised there. Her harbours and islands have valuable strategic points which are well known to our sailors, and which we shall doubtless use. But one must remember that bases cannot be improvised as simply or as rapidly as before, for they have to be defended against air and submarine attacks. “It is too early in Italy’s new adventure, however, to discuss such matters,” Lord Chatfield said. “Obviously, I cannot give you a comparative statement of the forces in the Mediterranean, but we have concentrated there a fleet under Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham which is able by its efficiency to contain the Italian fleet, to guard the Straits of Gibraltar, and io protect the Suez Canal. Fighting in the narrow waters of the Mediterranean, the fleet has had gradually to take measure of its Italian opponents, his navy, his air force and his submarines, testing their fighting capacity.”

Minister for Co-ordination of Defence during many arduous months before Mr. Chamberlain’s resignation, it is significant that Lord Chatfield began with the assertion that the “laws of sea power have not so far been vi-. tally modified by submarine warfare.” He added, however, that, with the loss of the Channel ports, enabling the enemy to mount coastal batteries at the narrows, the passage of convoys there, from being a routine traffic problem, has become a naval operation. Lord Chatfield continued immediately, however: “Nevertheless, our trade continues to flow along this route, which the enemy has bone his utmost to deny us.”