NAVAL EXPANSION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 March 1941, Page 5

NAVAL EXPANSION

CONSTRUCTION BY GREAT POWERS FORTY CAPITAL SHIPS BEING BUILT. POCKET BATTLESHIPS FOR JAPAN (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, March 4. Ever-growing naval expansion of the great Powers is evident in the new edition of Janes’s “Fighting Ships.” It is estimated that 40 capital ships i are under construction or on order in various parts of the world. All except four Japanese pocket-battleships are of at least 35,000 tons, and at least 20 of them are over 40,000 tons, including four British battleships of the Lion | class, two of which are due for com- • pletion in 1943. The United States has 17 battleships building or ordered, and it is suggested that some of these will reach a displacement of 52,000 tons. The American programme includes 12 aircraftcarriers. 54 cruisers, 200 destroyers, and 80 submarines. There is a paucity of official information from Japan, but apparently at least three 40,000-ton battleships and three pocket-battleships were launched in 1939-40, plus several new cruisers. Other capital ships are under construction. and destroyers, submarines, and light mine-layers continue to accumulate . It is impossible to guess the number of German submarines laid down. An American estimate of 300 is believed to be by no means unreasonable. The German capital ships under construction are reported to include two of 40,000 tons, namely the Friedrich der Grosse and Hindenburg. Reports that the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz are fully commissioned must be treated with caution. The war losses section shows that Britain’s losses of big ships have been comparatively slight, but there have been heavy losses in small craft like drifters and trawlers, which have been lost in mine-sweeping and assisting in such hazardous operations as at Dunkirk. More than 100 of these have been sunk, some without trace. Britain has also lost 36 destroyers, including two Canadian, and 23 submarines (these figures have reached 38 and 24 respectively since the volume went to press). Germany has lost a pocket-battle-ship, four cruisers and 13 destroyers, and it is estimated that few of the 70 U-boats with which the Germans began the war have survived. Italy, excluding the damage done at Taranto, has lost one cruiser, seven destroyers and at least 30 submarines. The “Daily Telegraph,” reviewing Janes, says it is assumed that one of the Italian battleships torpedoed at Taranto cannot be repaired. Three French battleships have been badly damaged. Two others are in British ports and one is at Alexandria. The principal navies, including the completions this year, are given as follow: — Brit. U.S. Jap. Fr. It. Ger.

* Including pocket-battleships, t Number speculative.

Battleships Aircraft19 17 10 or 12 7 1 5 4 carriers 8 6 9 1 0 2 Cruisers .. 75 37 38 18 20 12' Destroyers 256 180 106 51 52 150 Submarines 50 114 74 69 90