Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1941. AMERICAN NAVAL NEEDS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 March 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1941. AMERICAN NAVAL NEEDS.

ti direct view, an unduly alarmist tone may appear to have been taken in the official representations to Congress, reported yesterday, on the subject of the early completion by the United. States of a two-ocean navy. Urging all possible haste in this enterprise, the Navy High Command, according to tt cablegram from Washington, warned Congress that the international situation “might continue to grow worse” and spoke also of the “potentially superior strength” of the combined Axis fleets. ■ A great deal of course depends hero on the word “potentially.” in his comparison of Axis and American naval strength, the United States Secretary for the Navy, Colonel Knox, obviously was dealing much less with contingencies that are likely to arise than emphasising the desirability of establishing the broadest possible margin of security against even unlikely contingencies.

Looking at matters from that standpoint, no exception can reasonably be taken to Colonel Knox’s statement that the United States was confronted, first, with the possible defeat of Britain, and, second, with the possibility of -Japan becoming an active belligerent. Against German, Italian and Japanese fleets totalling, on January 1. 1,835,000 tons, Colonel Knox pointed out, the tonnage of the United States fleet was 1,250,000 tons. This comparison of naval strength, however, leaves out of account the commanding fact that the British Navy has driven the German and Italian naval forces, apart from submarines and. other raiders, into refuge and hiding. Japan, too, has yet. to fake the fatally foolish step of becoming an active belligerent, and it is not yet to be taken for granted that the French fleet will nass under Axis control.

The policy advocated by Colonel Knox and his Department is of course that best calculated to prevent any approach to conditions in which the United States would have-to withstand ■alone the combined naval strength of the Axis Powers. The United States cannot for some years to come complete a twoocean navy, but she is possessed already of a fleet very considerably superior to that of Japan and is well placed, not only rapidly to build up her own strength, but to give such help to Britain as is implied in the report that she will this year transfer to that country ninety-nine warships, including destroyers, submarines, torpedo-boats and submarine chasers.

On the ground, emphasised repeatedly by President Roosevelt and members of his Cabinet, that the British fleet stands today alone as an obstacle to German, control of the Atlantic, the United States, anxious as its authorities are to build up the widest possible margin of naval strength, may find good reason for amplifying, in the near future, the transfers of destroyers and other naval craft thus far made, or proposed to be made, to Britain.

Today the Royal Navy is maintaining with only minor assistance the control of the seas which in the crucial phase of the last war was shared by five naval Powers. Whether Japan enters the war or continues in her present course, it is vital to the United States that the British Navy should be enabled to carry on its tremendous task. As matters stand, Britain is faced by the necessity of coping with intensified enemy attacks on merchant shipping and by the possibility that the Nazis may succeed in gaining possession of the French fleet, and of Bizerta and other naval bases in the. Mediterranean. 'Without any approach being made to the ultimate and disastrous developments envisaged by Colonel Knox in his statement to the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, conditions may arise in which a wise regard for its own interests and security would impel the United States to make considerably greater transfers of naval material to Britain than are yet contemplated. The policy of a maximum expansion of naval construction in the United States is to be welcomed not least on lhe ground that it would facilitate action on these lines should it come, as it may, to be regarded as essential.

A MENACE DEFIED.

the prospects of an early German attack on Greece may be, news from Albania makes it manifest that the Greek’s are in no way intimidated. In a nutshell, the story of the latest phase of the campaign is that attacks made by the Italians in great force, in an effort to recover vital positions in* the Tepelene sector and elsewhere, have been decisively smashed and defeated.

Towards the end of last month lhe Greeks made good use of a few days of fine weather, for which they had been waiting five weeks, to close in on Tepelene, one of the two vital key points in the defences covering the port of Valona and other important objectives. The other key point, Klisura, is already in Greek hands. As the jposition stands, the Greeks have mastered heights on which they a‘re in a fair way to compel an enemy evacuation of Tepelene and to open an advance by way of a broad valley to the sea. The efforts made by the Italians, at prodigal cost, to recover these heights, are reported to have broken down in total and unrelieved failure.

At an earlier stage in the campaign it was considered by some competent authorities that in the low country towards the coast the Greeks would be at a hopeless disadvantage on account of the enemy superiority in numbers and in tanks, guns and other material. It no longer seems likely, however, that the Italians can anywhere withstand the Greek onset, save in the extent to which they are favoured by the strength of defensive, positions and by bad weather.

How far lhe present outlook is likely to be altered by German intervention in the Balkans no doubt is an open question. Some vital factors are still undetermined or incompletely defined. That Turkey will resist aggression is not in doubt, but the extent to which this is likely to imply early and effective co-operation, with Greece has yet to appear. The policy of Yugoslavia is at best uncertain and there is no indication that the Soviet contemplates positive action. The extent of practicable and intended British aid to Greece, over and above that already being given, has also yet to be indicated, but. .full faith no doubt may be re.po.sed in the reported statement. of Air Marshal Sir A. Ijongmore, commander of the R.A.F. forces in Greece, that Britain will continue to give Greece all possible support and that the Royal Air Force will strike the Germans as hard as it has struck the Italians. Rapid developments are probable. Meantime the 'Greeks are continuing most gallantly to extend and build upon the great, achievement that already stands to their credit in their conflict with the Italians.