SINGAPORE’S MIGHT

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21176, 27 July 1940, Page 20 (Supplement)

SINGAPORE’S MIGHT

A CHAIN OF FORTS VIRTUALLY IMPREGNABLE INSURANCE AGAINST WAR Singapore Naval Base has been described as the keystone of Australia’s and New Zealand’s'naval defence. And Britain’s profound hope for the destiny of the base, states the Sydney Daily Telegraph, was expressed, at its opening on February 14, 1938, by the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Shenton Thomas, when he said: “The Singapore base is not a challenge to war, it is an insurance against war.” It was officially announced recently that Singapore’s defences were being “brought to a higher prearranged state of preparedness in view of the general situation prevailing in the Far East.” It was also announced that defence plans were being completed at Penang, the second fortress in the Straits Settlement, and throughout Malaya. Last year £700,000 -was spent upon Singapore defences, while a further £1,900,000 was earmarked for completion of the work there. Earlier in the year Britain’s 1939 naval estimates of £153,766,681 disclosed plans for the establishment of a chain of fortresses at Singapore, Trincomalee (Ceylon), and Aden, at the entrance to the Red Sea. Its Strategic Importance

These fortresses, with satellite air bases, were designed to secure the safety of the Empire communications throughout the East. Royal Air Force bases built at Singapore and nearby cost £1,000,000, while Trincomalee, already well fortified, was allotted a £500,000 air basvi. Singapore which was annexed for Britain by Sir Stamford Raffles in January, 1819, stands at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, approximately 2500 miles north-west of Darwin. The peninsula projects far to the south in Asia and forms, with the islands of Sumatra, Java and Timor, a barrier between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The strategic and commercial importance of Singapore is unique. The two main gateways in the barrier are the straits of Malacca, which separate Sumatra from the Malay States, and the Straits of Sunda, which divide Sumatra from Java. While these remain impregnable the Indian Ocean, around which lies threequarters of the British Empire's territory, and more than three-quarters of it> people, cannot be attacked from the east. Through the great natural gateway of the Straits of Malacca, dominated by Singapore, must pass all traffic from Europe to the East, and upon it converge the trade routes connecting India with the Dutch

Indies, Australia, the Far East, and j the Pacific Ocean. It was upon urgent representations from Australia and New Zealand, who afterwards contributed towards its formation an?* upkeep, that Britain decided to fortify Singapore. Triumph of Engineering But it was 15 years before Britain’s “Gibraltar of the East” was completed. Work was begun in 1923, } suspended in 1924, resumed in 1925, i and speeded up in 1928. The completed base was a triumph ] of planning and engineering. It was j built upon a swampy marshland on the narrow Straits of Jahore, which separate Singapore Island from the Malay Peninsula. Levelled off were hillocks aggregating 6-million cubic ; yards. Filled in were 8-million cubic yards of marsh. And towed 6800 miles from England by Dutch tugs was the great floating dock I which cost £ll-million of the £2O- j million originally spent on the base. ! The dock, which is exceeded in : size only by that built at Southamp-

ton for the Queen Mary, is 1000 feet j long and 1300 feet wide. It has more than 5000 feet of deep water quays and can hold several of Britain’s largest warships at one time. “Now,” said an American com- j mentator, when the dock was open- i ed, “Britain’s greatest ships of war ! may risk accident or injury in Asiatic i waters with no fear of having to j limp 6000 miles or more back to MaKa for repairs.” I No fleet is stationed at Singapore, j but it was suggested a few years ago I that the base might ultimately have 1 five battleships, with a proportionate number of cruisers, destroyers and submarines. A Ring of Outposts America’s chief Pacific naval base

is at Pearl Harbour, Honolulu, 6100 miles north-east of Singapore. The sum of £4l-million was set aside in 1938 for the establishment of the air base at Singapore, which is now the headquarters of the Royal Air Force (Far East Command). Subsidiary bases were established at Penang. Pat Hueng (near Hongkong), the Nicobar Islands (in the Bay of Bengal), Mergui (Burma) and Sarawak (Borneo). The Singapore base is fortified with formidable long-range and anti-air-craft guns. It is garrisoned by a large force of British and Indian troops. “Virtually impregnable,” was how British naval experts described the base after its opening in 1933. Penang, the town and island which form, after Singapore, the most important part of the British Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements, is two miles and a-half from the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, and about 450 miles north-west of Singapore. A garrison of British and Indian troops, with strong artillery units and anti-aircraft defences, was established on Penang Island last year. With the strengthening of the defence system, now announced, the island ; should be one of the strongest British outposts in the Far East. In the Malay States, which are also involved in the new defence scheme, it was announced last year that compulsory military service I would be introduced for all male British subjects, and that the traini.ig of volunteer defence forces would i be intensified.