NAVAL EXPANSION

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21363, 6 March 1941, Page 8

NAVAL EXPANSION

ACTIVITY OF POWERS FORTY CAPITAL SHIPS BIG WAR LOSSES (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, March 4 The ever-growing naval expansion of the great Powers is evident from information in the new edition of Jane’s Fighting Ships. It is estimated that 40 capital ships are under construction or on order. All except four Japanese pocket battleships are of at least 35,000 tons, and at least 20 are over 40,000 tons, including four British ships of the Lion class, two of which are due for completion in 1943. The United States has 17 battleships building or ordered. It is suggested that some of these will reach a displacement of 52,000 tons. The American programme includes 12 aircraft carriers, 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 and 1940, plus several new cruisers. Other capital ships are under construction, and destroyers, submarines and light minelayers continue to accumulate. Ships of Germany It is impossible to guess the number of German submarines laid down. The American estimate of 300 is believed to be by no means unreasonable. German capital ships under construction are reported to include two of 40,000 tons, namely the I riedrich der Grosse and the 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 of small craft, such as drifters and trawlers, which have been lost in minesweeping and assisting in such hazardous operations as the Dunkirk evacuation, in which over 100 small craft were sunk, some without trace. Britain had also lost 36 destroyers, including two Canadian, and 23 submarines. These figures reached 38 and 24 respectively alter the volume went to press. Germany’s fleet is less by one pocket battleships, four cruisers, and 13 destroyers, and it is estimated that few of the 70 U-boats with which she began the war have survived. Italy, excluding the damage at Taranto, has lost one cruiser, seven destroyers, and at least 30 submarines.