US Presidency
1930

Criticism of this arrangement arises from the fact that the General Board of the United States Navy recommended that to reach parity with Great Britain the United States should have three more of the 10,000 ton cruisers ( 21 instead of 1MADISON. By, with 8-inch guns, and a total of 315,000 tons or 8,000 tons less total cruiser tonnage than this treaty provides. Thus this treaty provides that instead of this 30,000 tons more of 8-inch ships recommended by the General Board, we will have 38,000 tons of ships armed with 6-inch guns, there being no limitation upon the size of cruisers up to 10,000 tons. Therefore, criticism revolves around less than 3 per cent of our whole fleet, and even within this 3 per cent comes the lesser question of whether 30,000 tons of ships armed with 8-inch guns are better than 38,000 tons armed with 6-inch guns. The opinion of our high naval authorities is divided on the relative merits of these alternatives.