The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-11-25
HUGHES REMEMBERS
PANAMA CANAL.
Wants Warships Limited so
They Can Pass Through
Ditch
CAN OPERATE
IN BOTH OCEANS
Canal Will Not Accommodate Ships of
Over $4,000 Tons Displacement -
Hughes Limit Means Serapping Four
of Largest Ships Planned BY L. 5.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


Especial Dispatch to The Reformer.)
Copyright 1921
WASHINGTON, Nov. 25-The real
reason for the proposal of Secretary
Hughes and the American navy that here
after no battleships shall be built by any
nation larger than $4,000 tons is just
coming to surface. The United States
does not wish TO have any battleships too
large to go through the Panama Canal.
Before the present conference was con
vened and the armament race was at its
height. there was tax OF $4,000 and
60.000-ton battieships to be built by
Japan. This would have been met by
the construction of American battleshipS
of equal size. but these vessels would
have been valuable to the United States
only in the Pacific where they would have
had to be kept most of the time
American naval policy, at least for the
present, contemplates a feet divided be-
tween the Atlantic and the Pacific and one
of the chief values of the canal is that
Strategically it gives the United States
great defensive strength. The disadvan-
tage of vessels in the Pacific which must
round Cape Horn was conspicuously illus
trated in the Spanish war when
Fighting Bob Evans made his memoir
able trip from Pacific to Atlantic waters
to assist the squadrons off the Cuban
coast.
Capacity of Canal.
| The Panama canal is able at present to
accommodate vessels with a displacement
| of 10000 tons comfortably. but the eRgi-
neerS who built the ditch did not cGntem-
| plate ships of greater than 10 feet in
width There are now no vessels atloat
as wide as this So the Hughes proposal
affects only the future. 1t reads as fol
Ilows:
THAT no capital ship shall be built in
replacement with a tonnage displacement
of more than $4,000 tons"
Mr., Hughes gave no reasons for the
| foregoing suggestion. but naval experts
now realize what was back of il.
| OF course there We're other reasons for
| this limitation. such as Stabilizing the
value of existing battleships and arma
ment.
When the Panama canal was built
| there was considerable discussion about
| the future size of battleshipS and some
engineers advocated a width of at least
| l20 or $50 feet and now experts are in
clined to agree that the ditch should have
been wider than 40 feet. As for length,
the newest type of battle cruisers are
approximately 900 feet long. while the
locks are not much more than 1000 feet
in length.
NOulu Builu Larger SnipS.
There are those who believe that good
fighting craft Of as much as 10000 tons
displacement could be built with a width
Of los feet which would enable them to
pass through the canal, but while Ameri-
can ships would have to meet that handi-
cap this would not be the case with
japanese battleships which have no spe-
cial reason for wanting to get into the
Atlantic quickly. The limitation to -, 600
tons will have the effect, therefore. of
placing the United States on a parity " 18th
Japan with respect to all new battleShipS
built to replace those which may become
obsolete during the 10-year naval holiday.
Under the Hughes proposals the United
States would scrap vessels of the Indiana.
Iowa. Montana and North Carolina type
with an estimated displacement of $4,000
tons, the building of which has been
authorized. Of course the larger the ship
the greater the size of guns and arma-
ment and therefore the more costly the
whole vessel becomes Just as soon as
one nation builds vessel of larger type
than any other afoat. Immediately all
ships of preceding classes which do not
carry as big guns are considered 'Obso-
iete, in the naval sense. and the construc-
tive engineers turn their thoughts to ships
of the larger size. The Japan battleship
Nagato Is the largest ship aflOat and the
United States has been building vessels
to match Japan in that class. Similarly
the Hood type of .battleships built by
Great Britain which are to be -scrapped
under the Hughes program are potential
| figures IN the armament race. The pro
posal to limit all battleships to $4,000
stability in the armament competition. At
the same time it removes the danger of
longer and wider vessels than the Panama
canal could accommodate.