The Washington times., 1921-11-24
BRITAIN SNAVAL
BASES IGNORED
|NHUGHES' plan
Guns at Gibraltar Could Sink
Whole v. s. Fleet, Says
K. c. Historian.


are discussed by Edward r. Nc
Sweeney in an article issued today In
the Knights Of Columbus History IN
the Making" series.
'"rhe great quantity OF reading
matter that has been spread over the
country in the course Of the last week
has served to becloud the issues laid
bare by the proposals Of Mr.. Hughes,
he says. 1T Is the ultimate aim OF
the Hughes proposal to have the
navies Of the United States and Great
Britain equally strong, with Japan at
80 per cent. Divested Of official and
semi-official coloring, the case may be
stated az follows: The Hughes pro-
posal will make tho United states
navy the second for the time being,
the British the first and the japanese
the third.
"The proposal takes no cosnisAncc
of the fact that Great Britain has
large number of naval bases. each OF
them the equal In fire efficiency oil
several capital ships. The defeat sur
tered by nineteen British and French
capital ships at the hands OF the Turk
ish batteries In the Dardanelles indi'
Gates best what coast artillery, pro-
tecting a naval base, can DO.
Bsse 1t Gibraltar.
1T In now feared Mr.. Hughes did
not take this into proper considers-
ton. For instance, the British base
of Gibraltar could sink very easily
every American capital ship without
sustaining serious injury.
AS against this. there could be ad'
vanced the argument that the Ameri'
can fleet-of.war will never have any
business that would take 1t past Glib
Ialtar. AS seen from the present
angle. that IL we'll enough. However.
one must reckon with the possibility
Of an American fleet having business
in the Mediterranean, at q time Of in
ternational crisis. In this event. such
American ships as might be In the
Mediterranean could be completely cut
off. bottled up. since the Suez canal
IL equally we'll protected and can be
rendered impossible with very little
effort.
The Baltic sea presents 4 related
problem, largely because the narrow
waterway giving access to 1t can be
mined by British vessels not included
in the naval limitation proposal--by
vessels which ordinarily engage In
peaceful pursuits.
The fact then Ia that any naval
base may become a part of a hostile
II6etOI-WhT, OcyoIu tuOoc SOh-
sidera tions which lie in the easy re-
plenishing Of supplies without which
no navy can do it's best work. The
British recognize this to such an
extent that In their tactical scheme
the island Of Ascension In the South
Atlantic Is rated and known as II. M.
8. Ascension.
At the time the American fleet
made it's famous trip around the
world, the lack of naval bases was
fully felt. There were not even col
liers enough. Most of them were
chartered from foreign shipowners,
from men who In times OF war
would not give their vessels for that
purpose. The British fleet does not
suffer from such q handicap. 1t
tances. and these are provisional and
munitioned for war in times Of peace.
Guns Control Canal.
ION the other hand. the British
navy can easily prevent the United
States fleet in the Pacific from join
ing the Atlantic fleet. Though we
have dug the Panama Canal. the
fact remains that the British bases
in the West Indies are q most Of.
ficient barrier against joint action
of the American navy.
The United States could afford to
enter into the Hughes proposal only
II Great Britain would be willing not
only to scrap her naval bases in the
West Indies, the Bahamas and Ber-
muda, but to turn these islands over
TO their populations. SO long as
Great Britain IL tho master Of u
point that can be made a naval base.
20 long must the conversion OF such
n mint into a naval base be taken
into serious consideration