Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-12-23
TEMENT SON
SUBMARINE ARE
MADE To PUBLIC
Lord Lee Presented Esti-
mates of Existing U-Boat
Tonnage; Said Subma-
rine Not Effective.

Washington, Dec. 20 (by the AS
ISOLATED Press An S,000-wort
communique by the armamen
committee after today's meeting
was in the form of a paraphrase o
the statement made for the dele
cation of each power with respec
to the British proposal that sub
marines be abolished as a. nava
weapon. The argument of Lore
Lee of the British admiralty stated
the view of the British government
to be that what was required waf
not merely restrictions on subma
rines, but their total and fina
adjustment"
He presented the following esti.
mates of existing submarine ton
mage:
United States. $4,000; Great
Britain, $4,000; Japan. $4,000
France. 1880, and Italy, 1920.
He pointed out that under the
American proposals of 10000 tons
each for Great Britain and the
United States and $4,000 for Japan
the United States could build $500
tons. Great Britain $500 and Japan
21,S00 with the other two countries
in proportion.
HE felt bound to say" the
paraphrase continued, that II
seemed to him very strange to put
before a conference on the limita-
ton of naval armament proposals
Z designed to foster and increase the
type of war vessels which. accord
ing to the British view, was open to
more objection than surface capital
ships"
He said friends of the submarine
contended that it was a legitimate
weapon of weaker powers and an
effective and economical means OF
defense for coast lines and mari
time communications Both con-
tentions could be challenged on
technical grounds and were clear
ly disproved by recent history" the
paraphrase said,
He declared that methods Of To-
cation, detection and destruction
of submarines had proceeded much
farther than the developments of
submarines and greatly reduced
the value of the suhm ersibles
against modern war craft. He said
he believed Germany had used 375
U-boats in the war. of which 203
had been sunk, and that the &C.
complishment Of the U-boat in
Legitimate naval warfare" had
been almost insignificant"
mo less than fifteen million
British troops had crossed and re-
crossed the English channel and
not one man had been lost from
the action of submarines, except on
board hospital ships" the para
phrase declared.
Later some two million United
States troops had been brought
across the Atlantic and the subma-
rine had proved equally powerless"
in their case, 1t added. "In fact,
the U-boat, whether considered as.
an offensive or defensive weapon
against any sort of organized naval
force had proved almost contempt
ible,"
Taking up the argument as to
coast lines, Lord Lee pointed out
that Great Britain alone had al
most as much coast to defend as all
Of the other powers at the confer
ence combined. In addition, he
added. Great Britain had the long
est trade route to protect.
at vas partly because our ex-
perience had shown that they were
not effective that we were ready to
abandon submarines" he said.
"The war had made it abundantly
clear that the greatest peril to
maritime communication was the
submarine and that peril was es-
pecially great to q country which |
did not possess command OF the
sea on the surface. Hence 1t was
TO the interest of any such power
to get rid of this terrible menace"
ITO show the earnestness of the
British government" he pointed
out, the paraphrase said. "Great
Britain possessed the largest and
probably the most efficient sub
marine navy, composed of 100. YES
sells of $4,000 tons. She was pre-
pared to scrap the whole of this
great fleet and to disband the per-
sonnet provided that other powers
would do the same. That was the
British offer to the world and she i
believed it was a greater contribu-
ton to the cause of humanity than
the limitation of capital ships"
In closing he said 1t was not the
of the British delegation j
that the settlement as to capital |
ships should be affected II they !
failed to carry their point In regard /
10 the abolition of the submarines" {
The British would welcome, how
ever, he said. any suggestions for
restrictions or reduction of sub
marines. I
Chairman Hughes interviewed to c
say that figures of American naval '
experts as to existing submarine c
.onnage built and building for each c
power differed from those present.
ID by Lord Lee. The American t
figures were. he said: United States, Y
5000 tons; Great Britain, S2,464; {
france, 42.s50; Japan. 31,400. and b
italy, 2o,22S. .
1.-THE United States has, there
Ore" the communique continues, Z
n quoting Mr.. Hughes, ninety
i've thousand tons. which It is pre-
jared to reduce. The reduction is
light, but II is a reduction. 1t Is,
Il course, not the intention to in
rease, but reduce"
For the French delegation, M.
'arraut stated his profound dis
.pproval of the barbaric use which
vas made of submarines in the
var" He recalled that the sub
marine question has been dealt
Nth at the peace conference and
v the league of nations. land that
ublic opinion had shown itself
avorable to the continuance of
He asserted the be-
eff that the submarine was pre-
defensive weapon,
specially for nations scantily sup
lied with capital ships" He
rgued that "the submarine had
roved itself to be unequal to gain
lg control of the sens. and could