Evening star., 1921-12-16
Cain in New Battleships.
Made by Naval A greement

The deliberations of the Big Three
Secretary Hughes. Mr.. Balfour and
Baron Kato. on the naval ratio for
the United States, Great Briatin and
Japan, resulted in:
The retention Of the 5-5-3 ratio as
proposed by the United States.
The retention by the Japanese of
the new battleship Mustu. and the
scrapping Of the settsu, one Of her
older ships.
Of the new battleships Colorado and
Washington, and the scrapping of
the North Dakota and Delaware. old
er ships
The authorization of Great Britain to
construct two new battleships not ito
exceed $1,000 tons each, and to scrap
four older ships.
The amount Of tonnage of capital
ships has been slightly increased by
this modification Of the original plan
The status quo with regard to fortifi-
cations and naval bases in the Pacific
region Is to be retained
Omcial Statement.
The ofiicial statement issued by the
State Department last night. after the
agreement. follows:
made to the subcommittee on naval
armament today:
THE following are the points OF
agreement that have been reached
In the course of the negotiations be
tween the United States Of America
to their capital fighting ships:
An agreement has been reached
between the three powers-the United
States of America, the British Empire
and japan. on the subject Of naval
ratio. The proposal of the American
government that the ratio should be
5-o,S is accepted. 1t is agreed tina,
naval bases in the Pacific region in
cluding Hongkong, the status quG
sha!! be maintained. that is. that there
| shall be no increase in these fortifi-
cations and naval bases except that
this restriction shall not apply to the
Hawaiian Islands. Australia, New Zea.
land and the islands composing Japan
proper. or. OF course. to the coasts
OF the United States and Canada, as to
which the respective powers retain
their entire freedom.
Ihe Japanese government has
TO the Mutsu. as that is their newest
| ship. In order to retain the Mutsu
Japan has proposed to scrap the Sett
su. one OF her older ships which. un-
der the American proposal. was to
have been retained. This would leave
the number of Japan's capital ships
the same-that is. ten. as under the
American proposal. The retention OF
the Mutsu by Japan in place of the
Settsu makes a difference in net ton
mage Of 13.600 tons. making the total
tonnage Of Japan's capital ships
$4,000 tons as against 29e.1oO ton.
Under the original American pro-
posai.
Difference in Efficiency.
While the difference in tonnage is
small. there would be considerable
difference in efficiency. as the reten-
tion OF the Nutsu would give to Japan
two (2) post-Jutland ships of the
latest design.
TN order to meet this situation and
to preserve the relative strength on
the basis OF the agreed ratio. it is
| complete two t2) of the ships in
course of construction-that is, the
Colorado and the Washington. which
are now about 90 per cent completed
and scrap two (2) of the older ships
that is. the North Dakota and the
proposal. were to be retained. This
would leave the United States with
i the same number of capital ships
that is. eighteen. as under the origina1
j proposal, with a tonnage Of 525s5t
tons. as against 500.ss0 tons. as orig
fnally proposed Three (3J of the
ships would be post-Jutland ships OF
the Maryland type.
"As the British have no post-Jut.
land ships. except one Hood, the con.
struction Of which is only partly post
Jutland. 1t is agreed that in order to
maintain proper relative strength the
British government may construct
two (2) new ships not to exceed $4,000