Norwich bulletin., 1921-12-23
STATEMENT BY EAcE
 POWER ON SUBMARINES

Washington, Dec. 22 lBy the 4. P.}.-- An eight thousand word cornInuaique by the ornaments committee Of the Wash ington conference after today's meeting was in the form of a naraphrase of the statement made for the delegation Of each power wit llresDetc to the British proposal that submarines be abolished as naval weapon The argument of Lord | Lee of the British admiralty came first It stated the view oi the British govern nerlt to be that whit was required was not merely restrictions on submarines, 1 but their total and final abofishlnent. 1 Lord Lee presented the following eati- ] mates of existing submarine tonnare: 1 United States S3.5o0; Great Britain Se,- ] 500 Japan 32.00o; France, 25 Sso, and Italy, 1s,25a
 ] He pointed out that under the Anleri- ! can pronosa,s of go 900 tons each for i Great Br tain and the Unt"ed States and 1 54.000 for Japan. the United States could 1 build $500 tons, Great Britain 500 and i Japan q 800 with the other two cou1 1 tries ip proportion.
 'He felt bound to say" the paraphraz l continued that it seemed to him very ! strange to put before conference on the i limitation Of naval armament proposals d. signed to foster and increase the type ] of war vessels which, according to the Brit sh view. are onen to more objection ], than surface capital ships"
 i Lord Lee said friends of the subn1a Tne i contended that it was a legitimate . weapon of weaker powers and ar ef- l fective and economical means of defense f, for coast lines and maritime conlmuniea- 3; tons. Both contentious could be chai-
 leneed on technical grounds and were II cleaE,y dispTo''ed by recent history" the psrapnrase said.
 |i Lord Lee declared that methods of To-
 cation. detection and destruction of sub
 marines had proceeded much further than the development of subnla riRes them l. submersihles against modern warcraft. He said he believed Gel many had used 370 JI-boats Tn the war. of which 2e3 had been sunk, and that the accomplishment of the U-beats in legitimate naval war fare had been "qImost ins!gn fieant'' NO less than ffteen million British troo~s had crossed and recrossed the English channel during the war and no' one man had been lost from the action oi submarines, except on board hospital ships" the pararhraee declared. Later some two million United States troops had been brought across the Atlantic. and the submarine had proved equally power less in their case t added
 Tn fact" the comnun:aue continued in presenting Lord Lees argument ''the U-hoat wheth"r considered as an of fensive or 8 defens've weacen agaips fany sort of organized naval force haG proved almost contemptble" Taking ID the argument as to CO.'S { lines. Lord Lee pointed out that Grea Britain alone had almost as much coas to defend as all Of the other powers a the confererce corehired, Or four time. the c'rcumferenee of the ~lebe' Tn ad dition, he 9dded. Great HritaiL had rhi } ,on~est tre1A ro,tte to nro+ecf Tt was partly because our experiene
 had shown that they wer" not effecii~ t rines Lord ea nid The late war fat , made '4 ahundart'y clear that the great , est ner5l was especially great to a coun 1, try which did rot "ossess command o , Il the sea on tho surface. Hence. 1t wa n to the interest of any such power to ge 1 rd of this territ 'e roeno oca"
 T,ori T ee ed t',7E =ll',-7arires f1a, ''oc'1 e--Aa1 rn~s e1lceaes' ae='rst r7ercts 2 n
 sNirs on1v nr" o'ade the fo7lowtn4 s1I-7 |. naorv cf wi1at re-''-anys suhr1a rines ho z oeNe-ar''e',ed against mercantile vessel . in the war:
 'rNo less thon twA''e --''i'on tons q |, s'a4nr'n" had been su~', Of value c ' ] s1 fna n"n Ahh anart from their earec
 C1-nr 2n n"h -cor7hatant H,eT1 z-On7n and ehf'dre- had been drowned + | 1 true +hat this "4~1on had haen urdertate = in violnt+on of a,' iawg. both rti-nan an = divine. T'-a German excuse for it he 6 hann it's effecti~enAes They had used th
 sarne a~r1I7ren* as in the casa of 10 'sn
 ~qs w'7;cF had set 2 precedent yl-'c
 an7eare1 i+Fe'v 10 an1',-e fnr all tin h vow t"at nations had been driven to T. Il co-t to it''
 IT I.ord ca arou"d that the s1Ion7arir
 nnnace could he ban'she7 only bv tot; a 4ho'is1r1ent from the sea add'.7r th; Q +17ts was the intention of fhe treaty , n, vorea'lles wf' cf forbade Ge~r7anv n ,construct submarines for any nureCe~
 ''Fzere we 10 >nssus11A Lord se co' ,a 'inre5. "+1'at Germany was alvavs to io had and tlle other nowers were always Na good. was the-e to ho one rule f i1, ir Germany and aanother rule for the re '' of the world?"
 Ohiect'ng 10 Iiuaitsfion of sub,,arine sSS Lord Lee said U-beat fleets could !o randy expanded Tn time of war and ti ID industry and a nucleus ot nersonnel maj le tained unless complete eholisilnent v t decided uron He insisted that the Br " isfl delegation "were animated by 1n selfish motives" i1urging that eoursR. ol though "it would be foolish not to reeo Is nze that Great Britain was the Rati so most exposed to the menace of the su lie marine
 ut Lord Lee declared that an err ge HE only seven weeks food stocks was naal
 tained in the country by England a
 cont nued:
 an There were some people who said
 was this vulnerability Of Great Brit;