The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-11-16

sion.
in the afternoon there Will be a
meeting Of the committee on pro-
gram and procedure for Far East
ern questions, consisting OF the
heads of the delegations Of all nine
Of the nations holding seats in the
conference.
During the afternoon the Arleri-
can committee OF q also will meet,
and Chairman Sutherland viii an
nounce the personnel Of the six
subcommittee whose creation has
been authorized to facilitatelthe
handling Of special subjects.
While these meetings are being
held, technical advisers Of the va
rious delegations will further study
the American proposal, under
which tonnage figures in capital
ships for the three powers for I'M
mediate reductions would be Great
Britain, 604,450; the United States,
! 5G0.650; Japan, 299,7G0. The list
of ships to be retained by each !.
[
| ence over the United States is prac-
| tically all in her four battle cruis-
ers. In that way, apparently, the
American group worked out Mr..
Hughes general statement as to
the necessity OF having regard to
the existing naval strength Of the
powers concerned.
So far as battleship tonnage
goes, in the retained fleets the
American and British forces would
be about the same, around 100000
and that Of Japan just under 300,-
! 900. This links up directly with
Mr.. Hughes suggestion as to re-
placement program, based on aXed
tonnage for each power, to apply
only after ten years Of 10 building
of any kind. Then, "nder the
American proposal, Great Britain
would be allowed to y aintain up
to 100000 tons in capital ships, the
United States the same and Japan
100000.
In other words, after ten years
| the British fleet must b brought
| down to the same tonn: se basis as
| the American while tn japanese
would remain substantially. where
it was at the time Of the first re-
duction. Apparently it is expected
| that the British strength would be
reduced sufficiently by a,tr:tion, the
| wearing out of ships, during the
ten year period.
Statistics as to the gun power Of
the three fleets to be retained un-
der the reduction program show
that the United States and Japan
would have one ship each mounting
eight 16-inch rifles. Great Britain
would have ten ships carrying to-
tai Of eight 15-inch rifles, one car
rying ten 14-inch guns, and her
other seven ships would be armed
with the British 1875 guns, used by
neither Of the other powers. She
would have 70 Of these ahoat.
The United States, in addition to
the 16inch gun ships, the Mary
land, just commissioned, would
have eight ships carrying twelve
14-inch guns, four carrying ten a
inch guns. each, two carrying
twelve l2inch guns each and four
carrying ten 12-inch guns each. ia
pan, in addition to her one 16-inch
gun ship, would have afloat 4S La
inch guns and twelve Pinch guns
on her battleships and 50 14-inch
on her battle cruisers.
The figures further illustrate
that the British preponderance in
the proposed immediate cut is en-
braced il hey four battle cruisers,
as the gun power OF the two bat
tleship fleets would be different in
makeup but approximately the
same. There is little doubt, how
ever, that American naval opinion
would rank the American battle
ship fleet as superior.
In round terms. the American
replacement proposal means that
under the agreement outlined the
fleets OF the three powers in terms
VI N'>l'A\1i SiilpS NOuIO SldllO uIil-
mately at approximately II each
for Great Britain and the United
States and eight for Japan. The
American claim to full equality
with Great Britain is made in the
replacement suggestion and there is
no hint that the British Will op-
pose it.
1t seems also that Japan would
stand thereafter at a fixed ratio of
three to five in naval strength in
comparison TO the other two fleets.
1t was not clear tonight how that
would finally be viewed by Japan.
The American replacement plan
proposes 10 limit future capital
ships to $4,000 tons. Taken in con-
nection With the tonnage allot-
ments. that would mean main fleets
of II capital craft each for Great
Britain and the United States and
eight fer Japan. provided all are