Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-07-16

sells, with greater speed and much longer range
guns, could stand off and destroy a whole 1teet
of the type of fighting ships which preceded it.
Any comparison of national sea power must
Of course be relative. The introduction of the
seaplane as a fighting unit has put a new light
on the whole situation, but many naval experts
still are insistent that the true comparative
values of the navies of the world must be COM
puted from the tonnage of the ships of the
first hre. with particular stress on the big gun
vessels such as battle cruisers and super-dread-
naughts.
So-called second line ships still have their
uses in war. The blockading of ports on coast
lines, certain kinds of patrol duty, and the raid
ing of commerce-carrying vessels has been
demonstrated to be an important part of mari
time warfare. and there are many vessels in the
duty. This is particularly true of the British
Navy.
On known figures, American big gun power
apparently is greater than that of the British
navy. However, the number of sixteen-inch
guns in the British navy is not known, and may
be large enough to swing the balance in favor
of England. Big guns include those of twelve
inch bore and up.
Three Navies Epitomized.
Latest figures show the strength of the British
navy, already built, to be as follows:
First line battleships. rs; second line battle
ships, 20; first line battle cruisers, 6; second line
battle cruisers, A; first line cruisers. 2; second
line cruisers. 20; first line light cruisers, A:
second line light cruisers. "a: destroyer leaders,
"a: first line destroyers, 1884; second line de-
%stroyers, AZ; first line submarines, II; second
line submarines. Sc; first line fleet submarines,
Is: second line fleet submarines, z; cruiser sub
marine. /; monitor type submarines, 2, and air.
craft carriers, 6.
In addition to this array of vessels, Great
Britain has the following ships now building:
First line light cruisers, S; destroyer leader,
1; first line destroyers, IL; first line fleet sub
marines, IS; and monitor type submarine, 1.
The total number Of British ships in COM
mission listed above is TIT. with an aggregate
tonnage Of 2.412,146. There are SO ships under
construction. aggregating 1880 tons.
The American navy has in commission the
following vessels:
First line battleships, 16; second line battle
ships, 16; second line cruisers, 10; second line
light cruisers, 8; first line destroyers, $50; sec
ond line destroyers. 81; first line submarines,
4S; second line submarines. A; first line fleet
Listed among the ships building and author
lied for the United States navy are the follow
ing:
First line battleships, II; first line battle cruis-
ers, 6: first line light cruisers. TO-: first line
SO; first line submarines, 81; first
line fleet submarines, A..
Roughly, the tonnage of the 424 American
naval vessels listed as in commission is 1,1SS,000;
Ct the ships building, exclusive Of the SUBJ
marines, the tonnage is given as 804,009. |
Japan's present navy is given as follows:
First line battleships, 6: second line battle
cruisers, S: first line light cruisers. 6; second
light cruiser. 1; first line destroyers, 81:
second line destroyers, II; second line sub
marines, IL.
The figures given for the ships projected and
building for the Japanese navy are:
or nroiected. frst iips battia cri1isers. 3. none
yet laid down: first line light cruisers, 9, prob
ably all %building; first line destroyers. is build
ing and 80 projected; first line submarines, 40,
all building; aircraft carrier, L, now b%uilding;
second line submarines, 0 authorized.
The tonnage of the 10 Japanese vessels listed
as in commission in it's navy is 4~86,252; of the
building program, made up of liz
ships. the tonnage is given as 694,S7O. This
figure does not include the 9 second line sub
the tonnage of which vessels Is I'M
Comparison Of the three navies by big gun
nouyar ;a oof oop,p1n hooopcn H. rIIpohn nf
16-inch guns in the British navy is not known.
The known figures show, though, that when the
building programs are completed Great
of A guns of 12-inch bore; IA guns Of 13h-
inch bore, and 100 guns of 15-inch bore, in
to an unknown number of 16-inch
guns.
The United States will have mounted on 3S
ships a total of 81 guns of 12-inch bore: no
Is " Inch guns, 112 guns of 14-inch bore: no
15-inch guns, and 1872 guns of 16-inch bore.
The Japanese navy will have mounted on II
vessels, s guns of 12-inch bore: no 1917 Inch
guns; so guns of 14-inch bore; no 15-inch guns,
~ guns Of 16-inch bore. IL
The totals show that the American navy will
have 32S big guns; the British navy, exclusive
of the unknown number of the largest size
rifles, 2SS, and the japanese navy 100 big guns.
Change OF Battle Conditions.
The war demonstrated that comparisons of
navies on paper cannot be taken as absolute
of seapower. The German surface
bottled up at Heligoland for the remainder of
the war, while enemy submarines were busy all
the time sinking American and allied ships. II
there should be another great war it is certainly
that development of naval aircraft may
be such that submarines may be spotted easily
from the air and destroyed by some kind OF
depth bomb. The result of a development OF
this kind would be to render submarine craft
almost useless for any purpose.
Many government experts even now are MAIN
aiming stoutly that the most powerful and
line fighting ships will be destroyed with
ease, should another great sea war be fought,
BY seaplanes lowering high out of reach, drop
ping huge bombs OF terrible destructive power
sufficient precision to annihilate the great
est array of surface and sub-surface craft any
nation Of the world could put on the face OF
the waters.