New-York tribune., 1921-12-05
] Japanese Count
Older Ships to
Get 7O% Ratio
Existing Strength" Clause
i'm Hughes Proposal Was
Made Excuse for Incl,ld-
ing Pre- Dreatlnoughts
Three Tables Submitted
American Officials Refused
10 iscuss Program
on the Basis Suggested

10 scuss Program
OH the Basis Suggested
WASHINGTON, Dec. a (By The As
sociated Press Determination of MEM
orandun, submitted by Japanese ex-
perts during recent conferences with
| American officers on tho naval ratio
problem shows that tho Japanese
seized upon the "cxisting strength"
clause of Secretary Hughes's proposal
rs basis for asserting claims to at
least 70 per cent of American naval
strength. The Japanese proposition
was presented in three tables of COM
parison, in none of which was any al
lowance made for any ship under con-
struction on November II except the
Japanese battleship Mutsu, rated by
the Japanese as completed ship and
by the American experts as % per
cent complete.
according to any OF the three cal
culations, the existing strength Of the
Japanese navy amounts to about 70 per
cent of the American navy" the Japa-
nese communication said. "This is es-
pecially SO when the calculation is
made on the basis of super-dread-
noughts, for there it will be so high
that it reaches to Sc per cent
at is, therefore, the firm conviction
of the Japanese experts that Japan
should have at least 70 per cent OF
navy compared with Americas 100 per
cent"
American Reply Oral
The American experts made no writ
ten reply The Japanese experts were
orally Informed that the United States
could not discuss the question of ex-
listing strength of the two navies on
the basis of the Japanese construction.
The discussions between the experts
ended at this point.
Table / submitted by. the Japanese
experts set out a comparison based on
pre-dreadnoughts and dreadnoughts of
each power. 1t was as follows:
Omitted States-Japanese classified
tion, 33 ships, 72s,390 tons, 100 per
cent? American classification, 80 ships,
1871, ,135 tons, 100 per cent.
"Japan-Japanese classification, %
ships, 550,25O tons. 7e per cent; Ameri-
can classification, 25 ships, 549, 1876 tons;
SO per cent.
"Remarks-If battleships of over
twenty years are eliminated in accord
ance with original proposal, the Japan
csc percentage will be 68 per cent"
In explanation of this table the Jap
anese attached note saying:
"The calculation by the japanese ma
val experts is that, putting a fair con-
struction on the existing strength in
the proposal of Mr.. Hughes, it is proper
to include pre-dreadnoughts in the ex-
isting strength"
Superdreadnoughts Included
Table 2 compared naval strength on
the basis of dreadnoughts and super
dreadnoughts. 1t follows:
United States
CLASSIFICATION cLAssiFicATIoN
20 ships IS ships
S'assS $50 ton tons cent 500'ssS 00'5sS tons ton ..u
c1AsslTfcXTloN ilARTNGSm clAsslFIcATfoS ANERIgAT
s75.02o tons sS4,7oo tons
70 per cent 67 per cent
In connection with Table 2 the jap
anese memorandum said:
"The calculation of the Japanese ex-
perts, according to the opinion of the
American experts, should exclude the
re-dreadnoughts"
Table 8 dealt only with superdread.
noughts. 1t showed no disagreement as
to be included. 1t follows:
UNITED STATES JAPAN
sss, 900 tons tons 1880 1890 torps tons
100 per cent Sc per cent
rms explanation was appended.
The calculation excluding all of the
l2-inch gun ships is, according to the
universal recognition among naval ex-
perts of all nations, that such ships no
longer have the capacity to stand on
the first line of battle"
Discrepancies Not Explained
Discrepancies in tonnage figures be-
tween American and Japanese calcula-
tlons as shown above were not traced
out by the Americans, as none of the
tables came within the scope of pos
slple discussion under the plan as re-
terrcd to the experts for examination
in detail.
They were taken as cons stituting the
presentation of new policy for the
basis of the naval limitation plan. and
this view apparently was recognized
later by Admiral Baron Kato in pre-
senting the argument of Secretary
| hughes and Arthur d. Balfour that
Japan needed 70 per cent for national
security
The close scrutiny given by Japanese
naval officials to all American navy
publications was brought out in the
course Of the experts discussions over
the percentage of completion of ships
under construction. The list supplied
by the Americans showed the battle
ship Colorado 88 per cent finished on
November H. only 10 per cent behind
the japanese Mutsu.
The Japanese then produced per-
centages of completion for American
TRICOLORED CORN