New-York tribune., 1921-02-20
u. S. Navy Not
Ready for W ar,
Fulla1n1 W arms

questions by Senator's Lodge, Poindex-
ter, Swanson, Hale, Bali, Walsh and
King. Senator Lodge and others said
they recognized the need of airplane
and submarine development and the
need for the feet to be united and
thoroughly organized. The Senators
generally, however, opposed 'any sus-
pension of the building program as
laid down in 1916
Admiral Fullam began his statement
to the committee by references to the
feet as it stands to-day and the ves-
sells under construction. He said the
fighting feet consisted of eight dread
noughts and eight. super er-dreadnoughts.
Many Ships Obsolete
"All other baltleships in the navy
he said, "are practically obsolete ,
Next in Importance there are about
goo modern destroyers, u ''vevy power
full force" he said.
Under construction there are eleven
super dreadnoughts, six of which are
between rs and 80 per cent completed
Admiral Fullam advised completing
these six, which would give the coun-
try a powerful battle flee. of twenty
two dreadnoughts. AS to the other five
super thoughts, less than 25 per
cent completed. he said it would
be good policy 70 suspend their CON
struction for at least six months, until
it could be determined whether they
might be obsolete in the near future
or if changes in design were advisable
They could be converted into airplane
carries, or given armored decks to pro-
tect them from bombing
AS tC the six hattie Sprc I1r1dpr
construction and less than 10 per cent
completed, Admiral Fullam said il
would be wise to stop construction or
! them for six months at least, or con-
tinue construction only on their hulls
and machinery so that they may be
changed in design if need be or trans
formed into airplane carriers.
The navy was sadly in need Of scout
cruisers, the Admiral said. AS to sub
marines, he made this statement:
"There are forty-seven submarines
under construction. They should be
finished without delay. We are IA
no submarines in our navy capable of
cruising and fighting with the feet. 1t
is an amazing and perilous situation
There is not one long range, up-to-date
submarine cruiser or mine layer in the
navy. If devoid of submarines and
air forces, surface fleet, no matter
how powerful, will be practically help
less if it meets a feet properly sup
piled with these modern weapons.
we have now. or near completio y
the Admiral said further, "a powerful
surface fleet. Even without the battle
cruisers it is strong, because we have
vastly larger destroyer force than
any nation except England. This force
is so strong that, if we'll manned and
well handled, it would so threaten a
hostile fleet and so well screen our own
fleet that, with scout cruisers and air
plane carriers, we may not need battle
cruisers. 1t is more than probable
that the airplane and the torpedo plane
carrier will soon be recognized as a
capital ship, quite equal to battle
cruiser in usefulness and fighting
power.
One-Idea Navy Weak
Briefly reviewing this subject of our
surface fleet, we find that with twenty
two dreadnoughts, 800 destroyers and
ten scout cruisers our navy will stand
next to that of England. 1t will be at
least 80 per cent stronger than that of
Japan, and, omitting Great Britain, it
will be more powerful than the com
bined navies of all Europe
I'm the face of these facts it cannot
be truthfully said that in suspending
work on five battleships and six battle
cruisers we arc advocating a weak
navy, inadequate for national defense.
On the contrary, suspension of work
temporarily on these vessels will safe
guard US against policy that will pro
duce weak navy as the only return
for the expenditure of hundreds of
millions of dollars. A surface navy
alone is one-idea navy. Such navy
is weak to-day, and it will be still
weaker in the near future"
Admiral Fullam quoted from Ad-
mlrai Sims's book to show that be-
cause of the German submarine opera
tions the English feet in the spring
of 1917 did not really control the seas.
The surface feet, in order TO control
the sea. said Admiral Fullam, needs a
force above it as well as force below
1t. The three forces-air. surface and
proportions The navy of the United
States to-day was zone plane navy"
and Admiral Fullam said this eondi-
tion "imperils the nation
Treating of submarines IN the World
War, he said: The following facts
should be studied in connection with
the subject of control of the sea-:
Il. The Germans employed only TO-.
600 men in their submarine forces.
". There were never more thar
thirty submarines adrift at any one
time, manned by not more than 1,5oC
men.
"3. This small force was opposed by
the navies OF all great nations outside
Central F,urope - England, France