Arizona republican., 1921-11-14

opinion would rank the American battleship fleet as superior.
 Tn round terms, the American re- placement proposal means that. un- der the agreement the fleets of the three powers in terms of capital ships would stand ultimately at approxi- rnately IA each for Great Britain and the United States and eight for Japan.
 The American claim to full equal fty with Great Britain is made in the the replacements suggestion and there has been no hint that the Brit ish delegation will oppose it. It means also that Japan would stand thereafter at a fixed ratio of three to five in naval strength in comparison to the other two fleets. It was not clear tonight how that would finally be viewed by Japan.
 Limit Capital Ships
 The American replacement pro- posal limits future capital ships to s5o0O tons. Taken in connection with the tonnage allotments. that would mean main fleets of If capital craft each for Great Britain and the United States and eight for Japan, provided all are built up to the size limit.
 ne ntaLNAGEL lOIHd6c OL DAleti craft so far planned is understood to be in connection with Japan's pro- jected battle cruisers. said to reach zl.o00 tons. Such ships and also such vessels as the six new battleships and six battle cruisers the United States Is building all we'll over 10000 tonners. would be prohibited.
 Size limitations strike at vital ele- ments in naval construction. The factors of guns and armor weight. speed and cruising radius are those from which the size of ships is de- termined. Probably the 35.000 ton limitation would make impossible any ship carrying heavier batteries than eight, 16-inch weapons
 II is to be noted that in the Amer fcan scheme no data as to new ships laid down as replacements would be required to be furnished by the pow CT planning the ship to the other two, but the, tonnage and the dates of con- tract. keel laying. completion and de- Etruction of the ship displaced. No attempt is made to limit the design of the vessels. batteries, speed fuel capacity or other military character sstics beyond the 35,000 ton maximum figure.
 In outlining the plans for all the auxiliary craft that make up modern fleets. care was taken to exclude from the limitations existing tonnage in monitors, or purely coast defense vessels, and in supply and other training ships, tugs and the like. There would be no necessity to dis pose of any excess of these craft, as they would not weigh much in the ecale of the reduced main fleets.
 Hold three Ratio
 Otherwise with the exception of aircraft, the five to three ratio as be- tween the strength of the British and American fleets and that of Japan. would apply all down the line. 1t is an exact establishment of this line of relative naval strength that has been worked out.
 The figure may be significant. Naval officers always have contend ed that it would require a two to one preponderapce of forces to carry bat tle to Japan across the Pacific, if the httacking power lacked bases well out toward that side. because of the possibility of accidents to ships, al- though a nearby base might quickly have refitted them. Here is where the great importance of naval bases in the Pacific, not touched on by Mir. Hughes, lies. On the five to three ration of naval strength, off cers say that preponderance would not be available to Great Britain or the United States. It would take joint forces to furnish the ships and then. because of double drains and divided command, experts think a three to one preponderance necessary to make certain the result
 On Merchant Marine
 Another element of the American program. yet to be explained is the statement as to the inverse" ration importance of the merchant marine. compared to naval strength main tained b. any power. That means as the size of the naval force goes down, the possibilities of turning merchant vessels into warships by mounting guns on their decks go up. With few fighting ships to meet. armed mer- chantmen would be themselves fight ing craft, ready for battle with ships of their kind. If all navies were scrapped. Great Britain would have an overwhelming preponderance or potential naval strength due to hei 10000. 900 tons of cargo and passen- ger steamers as against the merchant fleets of the United States and Japan
 Apparently, the American delega- tion was influenced by some suci consideration as this in reaching tht