The New York herald., 1921-11-25

Special Despatch to THE New York HERALD
Washington. ID. G.. Nov. "a.
According to high officials on our
advisory board a compromise to in
clude the battleship Mutsu in the
Japanese navy Is not to be thought
Of. 1t would open serious seam In
our plan which would be very liable TO
sink 1t or render it's benefits nil
The supposed Japanese plan is to
scrap the battleship Settsu Of 22,400
tons, twenty knots, carrying twelve
IL inch guns, in order to gain the
necessary displacement to include the
Mutsu. There Is said to be another
division of Japanese naval opinion
which favors the request for greater
tonnage basis for Japan as against
the United States and Great Britain,
that will include the Mutsu without
scrapping the Settsu.
In the navy we are to keep under the
Hughes plan there is but ono battleship
carrying 16 inch guns, the Maryland.
The Maryland Is very fairly offset in
the Japanese navy by the battleship
Negato. which also carries 16 inch guns
but is little larger and faster than our
Maryland. To include the Mutsu with
the Negato In the Japanese navy would
leave the United States at very serious
disadvantage. A very important thing
which is not realized by all Is that dis
placement is not fair measure Of actual
power. Type and design dictate a ships
modernity and her relative value and
displacement Is only means by which
the design or type may be stated In
figures. Type and design render ships
obsolete much quicker than does ma
terial age. s-
America Losing Ground.
The advent Of the Mutsu in the Jap
anese navy has brought out the fact that
America is at present the third naval
Power. The entire capital ship forces
of the Japanese navy. with the single
exception Of the battleship Settsu, have
a speed of at least twenty-five knots as
against twenty-one knots for all the
American capital ships. However, four
Of Japan's capital ships have a speed Of
twenty-seven knots, as they are battle
cruisers. The tactical advantage of this
fleet over our own. plus the advantage
Japan has In fast cruisers over us, rele-
gates our navy to the third naval seat
The scrapping of the old Settsu would
not make much difference. Under the
Hughes plan America retains six battle
ships carrying IL inch guns that would
be almost entirely useless In the event
the Mutsu Is retained and the Settsu
scrapped. There would not be a single
battleship or battle cruiser in either of
the three large navies carrying IL inch
guns, except our ships. They would be
so weak as to be almost entirely useless.
They would be outranged, out
weighted and slower than any foreign
warships. They would be useful only
for coast defence work and the United
States wouid actually lose over 100000
tons Of battleship power. II would not
be 5-5-3, but 5-4-3 In such an event.
OF course this Is not agreeable to the
United States.
In the event Japan should insist on
the Mutsu America would natu-
rally have a counter proposal. AS
have pointed out before, the most serious
disadvantage we have to face is the
lack OF fast capital ships. Both England
and Japan have great tactical advan-
tages over us In this respect. America
would have to insist that she be allowed
battle cruiser strength In return for her
IL inch gun battleship tonnage. II
might be that the dreadnoughts Della
ware and North Dakota would be dis
pensed with. That would give us 40, 900
tons upon which to build.
Britain's Tonnage Exceeded.
One of our battle cruisers Of the Sara
toga class might be constructed on this
1%rfan thn rt,f H. fx.t.-
about 1000 tons over our established
tonnage allotment, but England is f04,-
600 tons over our tonnage allotment un-
der the ships to be retained" paragraph
OF the Hughes plan. There might also be
an objection TO America completing n
vessel of over the established limitation
figure of $4,000 tons, but IL must be re-
membcred that England Is keeping the
Hood. of 41,200 tons
But even then It would be necessary
to dispense with the dreadnoughta
Florida and Utah. because of their lack
of power and evident obsolescence. A Sec
ond battle cruiser might be included on
their combined dlsplacements OF 1850
tons. IL liz scarcely believed that the
proposal woold be made 10 scrap the bat
tlcships Arkansas and Wyoming, even
though they do carry twelve 10 inch
guns, as they would be very useful as
guardships. &c. However, this addition
OF ultra modern battle cruiser power to
our forces would have serious results
The value OF Japans four Kongos OF
27.500 tons would be considerably less, as
would the value of the British battle
cruisers Renown and Repulse, OF 26,50o
tons, 80 knots. carrying six 15 inch guns.
and the battle cruiser Tiger. 10000 tons.
20 knots, carrying eight 1875 inch guns.
would Reopen Controversy.
Both England and Japan would want
something which would Offset the value
of these powerful battle cruisers Of ours
Then the controversy would be open
again and trorble would bring other
suggestions tending TO start the build
Ing OF forces, which Is undeniably not
the aim Of the conference. Japan would
probably want ono Of her great Akagis
and England would probably want to
construct one of her super-IIoods. Then
the bars would be down and even the
ratio would be open to greater consid-
GRAFTON.
Another proposal TO counter Japan's
proposals 70 retain the Mutsu has been