The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-07-24
COONTz SUGGESTS POWERFUL NAVY AS
 PEACE GUARANTEE
Naval Battles Not Abolish ed By Washington Con- ference, He Says.

the highest efficiency and maintained in readiness, is the Surest support for the decisions of our statesmen and the best guarantee for the predom- finance of justice. declares Admihal Robert E. CoontZ, writing in the cur rent issue of the American Legion Weekly.
 The various treaties concluded at the Washington Arms Conference, Admiral Coontz asserts, were made in the interest of peace, and the time. either in our own interest or in the interest of the world at large to withdraw from a position where we can speak clearly anc with auth ority in world councils.
 ''The primary object of the Wash ington conference was to discuss ways and means of reducing and, if possi- ble, eliminating navy building com petftion,' continues the naval official. '"The naval treaty drawn up at this conference establishes, for the first time in the history of our country, a naval policy for the United States. This policy, as established and con- frmed by the ratification of the treaty by the Senate, declares that the naval strength of the United States shall be equal to that of Great Bri- tain and superior to that of Japan in the ratio of 5 to 3. The treaty ap- plies this policy by placing tonnage limitations upon two types of Ves- se1s. The United States will be re-
 
 which more than a third of billion dollars has been expended
 Perhaps you will not grasp inn mediately what connection this has with the matter of efficiency and es- pecial1y with the plea the Navy has been making, in the name of efhcien- cy, for an enlisted personnel of not less than S6,00O men. There seems to be a general impression that the treaty Navy consists of IS battleships, with little else. As matter of fact, the treaty Navy consists of 8 bat tleShipS, at least five plane carriers, and all the cruisers, destroyers. sub marines, mining ships and auXiliaries we choose to build, provided the specifications are kept within certain limits A fleet, to be well-balanced fighting organization. consists of sev- eral types of weapons, of which the battleship is the most imp portant This ship is the backbone of the fleet. but must be effectively supported by many other type of subsidiary wea- pons, from airplanes to submarines.
 The Course of Folly
 While it is true that with 67,0OO men-the number the House com mittee reported as: in their opinion, adequate to maintain the treaty Navy-we could man Is battleships, with this number of men we could not man efficiently the other types of ships necessary to make up a balanc- ed fleet. And it would be sheer folly to provide for anything less than a
 
 'tGermany spent millions to build a navy so per cent as strong as the British. When war was declared in 1914, what happened? Germany was compelled to withdraw her fleet (ex- cepting submarineS) from the high seas. The great German merchant marine was forced to seek refuge in nome ports or in the ports of neutral powers. The British, having control of the seas. were thus able to rush to the Western Front troops from their distant posSessions-from Australia, from New Zealand, from India, from Canada and from the British Islands in the Caribbean
 Naval Battles Not Abolished
 Naval battles of the future were not abolished by the reductions and ing programs by the conference at Washington, Admiral Coontz asserts; ''for, of course, naval battles can be fought just as well with small fleets as with Iproportionately larger OneS." Competition among the navies of the world was not eliminated by the con- ference, he continues. pointing out. however, that "the competition of capital ship building has been cur tailed.
 ''But this competition is now su- perseded by new race to see which country can maintain it's ships at the highest degree of individual and col lective efficiency the admiral eX- plains. fThe naval ratio cannot be maintained Dy lne mere eA1SleICe Ol tonnage laid up in navy yards; it can be maintained only by keeping a fleet in commission equal to that Of Great Britain and by keeping the personnel upon these ships at the highest state of efficiency. The old saying that men fight, not ships was never truer than at the present day.
 ''F'leet efficiency can be obtained only by continual hard work at sea- Each ship must be trained in it's indi- vidual duties of tactics, gunnery and engineering. After this is accom- plished the individual ships must be nodded into larger units and trained in their duties as units. Then the various forces, such as the destroyer force. battleship force, submarine force and air force. when each is pro molded together into a fleet and trained in the coordination of all branches so as to execute efficiency the mission which may be assigned
 Congress for S6,OOO Men
 After hearing all the testimony given on the floor of the House of Representatives, our COngresmen by provision for enlisted men from the committees 67,00O to the figure of S6,000. By so doing they put the stamp of approval upon the doctrine enunciated by Secretary Denby of maintaining at 100 per cent. efficien- cy such ships of the United States Navy as are to be kept in commits sion.
 "Our people have always been in- clined at the end of each war to wreck of the navy" At the conclu- sion of the war of the Revolution We wrecked the navy and disposed of every single ship We even gave one ship to France, and in a few years she was using It against us. Evidently we have at least partially profitted by this experience, for now we SuDerf1lI0IIS ShinS stead of presenting them to another nation.
 Not Navy of Aggression
 'The Navy allowed under the treaty made at Washington is not a navy of aggression; it is purely and simply a navy for national security and defense.' as Secretary Hughes stated at the opening of the confer ence- You must remember that the whole question of national defense fand the naval needs in relation there 1 to were very thoroughly and com spletely studied by some of the most Brilliant in national life today