The Lubbock avalanche. (Lubbock, Tex.) 1909-1922, 1922-05-30
FIGHTING SHIPS STILL
BEING BUILT IN JAPAN

+ the naval holiday. after all. IL
tie more than a farcc7 Is the result
of the Washington conference agree
ment merely n diversion Of naval ef-
FOR, without any real check upon
the volume n construction Such
questions are inevitable IN the pres
encc Of the showing made by the
British naval expert, Hector g. By
water, after careful investigation %
revised naval plans. that Japan IL
substituting cruisers. destrOyers and
rrbmarlncs Tor the cancelled battle
ships. and h. not only keeping her
shipyafds busy but IL IN the midst ~
n "fegerish accelcrntion ~ naval
building
And the interesting point is made
that Japan can do MI this without de-
parting from The letter 81 On akree-
ment which left the powers free 20
build as many ~ they liked ~ al
fighting craft except capital ships
and airplnne carriers Submarines.
des'royers and light cruisers can be-
built without limit. and. ~ the mod
crn cruiser can curry one or moro
airplanos. competition for control ~
the air has by no means been elm
mated We read
Japan has always attached
great Importance 20 the fast light
cruiser. and already has q large and
excellent fleet ~ these vessels For
the past six years shc has been build
inv them ~ the nte ~ three n year
IN 1920 provision was made for ~
Of them 20 be constructed by 1923
AZ part ~ the eight eight program,
with battlcship construction out Of
the way The cruiser program il 70 be-
accelerated and the ~ new vessels
81 this type will be ready several
years enrlier than has been planned.
Increased effort N also being given
20 the building Of destroycrs. sub.
marines, oilers, golfers. repair ships
and other naval auxiliarics and. u II
expected that when the 1920 pro
gram has been pushed through AZ
full speed other orders viii be given
The types upon which Japan is con
centrating is energies are precisely
the types which naval "modernists'
would build In great numbers. Not
only do they represent, IN the opin-
ion OF some eminent authorities. the
main stream II future naval develop
ment, but their present value Is enor-
mously increased by the fixed ratio
In capital ships which makes II inn
possible for any nation 20 have an
overwhelming fleet Of battleships.
In case Of war no battle fleet would
be likely Go cross the Pacific. On
the other hand in case Of war every
ship which Japan IL building would
have some kind 81 utility"
Does all this mean that the naval
holiday and ship-scrapping agree
ment was useless and that the world
has been deceived by optimistic but
empty talk about the results 20 fol-
low II can not mean ~ much. for
the abandonment Of openly competi-
tive naval programmes was a certain
gain In that II decreases the risks Of
war. But Il does mean that naval
construction IL still going on at a
great rate with the aim OF prepared
ness for war, and that only by fur
Their restrictions can the present re-
strictions be made really or fully ef-
fectiye. Meanwhile the wise nation
will not be In hurry TO reduce its
navy below the strength authorized
by the treaty. Nor will the wise
nation neglect the construction Of
auxiliary warships such In Japan IL
30 rapidly producing.