Evening star., 1923-01-08
NAVY COMPETITION
TO REST UPON WITS
Future Building, Limited by
Parley Treaties, to Become
Battle of Inventors.
EXPERTS MUST GAMBLE
Victory Likely to Fall to Those
Who Guess Which Factor Is to
Become Dominant.
EXPERTS MUST GAMBLE

Mutual agreement by the leading
world powers, under thes Washington
conference treaty, to reduce and limit
the size of war craft will not alter
competition even though it has
changed the conditions of competitive
building among them, American naval
officers here believe. A battle of wits,
rather than a battle Of dollars, lies
ahead for the sea powers Of the
world, they point out.
Naval experts must gamble on the
soundness of their conclusions as to
what'future naval battles will be like.
II they guess correctly, it is asserted,
and stress what is to prove the domi-
nant factor when the clash comes,
whether 1t be speed, armor guns, tor
pedo protection, aircraft capacity or
the wise combination of all these ele-
ments, the ships they plan may some
day have deciding voice in directing
| the course of world history.
Competition Is Under Way.
Already, it is declared, competition
in capital craft designing is under
way. The British, as Permitted under
the treaty, are preparing to build
two post-Jut1and battleships, the first
post-treaty capital craft to be de-
signed, and which cannot be matched
by any other signatory power until
the battleShip replaCements begin.
The United States cannot lay down
new battleship keels until 1881 under
the treaty requirements schedules.
There has been no official disclosure
| of the plans for the two new British
ships. Frequent items recently in the
British press. however, have given
what appears to be a. clear general
picture of the ships which presents
vessels so strikingly superior to any
| thlng now atioat that they will queen
| the seas until 1884, when the new
| American replacement battleships
can be commissioned.
VIII BE Maximum Size.
Under the treaty the new British
/ ShlpS may have a maximum size of
$4,000 tons standard displacement. as
| defined by the treaty That means
ships weighing $4,000 tons without
fuel or extra feed-water aboard. BY
, pre- treaty measurements such ships
would have been rated at from $4,000
| TO 10000 tons, depending upon the
| cruising radius for which they were
! designed and the consequent amount
OF fuel storage provided for. Press
! accounts indicate that the new Rrit-
| ish ships will be of this maximum
| treaty size.
The American battIeships Colorado
! and West Virginia, to be retained
| under the treaty, displace $4,000 tons
4
| consumable stores aboard. Roughly
! speaking, they are 5000 tons or more
| smaller than the probable size of the
| forthcoming British craft. The mon
ster American battleships not to be
! completed under the treaty are rated
| at 43,200 tons, or. roughly, 5000 tons
| larger than the British indicated de-
| sign.
Adopt American Practice.
The Colorado and West Virginia
| each carries main batteries of eight
] 16-inch guns, mounted two to a, tur-
| ret, with maximum range of we'll
over 10000 yards. The unofficial re-
| ports credit the new British design
with nine 16-inch guns each, mounted
| three to a turret, which would he tbe
/ hrst British adoption of this Amer
| lean practice.
] With the main battery consolidated
thus IN three turrets. it is Indicated
| pairing to use the huge deck sweep
| airplane take-off, landing and storage,
Ihere has been some hint that all
three turrets would be on the for
ward deck, giving up the entire after
| deck to aircraft and making each
! battleship< potential airpIane car
| rier as well. There is no official con-
! firmation of this point.
/ The indicated length of the British
ships is close to $50 feet. The Ameri-
I
| over all and the abandoned Idaho
| class 684 feet, SO that if the unofficial
| forecasts are correct. the British
/ craft will be virtually as big to look
| at as the American ships which are
| to be scrapped under. the treaty. The
Idaho class void have carried twelve
! 16-inch guns each$however.
Whatever may be the facts as to the
! new British design. it is certain that
| they embody every lesson the British
| learned in the war and represent the
| judgment of British experts as to the
| most likely developments of the next
naval engagements to be fought
lWhen the United States may, under
/ the treaty, lay down new battleship
keels it will not be possible to put
superior ships in the water merely by
| increasing the size and adding to Of
fensive and defensive equipment, as
has been the case i'm the past 1t is
only by refinement of design. by saw
ing weight in the ship herself to per-
NIT increase III her fighting power
that an advance can be made.
l