New Britain herald., 1924-12-13
DENIES !, 5. NAVY
 IS FAST WANING House Subcommittee Says There Is No Cause for Alarm Si4,S0O,00O FOR AVIATION
Committee Asks Direct Appropria-
 ton For This--5-5-3 Ratio With
 England And France Is Explained
 Want New Cruisers. u

Washington, Dec. 13.--The house subcommittee which framed the an- nual naval supply bill declared in its report today that there is no ground for alarm that "our naval prestige is rapidly waning"
 'Self-styled experts, and others, who cannot possibly be in posi- ton to speak authoritatively, the report said, seemingly with little difficulty, get into the public prints with articles depicting us as retro grading in varying degrees and the -uss slInb sleeIo ol ussq sBV loeUa orally the impression that our naval prestige is rapidly waning. The committee does not feel that the country need be alarmed.
 The 5-5-3 Ratio
 The 5-5-3, or treaty ratio, as to tonnage and numbers, applies ex- clusively to capital ships and to air craft carriers of more than 10000 tons displacement. With the pos sible exception of the Florida, no one can say that as to capital ships the 5-5-3 does not prevail. The navy department reported to the house of representatives on May 21 that our treaty ratio had fallen from 5-5-3 to 5-4-S, because of the impaired con- dition of the boilers on certain of our older battleships, condition which since has been remedied on all but the Florida and the money has been available right along for placing the Florida in condition to go into the battle line. It has not been spent because the department felt that 1t would be a waste of money if later the vessel were con verted from coal to an oil burn CT. When the navy department an. nounced that our treaty ratio had 1 fallen to 5-4-3 for the reason in. dicated, 1t had to assume, and as- sume only. that the capital ships ot the other powers were wholly it in all respects, whereas 1t is only pos 1 sible to gauge relative conditions where there Is a free Interchange oi information.
 Aircraft Carriers
 With respect to aircraft carriers our government admittedly is at q | disadvantage, as It was at the time 1 the conference on the limitation oi naval armament was concluded. We are proceeding with the conversion of two battle cruisers into aircraft carriers, permissible under the treaty and these will give US when com pleted greater tonnage of carriers of most recent design and capacit! than any of the other powers. Ou total carrier tonnage, however, sul be below that of Great Britain. Tht question is, since these vessels ar, more or less of an experimenta character, evidenced by the man! changes that have been made as tn, work progressed, whether or not VI should go ahead at this time witl additional carriers before these twt have been commissioned and trieC out.
 The naval ratio Is differen measurement leading into channel so broad and varied in their rami tications that only those who are Il a position to possess knowledge 0 every phase of naval activity, an who have access in the extent of 1t availability, to data widely diversi led Tn its scope, touching foreigl navies, programs and policies, cal speak at all authoritatively regard ing naval ratios. The committed therefore. suggests that the author ship of such reports be considere, when forming an opinion.
 To Modcrnize ships
 "A hill has just passed the senat authorizing the modefnization of ou capital ships to the extent that tn
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