The Washington times., 1924-06-16
By REAR ADMIRAL w. F.
FUI.LAM.

By REAR ADMIRAL w. r.
FUI.LAM.
o. 8. n. Retired.
Written for international News Service.
Copyright, 1894. BY International
News gervice)
The naval appropriation bill az It
leaves the House carries approx.
mately $50, O00,000 for new con-
struction. And we face the aston
ishing fact, without a parallel In
the history Of navies, that the ex-
penditure, authorized In q year OF
admitted weakness in our navy.
adds not one iota to the fighting
power of the fleet,
The demands for modern war
upon the sea are completely ig-
nored. While the echo Of the COM
mander-in-chief's recent report still
rings In our ears and in def1ance
OF the overwhelming evidence OF
the past ten years as to the ele-
ments that are absolutely essential
to victory in a sea battle today,
building program that leaves our
surface fleet as helpless az q jelly
fish 10 forced upon an already
a
when every penny should have been
so expended as to give the maxi.
mum fighting punch to the Ameri-
can navy.
Indeed, It may be declared that
the door Of hope viii be closed and
humtliating defeat will inevitably be
ours in the next war IL there Is not
an Immediate and complete reversal
OF our naval policy as outlined in
this bill.
The only ships added to the navy
by this bill are eight cruisers, to
cost about $11 ,000,0 900 each, and six
river gunboats, each to cost about
100000. Neither Of these types
would have a place in the battle
line proper in time Of war. They
wound add nothing to the hitting
power OF a fleet in action.
1t Is fair to say, however. that
the appropriation for the gunboats
is tustifiable, because they are i'm.
mediately needed for the protection
OF American interests" in time Of
peace. And it is admitted also that
we are short Of cruisers for scouting
and screening duty with the feet.
But we have 200 destroyers rllsting
at our docks unnamed and out
or commission. These deStroyers
are equal in offensive power to
thirty cruisers il we would only
use them. Six destroyers properly
handled. employing smoke screens
and torpedoes effectively, would be
more than q match for one cruiser,
both in scouting and in q fight.
Why then build cruisers with an
enormous fleet Of idle destroyers at
our commando fighting force that
any enemy would have much more
reason to fear than he would eight
cruisers.
Nays Real Need.
The total blunder. of spending
money on cruisers at this time Is
found in the fact that we have in.
finitely greater need of submarine
and air forces.
without them our surface fleet is
SO menaced from above and below
that 1t is useless alike for offense
and defense.
Until these forces above and be.
low our battle fleet are supplied
the navy is completely impotent.
Adding battleships and cruisers
would not increase it's strength,
The most important weapons should
De supplied first, not last.
II the enemy commands the air
above and the sea beneath our
fleet, our surface vessels are mere
targets in modern naval warfare
they are not weapons.
Despite the fact that German
submarines nearly won the World
War against the combined naVies
OF the allied powers. the word "snt-
marine" was not spoken In the
debate on the naval bill.
The World War was forroffan