The Washington times., 1925-01-03
USELESS
MINUS AIR
FORCES
FuIIam Says Navy Should Be
Equipped to Meet Enemy
on High Seas

An Investigation into the cO1Idt-
tiOms of the American Macy GUiu be
launched By Congress on JG'oat-
arg 8.
Statements recently 1Vere made
to Congress By 1sGvGl officials that
oar 1s0VGt GiY force Is superior to
ann IN the laUOrLd. In the GccOnIs
DGmvjug article, Rear Admiral Full
lam EXPRESSES Violemt dissent from
those statements and gives has
Vie9Us.
BY REAR ADMIRAL FULLAM,
u. s. NJ. Retired. 4
Written for international News Service.
Copyright. 1925. by international
News Service.l
A naval air force is, manifestly,
force of combatant air planes OF
all kinds that can be permanently
maintained with the fleet, and
utilized in battles at sea for scout
ing, fighting, and bombing wherever
the navy may be called upon to
operate extensively or defensively.
It il plain that naval air force
that cannot accompany the fleet 10
cannot be based upon the surface
fleet and move and fight with the
feet night and day In every part
OF the world, It cannot be properly
classed as g. unit Of the navy.
If It can only operate from
shore bases and make hops along
the coast, or to our adjacent pos
sessions in the Atlantic and Pacific,
&c Ia a broken reed as far as the
navy is concerned and little de-
pendence can be placed upon It.
Such force might just as well
belong to the army or the marine
corps. It Is not a seagoing force:
It is land force.
Cost Reductions Are Many.
In the discussions and statements,
official and otherwise concerning our
present so-called naval air force, or
our future naval air force. IL we
are to have one worthy OF the
name, we find a bewildering melange
OF strange contradictions.
In one breath we are told, with
some boastfulness that every battle.
ship will carry three planes, every
cruiser two, and every destroyer
and submarine one.
In the next breath we are told
| that after these planes get up into
the air and fly around for = time
they must have some place to hgf1c
or they would drop helplesSly into
the sea. And this IL perfectly true.
| In short, we must have landing
I fields'' at sea, otherwise our air
force is useless after few hours.
And this Statement IL used by con.
sentative naval officers and eek
perts" as an argument for more
battleships and cruisers. They are
engrossed with the "battleship
| ratio"
The "air force ratio" is Of sub.
ordinate Importance in their esti-
nation, notwithstanding hat the
issue Of battle may be decided by
the command OF the air."
"Sea" Landing Fields.
The airplane carrier is a sea go.
ing landing field. Lacking carriers.
we lack naval landing fields. And
lacking these, the planes that we
stow on our battleships and cruisers
are Of use only for a few minutes
] or a few hours after The battle be-
gins. Our airforce, so called,
| eVaporates./
Today, we have one poor make
shift experimental carrier that can
make IA knots. "Only this and
nothing more" It can not keep
up with the fleet. It can, at best,
accommodate dozen places ready
for flight. In truth, 1t is not the
airplane carrier.
This means that the Navy Of the
United States has no air force to-
day. To be sure we have some
planes to board ships and some
catapults to fire them off. But
they can't lNnd on battleships and
cruisers after being projected into
the air, and IL these ships stop to
pick their planes out Of the water
| the enemy's submarines and de-
stroyers will send them to the bot
tom.
Big ships cannot stop in battle.
They must maintain full speed. The
Icarriers, the landing field, is there
fore an absolute necessity. Without
it there is no naval air force.
Three Years Delay.
Tive battle cruisers are now being
converted into carriers. They will
doubtless meet all requirements
when completed, and they will have
high speed, which Is a prime
| requisite in a carrier. But we are
informed that these ships Will not
ha finished until the autumn OF
1928. That means that they can
not be manned and in all respects
ready for battle before the autumn
Of 1927. In other words the 1leet
will have no air force until lS27-
three years hence.
No air force until nine years
after the armistice.
! No-atr force until six years alter
the Washington conference. -
! Despite this condition, ano IN u,
defiance of the fact that we sho1i
! have no means of carrying err
forces with our fleet until 1877, the
| q ssartion is heard that our navy
| is sIlnerior to all others In the ar
E'rono this it would appear that no
other navy has airplane carriers
todaJ and will have none TOT
three years to come.
IF this is true, all right. Otner
nov,es are in the same boat with
ours. If it is not true, our COM
nlaceny Is not justified. Let US
consider the facts.
There are five airplane carriers
in the British navy. They may
not be of the best type. but they
cannot possibly be inferior to our
one lone ice-wagon makeshift.
British Strength Superior
From this it would logically FOL