Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-06
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

~ EFORE the end OF 1927 the
! x United States Navy expects to
place in commission the
! - worlds mightiest aircraft car.
| riers, U. s. S. Saratoga and
L. s. S. Lexington. These great ships.
originally planned as battle cruisers;
are now rapidly approaching compile
lion In their new guise and will rep
resent, when ready for active service,
The heaviest expenditure which the
country has ever put into individual
naval units
| The Saratoga and Lexington will
cost roundly $4,000 900 apiece. The
former, which is building in the yards
J Of the American Brown Boveri Flee
| trical Co.. formerly the New York
! Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden
| n. j., is SO per cent finished and is
| scheduled to be completed by July /.
| The Lexington is building at the Fore
River plant of the Bethlehem Ship
| building Corporation at Quincy. Mass,
| and is expected to be ready by Octo-
Der /. She is now 90 per cent done.
Tonnage Fixed at Farley.
| Under the terms of the Washington
| conference treaty the United States
| and Great Britain are allotted a ton
| mage Of 1885 900 each in aircraft car
| riers. Japan is allotted $1,000 tons.
When the Saratoga and Lexington
are afloat, the United States will have
1900 in aircraft-carrier tonnage, in
| Guiding $4,000 apiece for those yes
! sells and ZOO for the one carrier the
Navy now possesses, U. S. S. Langley.
| Great Britain already has four air
craft carriers aggregating a tonnage
of $3.50 and is building two more
| that will total 81 200 tonnage. When
| the British navy's six carriers are in
! commission, John Bull will Outstrip
Uncle Sans carrier tonnage by more
| than $4,000, but none of the British
carriers matches our Saratoga and
Lexington in size, power or equip
ment.
Japan has only one small aircraft
carrier already in service, but she Is,
like ourselves, rapidly converting great
ships designed for other purposes
either battleships or battle cruisers
into the types Of vessels which experts
like Admiral Sims expect to be of deci-
sive influence in future naval conflict.
To BE Commissioned.
Within a year or two Japan will
commission the aircraft carriers Kaga,
Akagi and HoSho, with respective ton
nages of $1,000, 5000 and 9,458. None
OF the NlppOneSe carriers Will approx
innate the American Saratoga and Lex
ington in capacity and effectiveness.
The new United States ships have
been built with the dominating pur-
pose of making available the maximum
space for their special purpose, viz.
the carrying of airplanes. Their ca
pacious holds and decks have room for
no fewer than Is planes apiece, of both
the scouting and bombing types, and
for the projectiles which they would
carry into action.
The Saratoga and Lexington repre-
sent the last word in the utilization OF
electrical power in warships. Planes
will be hoisted to ascending platforms
| by electricity and ammunition moved
| by the same method. The aircraft car
! rierS are practically floating electric
| power plants. Each of them will carry
| installations capable of developing
| $50, 900 horsepower
| This is greater than the combined
rated output of the six electric battle
ships now in the Navy-New Mexico
California, Tennessee, Maryland, Colo
| RADIO and West Virginia. The aircraft
carriers generating plants would be
| able to produce enough electric cur