The Washington times., 1929-09-13
NJ DONALD VISIT
ASSURES PACT
ON NAVY
tcontlnu,d from FIRST Pase)

(Continusd from First .Pase)
contained a cruiser set.up that
would give the British some $40. 900
or 350,000 tons of cruisers, accord.
ing to methods OF calculation. This
was contingent. however, upon the
United States sacrificing a part Of
the Is new cruisers ordered by Con-
gress last year and which yet exist
only in blueprints. The 10,OOO.ton
cruiser, mounting S-inch guns, is
the British admiralty's bogey man.
The United States has built and
building $4,000 tons of cruisers, OF
which $4,000 are Of the 10,000-ton
type. Completion Of the 15-cruiser
building program would give the
American Navy 305,000 tons, which
most Of our experts consider would
well round out the American Navy.
But the British contended that
the 305 ,O00-ton American cruiser
navy would be combatantly superior
to the 40.OOO-ton British cruiser
set.up becauseso OF American super.
iority in the sfnch gun class, as
opposed to Britain's numerous 6-inch
gun type.
While the figures are jealousy
guarded. II is believed that the
British suggested completion only
OF 10 Of the projected Is cruisers in
the 1O,00O-ton class. the rest Of
the tonnage to be made up in con.
struction of smaller types carrying
.6-inch armament.
-his was unsatisfactory to the
admirals of the Navy General
Board, who have long insisted that
the American Navy must place
its chief reliance in the larger
cruiser because of the immense
distances between American naval
bases and coaling stations. They
don't think much of the 6-inch
gun cruiser for American purposes.
although they are admirably suited
for British needs because of Brit
aims numerous bases and stations
throughout the world.
IL Cruiser Compromise
Somewhere between these two
positions a compromise has been
worked out, which still gives the
American Navy superiority in the
S-inch armament class to offset
British superiority in total tonnage
and number of units.
From one source it was reported
today that the compromise agreed
upon will permit the construction
Of Is of the Is projected cruisers.
If this is true-and there is some
authority for 1.-THE American NAVY.
when building is completed, would
have Fl cruisers of the 10.O0O.ton
S-inch type, as opposed to Is of the
same class for Britain and four
others of the Hawkins type, $3.50
! tons, and mounting rs guns. or,
for all practical purposes, IL of the
big type.
Under this set.up, President Hoo.
ver's dream of actually reducing
nayies to any considerable extent
is seen to have vanished. At the
outset of the negotiations he was
shooting at real reducation" and
the abandonment of far more ton
mage than has been found possible.
What is about to be accomplished
Is. rather. limitation with very
slight reduction.
The whole Anglo-American set.up
is. of course, dependent upon the
willingness of Japan. France and
Italy to go along on ratio basis.
The ratio fixed at the Washington
Conference for capital ships was
5-5-S-l l6-l.6.with Japan having 3 and
France and Italy l6 each.
Albert Victor Alexander, first lord
OF the admiralty. who attended the
conference, informed press repre-
sentatives that President Hoover's
latest proposals were sufficiently
compatible with British interests
to warrant the Premier's trip across
the Atlantic to confer personally
with President Hoover.
The Premier was radiantly happy
| over the apparently successful con-
summation of the scheme Matched
| three months ago at his boyhood
home of Forres, in the Scottish
highlands.
The view expressed in high Gov.
ernment circles today was that the
British Parliament would support
the premier in the matter of dis
armament without dissent. and that
Macdonald will visit America with
clear-cut naval policy. amicable
to America and even acceptable
to the big navy group which
wields such a powerful influence
in Whitehall.
Official announcement that thu
premier would depart on the Beren.
garia made it apparent that a gen.
eral agreement in principle had
been reached between America and
Britain and that nothing remained
but technical details which later
will be worked ont hv exnerta