Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-19
AMERICA READY
FOR NAVAL HOLIDAY
U. S. Is Also Prepared to
Scrap Permanently II
Capital Ships.
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admit they do not expect the British
prime minister to make such . pro-
posal in the conference. Nevertheless,
oficials said, his hand will be called.
No Fixed Policy Given.
1t was learned authoritatively that
the American delegation was not given
a fixed policy by President Hoover
before it left Washington. The Presi-
dent preferred to await the Official an
pouncements of the other participating
governments. The American delegation
did. however, have clearly outlined sug-
gestions for presentation to the confer
ence at the proper time.
These recommendations, in so far as
they affect batt1eships and the world
peace movement generally, can be an
nounced as follows:
The United States believes there
should be five-year holiday on battle
ship construction. Such period should
be SUFFICIENT to determine for all nations
whether the present movement toward
permanent world peace is sincere OF
Tie lliIlc BSIiCIdl
ment on general scale has not arrived
The next five years would be looked
upon by the United States as "a period
Of grace 10 permit the present desire
for peace 10 try Its wings"
If at the end OF that time the KEEL
logg pact has justified all that is ex-
pected OF it, there no longer VIM be any
need Tor existing costly and dangerous
armaments. The battleship holiday can
be made permanent in so far as 1t applies
to the ships that under present author
1886. II world conditions JUSTIFIED 1t
reduction OF capital ships might be
made even more drastic.
Prepared ~ Discuss Ship Size.
On the other hand, II the maritime
nations believe maintenance Of a fieet
Of IS capital ships, rs authorized by
the Washington treaty. is essential 10
adequate national defense the United
States Is prepared to discuss radical
reduction in the size Of capital ships
well below, 1t was said the '25000-ton
maximum unofficial proposal by Great
Britain and Japan.
AS expressed Officially here, they
could be little giants instead of big
giants. They still Would be supreme
over i0,000-ton cruisers and might
10 make them Virtually impregnabIe to
airplane or submarine attacks Instead
of carrying l6-inch batteries, they
would mount IL inch batteries which
Still could stand of and blow To-
inch cruiser "out Of the water" as an
Official explained.
A further suggestion is that If bat
tleship fleets are reduced the size of
each unit could still be reduced at the
fVran nlan In "a
of sach q program would be staggering.
The average modern battleship costs
S37 900 900 to build. Permanent scrap
ping OF the ii ships due to be laid down
before 1886 alone would save the
United States and Great Britain $3.50
100000. An additional saving OF mil
lions OF dollars would be accomplished
by reducing the size Of individual
units.
Cost Would Be Economic Shock.
That some agreement for reduction
OF battlsships must be reached before
1896 Is regarded by this Government,
1t was said, as essential. Under the
terms Of the Washington treaty Great
Britain and the United States each
must have Is hattleships. costing $37,-
100000 apiece. constructed after 1922.
S %as s6 wd DTSgFs sRoeS q hat w sze
econ6micaify. not even the United
States. whose economic position is pre-
eminent could well stand such ex-
pensive naval construction.
The II ships which would be Scrapped
permanently under an extension OF
the naval holiday are the Wyoming
Florida: Utah s1: New York. Texas,
sylvania, Arizona and Mississippi
They were to be replaced by eight new
dradnaughts. Great Britain would
scrap permanently IS battieships. which
also are subject TO replacement by Z
new dreadnaughts by 1885 II the Wash
ington treaty remains unaltered.
The British navy at present has two
more battleships than the United States,
which accounts for the additional ton
mage England would have to scrap to
come down to parity with this country
In that connection, it can be said that
an agreement for reduction Of battls-
ships in any form would be contingent
upon its acceptance by all Ave of the
powers participating in the London
Conference and assurance Of absolute
naval parity in all classes between the
United States and Great Britain.
France and Italy Would Accept.
That France and Italy would accept
reduction, or complete abolition, is not
doubted here BattIeships are far too
expensive Injuries for small nations
which have to maintain such expensive
land armaments Neither France nor
Italy has yet built up to the number OF
battleships authorized by the Washing
ton treaty and France. at least, has
served notice already that it does not
propose to make fun requirements.
Only Japan's attitude among the
three smaller nations is questioned.
When the japanese naval delegation
was in Washington month ago, it was
said that Japan looked forward to
abolition Of the battleship at some flu
ture date, but did not believe the time
for that step had arrived The Jap
anese navy, having few naval bases dis
tant from home shores, requires ships
with wide cruising radius.
Rumania to Send barley Observer.
BUCHAREST, Rumania, January 10
(R).-The Rtimaria9 government has