Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-09
BY WILLIAM HARD.

The fate Of the American Navy has
again risen To the forefront Of discus
sion in washington during the past
week. This is through two facts.
The first is that 1t now becomes
thoroughly apparent that we shall not
be able to arrive at naval parity with
Great Britain before We go to the next
scheduled conference of the great naval
| powers in 1885.
The second is that all sorts of brilliant
runnors begin now to fly about regard
ing some possible drastic move toward
further general naval limitation at the
Worldwide Disarmament Conference oil
all powers. naval and military, at Ge-
neva. Switzerland on the second OF
February Of next year.
The combination of these two facts
produces considerable unsettlement and
1 much speculation on the topic OF the
| building program to be presented to the
next Congress by the Navy Department
and the Bureau OF the Budget.
| X y X
A crisis on that topic has been pro-
duced by the following successive
| events:
| /. The London naval limitation treaty
of last year was accepted by the Senate
and by the country on the supposed
understanding that the disadvantages
| which it contained for the United
States would be countered by an in
1 slant vigorous effort to build the Amert-
can Navy UP to the full strength which
| the treaty permits.
| 2. At the ensuing session OF the Con-
gress the responsible proponents OF the
/ treaty in the Congress--including Sen
ator Reed of Pennsylvania and Senator
| Morrow Of New Jersey and Senator
Robinson OF Arkansas, who were dele
| gates to the London Conference.-The
| played no vigor at all in the promotion
| of new American naval building, and
thereupon the Congress adjourned on
the fourth Of last March with nothing
new added to the American feet except
IL destroyerss
8. It now develops that any attempt
to make up for lost time by crowding
| the arrears of our treaty naval building
| into the four years between now and
| the 1885 conference would probably re-
suit in ships so hastily constructed as
10 visit US with more damage than
| clear benefit.
In fact. it develops that we cannot
now really successfully construct a
genuinely effective treaty navy even by
the end Of the year 1885, when the
present treaty arrangements expire.
!
In other words, the sober truth is
that once more We are on our way TO
international naval negotiations pre-
| pared only to do what we did last year
| at London: Plead with the other great
naval powers simply to stand stir
| while we catch up"
That was the wholly wrong route to
| any hope Of actual naval reduction, ac-
cording To the American delegates TO
the London Conference They admit
ted that their treaty at London ex-
| hibited no naval reduction of any con-
sequence in total. They excused that
failure on the ground that they did not
| have behind them the American naval
strength that could compel such a re-
duction. They held that our reduction
failure was due to our construction
negligence.
When we so to the General DiSarma-
ment Conference OF next year and when
we 60 TO the Special Naval Disarms
ment Conference of 1885 history will
have repeated itself.
If We should now determine to con-
struct a complete treaty Navy before
the end OF the year 1896 we would find
ourselves exposed To virtually inSuper-
able CONSTITUTIONAL and political dim
culties. The details of the case would
seem worthy of immediate attentive
| thought.
The five CONSTITUTIONAL categories TO
be considered are aircraft carriers. g.
( inch gun cruisers, 6-inch gun cruisers,
destroyerS and submarines.
For the vessels in each of these cate
gorieS there is a treaty age limit When
a vessel exceeds that limit it is sched-
uled for replacement
The question is; How much building
I would we have TO do in order 70 have a
complete under-age treaty Navy before
the present treaty arrangements cease
and before the arrangements of a new
treaty are negotiated and put into ef-
! feot9
The answer follows:
Aircraft carriers.-To fulfill our treaty
| allowance in aircraft carriers we would
have to finish one carrier of 1890 tons
! now almost under way; and we would
| have to begin and finish four other car
riers of 1890 tons each That would
be q total of SO 900 tons. Each ton
of aircraft carrier costs approximately
CORY of aircraft carriers. S6eTO000
y
Eight-inch-gun cruisers.-We would
have 70 finish seven Of these now act
| uaIiy uL.ier way. We would have to
gin and finish an eighth. We wouid
have TO begin and Largely finish 3 ninth
| and tenth. These vessels are all Of
10000 tons apiece The cost OF q ton OF
s-inch-gun cruiser is approximately
SLIGO. The total cost of the 8-inch-
gun cruiser consTuction thus Indicated
tbefore December 81 1896, would be ap-
4 proxsnateiy 500, 00O, 900.
SIx-lnrh-gln cruisers .-We would
have to begin and finish some B7.l0c
| tens Of such cruisers in probably some
nine units. Al 81 500 4 ton the cost
| would be approximately sIS6, 100 900.
i DestroyeTs Every destroyer we now
| have viii be average by December 81
1895. To fulfill hhk competitive posi-
biltties Of the treaty we would have IL
give ourselves an entirely neu destroyer
outfS The treaty allowance Of de.