Evening star., 1933-10-22
WARNING ON ARMS
SEEN BY BRITAIN
British Naval Expert Cites
Year Book to Show Man.
Power Low.
BY HECTOR BYWATER.
Naval Expert for the Londcn Daily Tele-
graph.

Naval Expert for the Londcn Daily Tele-
graph.
LONDON, October 81 (N.A.N.A0.-l
BY a coincidence, the 1888 edition OF
the League of Nations "Armaments |
Year Book" appeared on the eve Of the
meeting at Geneva of the Bureau OF
the Disarmament Conference.
Containing. as it does, detailed and
official returns of most of the worlds
fighting forces, the publication OF
this volume is most timely The naval |
statistics in particular lend point to
the warnings uttered during the week
end by Stanley Baldwin and Lord Hail
sham on the grave risks OF Brltans
unilateral disarmament.
AS I have frequently pointed out. the
British Navy has already declined to
second rank in the all-important ele-
ment of man-power. This fact Is
brought out very clearly by the statls- |
tics. which are the latest available, now
published in the "Armaments Year
Book
Personnel Figures.
They show the present personnel Of
the three leading navies to be-
United States ................ l2..oo3
Great Britain ............... 90,c0o
Japan ............... oo'Aoo
The United States total includes l2. |
900 officers and men of the Coast Guard |
service. which. it is officially stated |
Operates as part of the Navy in time |
of war
In view of our worldwide and unique |
commitments in respect of naval de- |
tense, the fact that our naval personnel
is now $4,000 smaller than the Ameri-
can total and only 1000 more than the
japanese, is, to say the least, disturb
ing.
Turning to naval air power. the i'm
portance Of which is coming to be fully |
appreciated the comparative figures are ,
by no means satisfactory. They are:
Aircraft for Naval Purposes.
United States. 1,026
Japan ....... 329 CPlus 472 attached
to the Coastal |
Flying Corpse
Great Britain. 300
Actually the British total is consid- |
erably below 800. AS was able to dis |
close recently. on high authority. the |
grand total Of aircraft now borne in
his majesty's ships is only 152, and |
there are practically no reserves.
Germany at Limit.
The foregoing figures prove beyond |
dispute that Great Britain is now a |
tad second in naval man power and an
equally bad third in naval air power |
The comparative tables of ships reveal
further evidence of the rapid decline OF
Britain's strength on the seas.
Germany, according to the year book,
has developed her navy to the full limit |
authorized by treaty. SO far as person.
mel is concerned. She has $4,000 Off |
GERS and men, all of the latter being |
enlisted for II years. She is. therefore, |
the only power besides Great Britain to |
have long service navy personnel.
If the year book returns-in this case !
admittedly unofficial-of the Russian |
Navy are authentic. Soviet power afloat |
has substantially increased in recent |
years. FiNy-seven men -of-war are listed
as serviceable, including II battleshlpS
and cruisers. Three new submarines
are under construction. apparently OF a
very powerful type. since each Is to
carry 10 torpedo tubes.
France and italy make the subjoined
returns of their combatant aircraft and
naval personnel
No of Naval
aircraft. personnel.
France ....... 2,286a 58,833
Italy .......... 1907 81 ,326b
a-Including 43e overseas.
b-Plus 12,456 sea formation organ !
lied on military basis.
(Copyrght. 1888. BY North American News.
paper Alliance. 1nc.l