Evening star., 1935-03-25
NAz| NAVY MOVE
WATCHED BY j. S.
State Department AnxiousIy
Awaiting Outcome of Ber-
lin Conference. =
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.

The State Department and foreign
diplomatic missions are awaiting anx-
iously the results of the Hitler-Sir
John Simon conversations being held
In Berlin, lin friendly atmosphere"
While the general feeling is that
the military side of this conference is
of a secondary Importance, since
Britain cannot prevent the decision
of the Reich to re-arm. interest is
shown in the announcement that
Hitler will demand a navy 365 900
tons strong.
The German sea power has been
drastically limited by the Versailles
treaty. No capital ships larger than
10000 tons are permitted; Germany is
forbidden to build cruisers larger than
5000 tons and can have no sub
marines or airplane carriers.
At the present time Germany pos
seSSes five antiquated battleShipS built
between 1906 and 1908. These are the
Hanover. the SchleSien, the ElSas, the
Schleswig- -Holstein and the HeSsen.
the Versailles treaty limitation, each
being of about 10000 tons. their fight
ing value is practically nil.
Pocket" Ships Powerful.
But Germany possesses the famous
pocket battleships which, although
displacing only 10000 tons each, are
considered in naval quarters among
the finest fighting units in the world
Two of these ships. the Deutschland
and the Admiral Scheer are in COM
mission. The third battleship, the
Hindenburg, is being completed and
the keel for the fourth was laid a
few weeks ago
Besides a few obsolete cruisers,
Germany has five modern units. the
Emden. the Konigsberg. the Karls-
ruhe. the Koln and the Leipzig, with
displacement of 5000 tons each.
These vessels. which were constructed
between 1925 and 1881. are valuable
auXiliarieS to the German navy. but
of doubtful value in an engagement
with flrst-claSS naval power.
1t is likely that Hitler will inform
Sir John Simon that Germany in
tends to increase her naval strength
from the present tonnage of 177,000
to 365,000 tons. not only by adding a
number of capital ships, cruisers and
destroyers, but also by constructing
submarines and airplane carriers.
Great Britain is reported to be al
ready reconciled with the idea that
Germany will have vessels which are
prohibited by the Versailles treaty.
MacDonaId's Plan Failed.
Last Summer Ramsay Macdonald,
the British premier. sent out feelers
to Paris about batting Germany back
into limitation of arms conference
by lifting the naval restrictions con-
tained in the Versailles treaty. The
conversations between Paris and Lon
don did not go very far because the
preliminary naval conversations be-
tween Great Britain, Japan and the
United States failed.
But there is little hope that the
Germans will agree to make political
concessions in exchange for the re-
moval of the Versailles treaty restric-
tionS. which would permit them to
riers. There are two reasons for this.
Hitler is fully aware that henceforth
he does not need to ask anybodys
permission to increase Germany's fight
ing power. He can just 60 ahead
whether the others like it or not.
Germany Looks Toward East.
On the other hand, Germany has
given up the idea of competing with
the first-class naval powers. All that
Germany needs today is a fleet large
enough to establish her supremacy in
the Baltic Sea-that is to say, against
RusSia-and sufficient submarines and
coastal defenses to ward off any pos
Sible attack from navy which would
convoy transports to land them on the
northern shores of Germany
For the time being, Russia's naval
power in the Baltic is negligible, and
it will take years for her to become a
sea power.
Before 1914, Germany intended to
establish herself as a colonial power.
Hence her bid to have a navy equal
to the British. This idea has been
completely discarded by the present
Reich leaders.
Their coloniZing ambitions are
directed toward Eastern Europe, and
for that purpose large navy is
useless expenditure.