The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-09-21

ly valuable base near the bottle- neck of the Mediterranean at Gih- raltar.
 So much for the geography. The airplane is an equally vital factor.
 Away back in 1921, when he was & mere deputy in the Italian parliament, Mussolini was crying for a stronger Italian air force, One of his first acts after becom- ing dictator was to constitute a commission on air power. In 1925 he formally created an air minis. try-.holding the portfolio himself and Italy's air defense budget for l936-37 Is 9o000o,0o0 lire.
 Has Huge Air Force
 Real figures as to the size of Italys air force are never pub. lished, but 1t Is reliably estimated that the nation today possesses 2,50O first-line and reserve planea, with 4200 set as the goal to be reached by l94l. Among these planes Is a Fiat bomber with 2,000 horsepower in Its engines, cruis- ing speed of 260 miles an hour. bomb capacity of one and one-half tons and a cruising range of 1,500 miles. What fleet of such planes could do to British shipping, op- erating from nearby bases in the narrow Mediterranean, Is the sort of thing that gives British strate- gists the shivers
 Nor has Mussolini been neglect. ing his navy, He has just launched two enormous battleships - tho Littorio and the Vittorio VeneLoI each of 35,000 tons and mounting nine l5-inch guns and catapults for four seaplanes.
 He has also developed whole swarm of fast, light vessels, com- pact little boats which can reel off a speed of 47 knots ard which carry two torpedo tubes and a rack of depth bombs. This "mos- quito fleet" 1t Is believed, operat- ing close to It's own bases, could effectively attack both subna- rines and large surface vessels There arc believed to be about 100 Of these boats now in commission,
 Britain Is Stronger
 A detailed comparison of British and Italian nAVies is interesting. It shows the following strengths
 In hattleships: Britain l2 built and five being built; Italy, four built and two being built.
 In battle cruisers: Britain, 3; Italy, none.
 In cruisers, Britain, 55 built and 9 bein gbuilt; Italy, 27 built and five being built.
 In flotilla leaders Ga kind of super destroyer Britain. l8 built and three being built; Italy, 20 built.
 In destroyers: Britain. l33 built and g being built; Italy, 38 built and l4 being built
 Tn submarines: Britain 52 built and l3 being built; Italy 60 bull and g being built--and, incident. ally, it Is believed that 1talys req submarine strength is somewhat above these figures.
 Divides Its Forces
 This comparison shows that Brit ish navy to be immensely the stronger. But the catch In thath 1, that Britain has a worldwide empire to protect and must divide It's forces. It keeps a strong Home fleet in the English channel anC the North Seq, maintains a pow erfu Mediterranean fleet based on Malta and Gibraltar, and keep the rest along empire trade routel all over the globe.
 On the other hand the entirt Italian fleet can be concentrates all the time In the Adriatic ane Mediterranean. On his home grounds. so to speak, Mussolini < much more nearly 6 match fol John Bull than the cold figures would indicate.
 It would not seem, on the sur. face, that armies would play muct part in any fight between Italy and England. But Mussolini Ina. thought of thath too. He recently was reported to be increasing tn, permanent force of regular troops in Libya to s0,000 men, including two fully motorized divisions. Anc as Libya is next-door neighbor tC Egypt, that army Is extremely close to the vital link in BritainI