Evening star., 1938-03-20
Hundreds of Millions Needed
To Buy Peace>lnsuring Navy
With Not Single Modern Batteshp in Fleet,
A1..e4 p. I afI lafa
BY FREDERICK PALMER.

weapons nave become as anti
quated as the model T flivver and the
ear-piece radio. what has already been
Gone to bring Americas arnaments up
to date in quantity and quality?
Without our joining in the breakneck
arms race for the races sake, how much
more must be done? How much for
adequate preparedness against any emer-
gency which may be sprung upon us when
diplomacy, teetering on the swords edge,
shall plunge to the bottom of the abyss
which is piled with broken treaties? How
much when force rules in Asia and
Europe, war budget competes with war
budget and new weapons are being added
to old ones, and old ones are being con-
stantly improved?
What will be the cost-the actual annual
cost, and not the talk-cost-when already
our outlay on the Army and Navy exceeds
the total Of that for the whole National
Government before the World War?
BY what standard shall We judge how
much Is enough? For the Navy, which
Is the first line of defense, We may pro-
ceed on the basis of the 1922 naval limita-
ton pact, initiated by us in the WASH
ington Arms Conference, which made our
ratio OF naval strength to against
Britain and to 3 against Japan.
Outer Defense Wall.
The battle fleet has no wall behind which
70 prepare, as our Army had at home and
In France In lsl7-18 The fleet is the
mobile outer wall of defense.
Cut loose from the land, self-contained
tor long cruise, ready for instant battle
action, the present fleet would consist of
about $50 ships. not counting those build
Ing or planned. For only the ships
actually ready for battle count when
the spotting planes give word that enemy
battleships are in range of ours
In the ensuing terrific struggle, which
would probably last only a few hours
while a people wait in the most mortal
suspense they can know as a national
whole-inferior range and hitting power,
not enough or out-of-date battleships,
planes or ships of any class, or the lack
OF one vital auxiliary might turn the
decision which changes world destiny.
To that test all the building, drills, study
and labors are directed. Each ship is an
essential part of the whole, and must not
be emphasized at the expense of another.
The measure of efficiency is not in the
mere amount of tonnaee-for one ton of
the modern might beat 10 tons of the
antiquated.
Human Element Vital.
Nor is the measure only that of modern
against modern. Inferior power, skilfully
manned. may overcome superior power
unskillfully manned The basic idea of the
ships design, from bridge to engine rooms
and gun turrets, is the synchronization of
man and machine toward the perfection
Of the whole
To reproduce our present battle fleet
old ships and modern. at original cost
would require billion and half dollars.
II by signing check we could modernize
all OF them, the sum would be $500, 900, ,O0O
But even that would not bring us up to the
b-5-3 ratio against present rival building
S800.000,000 expansion program which has
already stretched to more than billion
In later professional estimates
To the public the most bruited question
is that of the battleship and the plane.
There was period of aviation enthusiasm
when the planes bombs promised to have
the battleship at its mercy. ruling it out
Of naval warfare as obsolete. Now the
worlds naval experts agree we must have
both plane and battleship
To attempt to set time limit when a
lighting ship becomes over-age is to run
Afoul OF the rate of arms progress The
1922 naval pact, subsequently renewed,
did set an over-age limit-26 years for
battleshlps, for example. 1t set a limit
on numbers, size of guns and tonnage of
all ships-for battleships. for example,
$4,000 tons, with 16-inch guns.
Not One Ship Modern.
Six of our battleships will reach over
age in 1912. Actually, We have not one
modern battleship In our present feet.
But the guns Of the old battleships have
the practicable limit of battle range
10000 yards As long as potential enemies
have battleships no younger than ours we
are on even terms. But the old is heavily
handicapped against the new.
Our youngest battleship was finished in
1928. For Is years our naval constructors
were limited to theory and tank expert
ments. But in the design of the two
battleships now under construction, all
the progress Of these Is years was in
corporated.
These two will be the "last word
until another last word" is written. Each
will cost 10 millions. Any fighting ship
costs from 40 to so per cent more to build
here than abroad, owing to the higher
cost Of labor. Less than per cent of
the material used in a battleship is i'm
ported. Britain can build cheaper than
We can; Germany and Italy still cheaper,
and Japan cheapest of all.
While Britain and Japan kept up to
their ratios during the is years. we Jagged
al along the line in ours. Britain built
two new battleships under the pact. Japan
got the Jump by denouncing the pact.
Now the race Is wide open again.
II Japan builds 45,000-ton ships with
18-inch guns, we must follow suit. Ships
Of $4,000 tons with 20-inch guns are also
possible.
Now, from the bridge of a battleship,
which is the core Of the feet, let us look
out over the whole, to ships>with hulls
above the horizon and below the horizon,
and even with masts below the horizon.
The battleship protects all-and they pro-