Evening star., 1940-04-17
Wars Naval Lessons

Admiral Harold r. Stark, chief of
naval operations. told the Senate
Naval Affairs Committee that events
before and after the Munich crisis
necessltated re-evaluation by the
Navy Department of the Nations
defense problem. AS a result of that
reappraisal, naval experts drew up
building program calling for a dras-
tic expansion of fleet tonnage. Due
to "budgetary considerations" the
Navy high command eventually de-
cided to ask Congress for twenty
five per cent increase in naval
strength-considerably less than the
experts had determined was essen
tial for fully adequate" defense in
both oceans. The House, after lengthy
committee hearings, curtailed the
expansion program sharply, on the
ground that existing facilities for
shipbuilding were limited and that
If additional ships still were needed
a year or so hence, they could be
authorized then. AS the bill came to
the Senate from the House, it
authorized only $65O,OOO,OOO worth of
ships and planes, instead of the
S1,30o,000,000 requested by the Navy.
No appropriations were provided in
this planning bill.
But important things have hap
pened since the House slashed the
expansion bill in half. 1t would seem
to be highly desirable that Congress
should do some re-evaluating of the
Navy's needs in the light of the thor
oughly alarming events in Scandi-
navia during the last week. Those
events have served to emphasize two
thought-provoking facts: First, that
the steady march of aggression in
Europe is fraught with ever-increas-
ing dangers for peaceful nations
especially If they happen to be weak
In their defenses-and, second, that
naval power remains an all-impor-
tant, indispensable instrument of
war. The European war was in a
temporary lull at the time of House
passage Of the ship bill; spring peace
ru11lors, even, were in the air. But
hopes OF an early peace have been
blasted by the Nazi blitzkrieg in
helpless Denmark and Norway. Where
the lightning will strike next can
only be guessed, but few observers
doubt that strike it will before long.
And with every new blitzkrieg, with
every new conquest by the totali-
tartan war machine, the peace and
the security of the remainder of the
world become more and more
amperiled.
AS for the Importance of sea power
as an arm of defense, nothing could
have demonstrated this more dra-
matically than the naval action so
far in this war. The superiority of
the allied fleet has enabled Great
Britain and France to enforce an
almost complete blockade of Ger
many; and that same superiority
already has enabled the allies to
scatter or annihilate inferior Ger
man naval forces and thus clear a
way for the landing of allied troops
IN Northern Norway. A superior Nazi
air force was of no avail against
these operations. Admiral Stark's
urgent request to the Senate, there
fore, for an "emergency' apprbpria-
tion of S45,0OOOOO more than the
S9650O0,000 voted by the House in
the regular Navy appropriation bill
and for approval of the twenty-five
per cent fleet expansion program
provided in the original "authoriza-
ton" bill is reasonable and deserving
Of earnest consideration by both
Houses of Congress. There is no
extravaganza in spending for such
vital security measures as these.