Evening star., 1940-05-26


The chief of n1Udl operations
deplores inadeQuacy OF auriliaries.
A. P. Photo.
rent pace of construction, they will not
be available for duty before 1943 and 1914.
During recent testimony before the
House Appropriations Committee, Sec
retary of the Navy Edison declined to
acknowledge that these 35,000-ton bat
tleships, with combined cost Of $685.
300, have already become obsolete
before two slide down the ways, and
when four remain less than a quarter
completed. They will be able to match
other ships of the same character, he ex-
planned. The Secretary admitted, how
ever, that today he would not think
for a moment Of commencing similar
craft Asked whether he would now rec
ommend the construction of such vessels,
Edison replied with an emphatic "No!"
Four Super r-Dreadnaughts.
Congress last year authorized four
super-dreadnaughts of $4,000 tons, with
main batteries of nine 16-inch guns and
speed of 80 knots, at a cost estimated at
nearly $1O0,0000O each. Contracts for
the first two, Iowa and New Jersey, were
awarded July /, 1899. Today, almost
year afterward, work has progressed
little beyond the drafting table. Unless
stringent speeding-up is practiced, they
can scarcely be commissioned earlier
than 1914, or enter service till 1945.
A1e 4f In fyyvnA will
by then have been two or three years at
sea- Our second two battleships of 49,
600 tons have not yet arrived at the
stage of receiving names.
Following the Washington Arms Limi-
tation Conference of 1922, the United
States scrapped or demilitarized % bat
tleships and battle cruisers, represent
ing tonnage of 767,000 and cost of
$278, 100000. The sum thus sacrificed
would build two battleships of $4,000
tons and one of $4,000.
Among battleships now in commission,
the Tennessee and California lack mod
ern fire control apparatus. The main
propelling machinery of the Oklahoma,
New York and Texas is obsolete. The
New York, Texas and Arkansas are han
dicapped by insufficient elevation of
turret guns and out-of-date anti-aircraft
batteries. Major repairs. at cost of
s6,000OO0, are urgently required in the
case of the Tennessee, California, Colo
RADIO, Maryland and West Virginia. Next
year the Maryland and Pennsylvania are
to be regunned. The anti-torpedo
"blisters" of the Arkansas, New York
and Texas, installed in 1925-27, are sub
ject to constant leaks, and need $4,000
for replacement
Old Gear Drives.
All of the battleship squadrons are oil
burners and are propelled by steam tur-
bines. Only the Colorado, Maryland,
West Virginia, California and Tennessee,
however, are electrically driven. The
rest have old-fashioned gear drives. All
possess water-tight compartments. The
average thickness of their deck armor
is about inches, which is considered
only fair protection against heavy bombs.
Each battleship carries three airplanes
and one or two catapults.
Out of six airplane carriers in COM
mission, two are converted battle-cruisers
of 10000 tons each, dating from the
World War. They are the Saratoga and
Lexington. The largest vessels of the
kind af1oat, they have proved white
elephants" of size and expense. One
modern carrier, like the newly commits
stoned Wasp, can transport at an equal
speed of 80 knots almost as many planes
namely, about 75-with tonnage Of
only 14,700. The department has re-
quested $15,000,000 with which to start
modernization Of the Saratoga next
January and that of the Lexington a
year later. They are deficient in nearly
every respect, including machinery,
blisters, anti-aircraft armament, airplane
elevators, radio and sound-locating ap-
paratus and Hght-deck facilities. Three
new carriers have been commissioned,
and a fourth, the Hornet. is under con-
struction.
Only one section Of the American
battle fleet, its squadron Of 18 heavy
cruisers, is homogeneously modern. OF
a type developed since the Arms Limita-
ton Conference, they were built between
1929 and 1887 and include no overage
ships. Even the eight oldest, OF the
Northampton and Pensacola classes, are
9 and 10 years from the deadline. But
two light cruisers Of the Omaha class