Evening star., 1942-06-14
u. S. Puts Emphasis on Carriers
In 'Four>Ocean Navy Plans
Wilson'S Proposal for Tonnage of 100000 at Cost
of $83OO,OOO,OOO Calls for No Additional
Battleship Construction
By Clarke Beach,
By Clarke Beach
Wide World.

Naval history turned a corner when
an off1cial proposal was made 10 days
ago that the two-ocean Navy, now
a-building, be doubled and that in all
the vast new tonnage to be built there
was to be not single battleship.
Instead, more than one-fourth the
tonnage was to be aircraft carriers.
These floating bases for warplanes, of
which the United States had none in
the World War, on that day sailed into
at least an equal position with the bat
tleship as the backbone of the fleet
and some experts hailed the carrier as
the new queen of the seas.
The whole theory of naval strategy
and tactics, based heretofore on the bat
tleship, has undergone a revolutionary
change. Traditional concepts of sea
fighting have not been so shaken since
the armored warship was born in the
Civil War
In the final phases of the Coral Sea
battle airpower, most of it carrier borne
did all the damage.
The events of this war have proved
to naval leaders the surprising value
of the aircraft carrier with its planes
and the need for as many new ones
as can be built. What battleships we
have are still essential, say the naval
men, and they predict that we shall
need them as long as other navies have
them.
But because the supply of steel and
shipbuilding facilities are limited, both
battleships and great numbers of car
riers cannot be produced; and carriers
are needed infinitely more. Besides, they
require less steel and less time to con-
struct.
$500, 100000 Outlay.
The new ''four-ocean Navy program
was introduced by Chairman Vinson of
the House Naval Affairs Committee with
| the approval of the Navy Department.
1t calls for an $1,000 900 900 outlay to
| produce 100000 tons of warships. Car
r1ers will comprise 100000 tons, and the
| remainder will be cruisers, destroyers
and destroyer escort vessels, all of which
are required as carrier escorts.
The war in the Atlantic is a sub
| marine war, and the war in the Pa
| cific is an airplane war" says Repre-
sentative Vlnson. But both must be
| fought largely with planes-patrol planes
to spot and destroy submarines in the
Atlantic, carrier-based planes to act as
striking force in the Pacific"
| The value of the. aircraft carrier has
been heatedly argued ever since the
last months Of the World War. It's op-
| ponents have claimed that planes could
never sink battleships; that carriers were
too easily sunk, being lightly armored
and Vulnerable; that the carriers with
their planes could never equal the strik-
ing force Of the battleship.
| This war, however, has proved that:
| Airplanes can sink battleships (of the
| II capital ships sunk on both sides prior
to the Midway battle, 10 were sunk by
| planes, of these being battleships and
| battle cruisers, the other three being
| carriers.
Airplanes can seriously damage a great
naval base and sink its ships at anchor
| observers speculate that planes from
three or four carriers made the attack
| on Pearl Harbor: British naval planes
made the devastating raid on the Italian
naval base at Taranto).
| Raids Made From Carriers.
| Airplanes can eliminate air defense
and to that extent make possible the
landing of a large force on a hostile
shore tJap planes practically destroyed
the air fleet on Luzon Island before the
Philippine invasion was started, thus
making it possible for transports to ap-
| proach the islands without serious
danger OF attack by land-based planes
| Airplanes can be the first weapon with
which to carry the attack to the enemy S
shores de, the raid on Tokio).
| The American Nays first major Of
| fensive action of the war, the highly
successful raid on the Marshall and Gill
bert Islands, was carried out chiefly by
carrier-based planes. And striking fea-
ture of this action was that, although the
carrier was the Japs' prize target, they
didn't even touch her.
| Then came the carrier-led raid on
Marcus Island and the smashing of Jap
| warshipS at Salamaua and Lac in New