Evening star., 1945-08-23
Beaten Jap Navy Held
Worlds Second Bel
Writer Quotes Experf u S., Il
British Lacked Ali Support
BY Daid Laurence

BY David Laurence I
An experienced naval officer familiar
with our operations in the war just
ended said today that, in defeating the
Japanese Navy, the United States Navy
had defeated the second strongest navy
in the world"
This comment was made with the
qualification, however, that in certain
areas and under certain circumstances
the British Navy-heretofore regarded
as the equal of any other navy-would
have been subject to crushing defeats
had it met the Japanese.
with all due respect to our British
comrades" he remarked, "it is an open
question whether, because of their lack
of naval aviation, they would have been
match for the japanese. The British
would have caught up in due time,
but their failure to begin to develop
naval aviation along modern lines until
just before the war started was a dis
tinct handicap.
had not developed naval aviation the
Japanese aircraft carriers could have
roamed at will in the Pacific and the
shores OF this country would not have
been immune from bombardment. The
Japanese carriers were good Also the
torpedo work of the Japanese ships
was as good as ours"
Submarines Inferior
What about their submarines7" /
inquired
These were inferior. Either they
didn't have good enough ships or they
failed to operate them effectively. Also
their gunfire on the whole was never
as good as ours. We must not forget,
however, that the japanese naval avia-
ton was good and that their navy
controlled amphibious forces swept down
from Japan to the Netherlands East
Indies in the first few months of the
war in operations that were we'll exc
cuted
when we defeated the japanese Navy,
however, in the first and second battles
of the Philippines, we crippled their
naval air arm, and inevitable defeat
followed"
Coming as the above does from an
officer who was not connected with the
air arm of the Navy the comment is
especially significant. 1t indicates that
there now is unanimous opinion in the
Navy on the maintenance of a team
comprising weapons for use above and
below and on the surface-the task
force idea, which is to put together
oattleshlpS, carriers, cruisers, destroy
ers and submarines to do such special
Jobs as the circumstances may require.
1t will be noted that the British Navy
operating in the Pacific is using the
same system as the United States Navy.
Most people do not realize that the
British Navy suffered from the handi-
cap of having relied on an independent
/ air force for many years, so that the
! Royal Navy was not as far along with
! a naval air arm of its own by the time
the war broke out as was the United
States Navy.
Single Air Arm Argument.
The argument for an independent air
force has merit where aviation is de-
voted to strategic bombing of industrial
targets or to bombing military targets
reachable from land bases. But the
impression here is that the British Navy
Will never go back TO reliance on an
independent air force to supply planes
for the protection of the feet or for its
offensive operations.
1t will be an interesting subject Of
debate among military and naval ex-
perts whether, if the British Navy had
possessed carrier feet capable of
launching attacks with 1000 planes at
time-as Admiral Halsey was able to
do recently in the Pacihc-the course
OF the European war might not have
been completely altered Could such a
Navy have harassed German operations
In Norway? Could Mediterranean op-
erations have been different-or at least
could German opportunities to main
tain large armies in North Africa and
the Middle East have been impaired?
The RAF did a magnificent lob of
defending the British Isles and also in
bombing Germany. Situated as Brit
ain Is, the independent air force in ad-
dition to naval air arm for the Brit
lsh Navy may be logical. The problem,
however, of the United States, with
long coast lines and overseas bases to
defend, is such that no matter what is
done about an independent air force for
strategic bombing. opinion among naval
air officers now is that the fleet must
continue to maintain its own air arm
and also keep complete control over the
development and construction of types
OF planes suitable for use as an integral
part of the naval fleet.
Reproduction Right Reserved,)