Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-12-20
Jane sighting Ships
Seen as Undermining
Unification' Policy
Russiuns Haven't Read
How Bios Will Win
Next War, Writer Quips
By David Laurence

BY David Laurence
Facts have an annoying way
of intruding themselves into con-
troversies and upsetting precon-
cieved theories.
Thus. the latest word from Lon
don is that James Fighting Ships,
the authoritative publication which
for years has given reliable data
on world navies. says Russia is
building three 35,000-ton battle
ships equipped to fire radio-con-
troled aerial torpedoes and has
set herself a goal Of 1000 SUBJ
marines.
There must be something wrong
about this report. For doesn't
the head of James Fighting
Ships" know that he is under
mining unification" by such a re-
port? Doesn't he know that the
United States Joint Chiefs of
Staff, by two-to-one vote, has
closed its mind to the idea that
Russia has or can have a navy?
For months it has been pro-
claimed from the housetops here
that Russia has no navy" Ameri-
cas- strategy has been predicated
on that assumption. The great
United States Navy has been
largely put in mothballs and all
plans for the use of air power
over the seas by means of a large
carrier have been abandoned.
Don't the Russians Know?
Don't the Russians know that
they are not supposed to have a
navy? Haven't they heard about
the B-36 yet and that all big
warships, such as the Russians are
building, are supposed to be "sit-
ting ducks" and vulnerable to air
as well as submarine attack?
The only explanation that ap-
pears plausible is that the Rus
slams just don't believe that con-
troll of the Seven Seas can be
achieved by planes flying from
land bases and that, If the United
States intends to give up carrier
aviation and the use of naval air
power to strike at the land bases,
then the Russians plan to take
advantage of that shortsighted-
ness.
Most people who are unfamiliar
with the problem of controlling
the seas still think that sub
marines are hunted down by few
carriers of the small type and by
destroyers. That was a World War
II conception, which now is
obsolete. In the next war it be-
comes important to strike at the
bases from which submarines are
to emerge and to demolish those
bases so the undersea boats can't
emerge.
The United States Navy has had
q plan to accomplish this mission,
and it was all agreed to by Presi-
dent Truman and the late Secre-
tary Of Defense Forrestal. But
with the advent of Secretaries
johnson and Matthews, the Navy
has had to give up its plans for
developing the striking power of
naval aviation.
So long as the American defense
system Is operated on the theory
that the Air Force has a monopoly
on striking power from the air
and that the Navy cannot have
carriers of sufficient deck strength
to launch heavy planes. then the
future of the United States as a
naval power is sealed.
Doesn't Seem Plausible.
The report of the building of
Russian battleships may never be
confirmed. # it is true, someone
inside the American Government
has been keeping an important
fact from the Joint Chiefs of Staff
and from the President. For it
doesn't seem plausible that so
many speeches following the Off
cial party line-that Russia has no
navy-should be made here by
American spokesman if, in fact.
that isn't so.
The Navy Department does
know, however, that the Russians
are building submarines of the
"Snorkel" type, having learned
how from some former German
experts. It is known that the
Russians today have more sub
marines already than Germany
averaged in World War II.
Russia now has control of the
longest stretch of sea coast in
the Pacific. She has available
for naval uses the ports of Com
munist China. The United States
could not mobilize a task force
of carriers for patrol duty in the
Pacific and use that same task
force to watch the Mediterranean.
For, with all the $4,000, 000, 900
a year being spent for defense,
the United States has in COM
mission only one carrier task
force-not enough naval strength
probably to command respect in
the Pacific even If the State De-
partment were to change its
policy Of scuttling in the Far East.
The Russians certainly haven't
read the recent hearings on how
the B-36 Is going to win the next
war