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August 1 to August 31
Progress of New Construction—Bases Are Ships—Modernizing Battleships—New Coast Pilot—Contracts Awarded—John Paul Jones—Brief Notes.
Great Britain.................................................................................................. 1497
Submarines—West Indies and War Debts—Liberty Cards—New Construction—The First Lord Speaks—Brief Notes.
France........................................................................................................... 1501
French Cruisers—Armament Factories.
Germany........................................................................................................ 1502
The Deutschland.
Japan Builds—Tokyo’s War Game—A Japanese View.
Our Dwindling Sea Power—A French White Elephant?—A New Queen of the Seas—Lengthening German Liners—Brief Notes.
The Winning Post—Pursuit versus Bombardment—Various Notes.
UNITED STATES
Vessels Under Construction, United States Navy—Progress as of August 1,1933
|
| Percentage of Completion | |||
Type, Number, and Name | Contractor | Hull | Machinery | ||
| September | Gain for | September | Gain for | |
|
| 1,1933 | month | 1,1933 | month |
Battleships (Modernization): | Philadelphia Navy Yard Norfolk Navy Yard |
|
| 100.0 | 9.0 |
| 99.6 | 5.9 | |||
| 99.5 | 6.5 | 99.5 | 13.3 | |
Idaho | Norfolk Navy Yard | 49.5 | 1.8 | 46.0 | 1.2 |
Aircraft Carriers: | Newport News S. B. & D. D. Co. |
|
| 84.0 | 3.0 |
| 86.7 | 1.9 | |||
| Newport News S. B. & D. D. Co. | — | — | — | — |
Enterprise | Newport News S. B. & D. D. Co. | — | — | — | — |
Heavy Cruisers: |
|
|
| 76.7 | 1.3 |
| New York Navy Yard | 91.0 | 3.7 | ||
| Puget Sound Navy Yard | 81.5 | 2.4 | 74.0 | 3.0 |
Minneapolis | Philadelphia Navy Yard | 67.8 | 3.0 | 53.4 | 2.5 |
| New York S. B. Co. | 65.9 | 2.9 | 69.8 | 4.1 |
| Mare Island Navy Yard | 85.6 | 4.3 | 77.8 | 4.2 |
Quincy | Bethlehem S. B. Corp. (Fore River) | 3.2 | .9 | — | — |
Vincennes | Bethlehem S. B. Corp. (Fore River) | — | — | — | — |
Light Cruisers |
|
|
|
|
|
Savannah | New York; S. B. Co. | — | — | — | — |
Nashville | New York S. B. Co. | — | — | — | —— |
Brooklyn | New York Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
Philadelphia | Philadelphia Navy Yard | — | — | — |
|
Destroyers: |
|
|
| 52.8 | 3.6 |
Farragut | Bethlehem S. B. Corp. (Fore River) | 60.4 | 3.7 | ||
Dewey | Bath Iron Works Corp. New York Navy Yard | 52.3 | 4.9 | 47.9 | 4.1 |
Hull | 20.9 | 3.4 | 13.3 | 3.0 | |
MacDonough Worden | Boston Navy Yard Puget Sound Navy Yard | 23.1 10.3 | 5.1 3.7 | 21.9 6.5 | 4.1 1.3 |
Dale | New York Navy Yard | 12.2 | 2.1 | 8.6 | .8 |
Monaghan | Boston Navy Yard | 17.3 | 3. | 14.7 | .9 |
Aylwin | Philadelphia Navy Yard | 5.8 | 3.4 | 1.1 | .2 |
Porter | New York S. B. Co. | — | — | — | — |
Selfridge | New York S. B. Co. | — | — | — | — |
McDougal | New York S. B. Co. | — | — | — | — |
W ins low | New York S. B. Co. | — | — | — | — |
Phelps | Bethlehem S. B. Corp. (Fore River) | — | — | — | — |
Clark | Bethlehem S. B. Corp. (Fore River) | — | — | — | — |
Moffett | Bethlehem S. B. Corp. (Fore River) | — | — | — | — |
Batch | Bethlehem S. B. Corp. (Fore River) | — | — | — | *— |
Mahan | United Dry Docks, Inc. | — | — | — | — |
Cummings | United Dry Docks, Inc. | — | — | — | — |
Drayton | Bath Iron Works Corp. | — | — | — | — |
Lams on | Bath Iron Works Corp. | — | — | —■ | — |
Flusser | Federal S. B. & D. D. Co. | — | — | — | — |
| Federal S. B. & D. D. Co. | — | — | — | — |
Case | Boston Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
Conyngham | Boston Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
Cassin | Philadelphia Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
Shaw | Philadelphia Navy Yard Norfolk Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
| — | — | — | — | |
Downes | Norfolk Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
Cushing | Puget Sound Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
| Puget Sound Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
| Mare Island Navy Yard | — | —- | — | — |
Preston | Mare Island Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
Submarines: | Portsmouth Navy Yard |
|
|
|
|
Cachalot | 77.0 | 2.0 | 73.0 | 4.0 | |
Cuttlefish | Electric Boat Co. | 91.5 | 1.0 | 88.5 | 1.5 |
Porpoise | Portsmouth Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
Pike | Portsmouth Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
Shark | Electric Boat Co. | — | — | — | — |
Tarpon | Electric Boat Co. | — | — | — | — |
Gunboats: |
|
|
|
|
|
Erie | New York Navy Yard | — | — | — | — |
Charleston | Charleston Navy Yard |
|
|
|
|
Probable date of completion
2/ 1/34 12/29/33*
8/ 3/35 11/ 3/35
9/ 1/33 9/ 1/33 9/ 1/34
5/ 1/34
8/ 3/36 12/ 3/36
12/ 1/33* 4/15/34* 4/ 1/34
3/ 3/3f 2/11/34 !/ 9/36 1/ 2/37
8/ 3/36 12/ 3/36
2/11/34*
6/11/34*
8/11/34*
8/11/34*
i°/ 1/34 1/ 1/35* 1/ 1/35 1/ 1/35 12/
2/
4/ 3/36 6/ 2/36 12/ 3/35 2/ 3/36 4/ 3/36 6/ 2/36 10/30/35 12/30/35
War that it was insufficiently provided in e Principal theater of naval operations °n her own east coast. This fact seriously
Bases Are Ships
Tribune, Chicago, July 23.—In view of the President’s evident intention to build UP our naval defense, authoritative discussion of naval policy is not untimely. To Such a discussion Captain Dudley Knox, otle of the ablest of American commentators on naval affairs, has contributed to the July Naval Institute Proceedings an lRiportant article on naval bases. Captain Knox notes that this important element of naval strength has been and still is deplorably neglected in our planning, and we share his wish that it be given more serious “ somewhat belated attention.
The fact is that not only the civilian Public but even our professional Navy men *end to think of naval strength only in ternas of ships, their number, size, and fighting efficiency. Yet every ship must have a base for refuge and repair. If a base ls far from the field of any given operation naore time must be spent upon going to and from it, and the actual fighting strength of any ship or squadron must be discounted by this factor of absence. The strength of any naval force must therefore e calculated not upon the total number °1 ships in the establishment but on the number of ships it can muster and maintain .1 ail times in the field of operations; that ls> from the total of ships in being must be subtracted the number necessarily absent 0r refitting and repair.
It follows that the number, character, aud location of bases are essential factors ln the actual naval power of any maritime hation, and unfortunately they are factors ln which the United States, through past Neglect, is deplorably weak. Great Britain, hich has been naval minded for cen- .Unes, is, on the other hand, very strong ln bases, situated at strategic points of communication all over the world. Yet even Great Britain discovered in the late affected her defenses and the efficiency of her operations in the North Sea.
This phase of naval strength must not be considered merely from the point of view of home defenses but also from that of the protection of our trade and communications. If our situation is on the whole favorable from the former point of view, it is not from the latter, for our lines of communication are very long and very poorly protected by bases. This diminishes our actual naval strength for commerce protection, as our public does not realize. Captain Knox estimates, for example, that “taking the treaty allowances of 8-inch-gun cruisers and calculating the number of units which each nation can maintain in the China Sea from its bases, we find that the relative strength is in the proportion of 37 for Great Britain, 25 for Japan, and only 18 for the United States.” And he inquires: “Where is the 10:10:7 ratio of strength? For us it has vanished, because of the deficiency of bases, not ships. The ships with bases are the ships that count. Bases make ships.”
But Japan is going to demand a parity of ships with Great Britain and the United States at the next blessed conference. If granted, it will not be parity of naval strength but a still greater superiority over us.
Captain Knox says:
If the American Navy is to fulfill its principal mission of defending the economic life of the country, it cannot continue to think and plan exclusively in terms of ships. The importance of bases, and with them obviously our Marine Corps, greatly need magnification in our vision.
We are wasting money on many unnecessary navy yards on our coast while lacking bases at points essential to the efficient protection not merely of our communications but even of our home shores. If we are not convinced that we have abolished war in the world we ought to do what we can to remove this weakness.
Modernizing Battleships
Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette, London, July 13.—Just as it is true that you cannot make men sober by act of Parliament, so it is equally true that you cannot stop nations spending money on battleships by a treaty of obligation not to build new ones. The United States proposes to spend $77,000,000 (about £15, 400,000 at par) out of the fund for public works on modernizing the latest 5 of her 15 battleships. The other 10 are already provided for; 7 have been back in service for some time, and the Idaho, New Mexico, and Mississippi are now in hand. The proposed expenditure on the last 5, completed 1920-23, outbids anything done in the past, although that has been considerable. About $30,000,000 were voted for the 3 ships now undergoing reconstruction. The work is of a drastic character, and involves increasing the elevation of the guns to 30°; the provision of “blisters” against underwater attack; the fitting of extra-internal bulkheads and additional deck protection; the installation of catapults for aircraft; the provision of a new anti-aircraft battery of 5-in. guns; abolition of the old trellis- type masts and replacement by others of tripod design; fitting new fire-control systems; and so on. All this work has hitherto cost $10,000,000 per ship, but according to the latest messages from Washington the reconstruction of the latest 5 vessels will cost about $15,000,000 per ship. We wonder what the American naval officers really think of all this expenditure, and whether they would not much rather see it devoted to the construction of new vessels. But for the London treaty, for what it will cost to rebuild 5 battleships 2 new ones could be constructed. The British Admiralty has been obliged to spend a good deal of money on reconstruction, but not on such a large scale. The battleship Barham, for instance, now in hand at Portsmouth Dockyard, will cost £1,024,448, or about half what is being spent on each of the American
vessels undergoing modernization. Even so, that £1,000,000 would have provided two-thirds of the cost of a Leander class cruiser. Yet it is expenditure which must be incurred, because the ships have got to last well beyond their normal life. The politicians, in their raptures over the linu- tation treaty in 1930, altogether forget that hulls and guns and boilers wear out and decay, and that the older the ships become the more it costs to keep them in an efficient condition for service.
New Coast Pilot
Nautical Gazette, New York, August 5.—The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey announces a new (1933) edition of Coast Pilot B> which supersedes the previous edition issued m 1926.
This publication covers the Atlantic coast from Race Point, Cape Cod, to Sandy Hook, including Nantucket, Vineyard, and Long Island Sound, New York Harbor, Hudson River and tributaries, and south shore of Long Island.
It gives the true and magnetic courses to be steered, as well as the terminal facilities, and the mean rise and fall of tides at various harbors. The location of bridges, their maximum clearance above high water, and the regulations for the opening of draw and lift bridges are also given.
This publication is based mainly upon the work of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, including the results of a special exam*' nation in 1932. The aids to navigation are corrected to February 1, 1933.
Contracts Awarded
U. S. News, July 29. — Bids were awarded August 3 for the construction of 21 naval vessels at an aggregate cost of nearly $130,000,000.
Approval of the Navy plans for the work, for which bids were opened July 26, was announced by President Roosevelt August 2.
The announcement of awards of contracts follows:
Aircraft carriers Nos. 5 and 6 to the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Va., for the stated price of $19,000,000 each, subject to adjustments for changes in the
c°st of direct labor and material within Certain definite limitations.
To the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Mass.,heavy cruiser No. “19 for the fixed price of $11,720,000, with- 0ut adjustment for changes in costs.
Heavy cruiser No. 40 is the sixteenth ^'inch 10,000-ton cruiser referred to in the ■London treaty, and under the express proton of that treaty this vessel cannot be laid down before January 1, 1934, with completion date for the vessel of January 2, 1937.
To the New York Shipbuilding Comply, Camden, N. J., 2 light cruisers of the Nos. 42 to 45 class, for the fixed price °1 $11,677,000 each, without adjustment l°r changes in labor and material costs.
To the Electric Boat Company, Groton, Conn., 2 submarines, Nos. 174 and 175, l°r the fixed price of $2,770,000 each, with- °ut adjustment for increases in the cost °1 labor and material in accordance with Ihe bidder’s design. This price is on the oasis of main propelling machinery being furnished by the government and installed oy the contractor.
Of the eight 1,850-ton destroyers, the Contracts were all awarded on a fixed price oasis without adjustment for changes in c°st of labor and material as follows:
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ctd., Quincy, Mass., 4 destroyers under the act of August 29, 1916, for the fixed Price of $3,896,000 each, and to the New ^°rk Shipbuilding Company, Camden,
J-, 4 destroyers to be built from funds ^located from the National Industrial Recovery Act for the fixed price of $3,775,000 each.
The six 1,500-ton destroyers were aWarded as follows on the basis of a stated Price subject to adjustments within certain definite limitations for changes in c°st of labor and material.
The Bath Iron Works Corporation, Bath, Maine, 2 destroyers for the sum of $3,429,000 each.
To the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Kearny, N. J., 2 destroyers for the sum of $3,410,800 each, and to the United Dry Docks, Inc., New York, N. Y., 2 destroyers for the sum of $3,400,000 each.
Owing to the fact that the working plans for the 1,850-and the 1,500-ton destroyers will be furnished by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and the United Dry Docks, Inc., respectively, the above prices for the other shipyards are subject to certain definite reductions for value of plans received.
The final allocations of vessels of the National Industrial Recovery program to government yards was authorized today as follows:
Two submarines to the navy yard, Portsmouth,N.H. (previously announced).
Two destroyers to the navy yard, Boston, Mass, (previously announced).
One light cruiser and one gunboat to the navy yard, New York (gunboat previously announced).
One light cruiser and 2 destroyers to the navy yard, Philadelphia, Pa.
Two destroyers to the navy yard, Norfolk, Va.
One gunboat to the Charleston navy yard, (previously announced).
Two destroyers to the Puget Sound Navy Yard.
Two destroyers to the Mare Island Navy Yard.
John Paul Jones
Naval and Military Record, Plymouth, July 19, (by A. Martingale).—July 18 this year is the 141st anniversary of the death of the Scotsman John Paul, who was born at Kirkbean, Kirkcudbright, in 1747, the youngest of five sons of a Scottish gardener- fisherman, and who, as an apprentice to a shipowner of Whitehaven, traded between that port and Virginia, a colony in which resided his elder brother, who had assumed the name of Jones following marriage to
a daughter of a planter bearing that name. John Paul succeeded to his brother’s estate at the latter’s death and assumed the name of Jones with the patrimony. When the North American colonists revolted against the motherland, Jones cast his lot with the rebellious colonists and accepted their naval commission, although at the time they possessed no navy. His reply to the questionnaire of the American naval committee (formed June 17, 1775) is historic, and his opinions upon “the proper qualifications of naval officers” and “the kind, or kinds, of armed vessels most desirable for the service of the united colonies” are still dominating precepts held in the Naval Academy, Annapolis.
That this Scottish former-merchant seaman who had then no naval training and had, in fact, at the outbreak of revolution been a peaceful planter for years, should have been the author of such masterly naval principles is indeed a wonder. In at least one respect his opinion still dominates both the North American and British Admiralties. Jones did not believe in a naval service officered by others than “those bred and specially educated to the duties and responsibilities of officers.” Yet he himself was the living negation of the dictum he laid down.
Brief Notes
We are indebted to Commander LeRoy Reinburg, U.S.C.G., for the following extract from a report submitted by Lieutenant Commander Joseph Greenspun, commanding U.S.C.G. destroyer Hunt off the New Jersey Coast July 3.
“At 0703 the steamship Pennsylvania radioed that she was standing by the tug Dauntless, flying distress signals in Lat. 40° 02' N., Long. 73° 54' W. The Dauntless requested the Pennsylvania to stand by her until the gales and rough seas subsides. The Pennsylvania was notified that the Hunt was proceeding to assist, and the former resumed her voyage to New York. The tug Dauntless was found hove to with the barge Hygrade in tow and was unable to make progress on account of rough seas. The Hunt was placed in a position ahead of the tow, and fuel oil was pumped overboard by means of a hose connected to the booster pump in No. 1 fireroom. The oil slick provided adequate protection against the high seas, and enabled the Dauntless and her tow to proceed toward New York at an average speed of 4.5 knots. This arrangement worked very satisfactorily for the distance of 24 miles to the vicinity of Scotland Lightship, where the pumping of oil was discontinued. The master of the Dauntless praised the oil slick, and stated that without its protection he would have been unable to manage his tow.”
Mr. E. J. Willis, astronomer, attached to the Naval Observatory, recently noted a large white spot on Saturn near the equator and on the central meridian, at 12:18 a.m. E.S.T. or 5:18 G.C.T. The size of the spot appeared to be about 1/10 the diameter of the disk of Saturn,’’"or approximately the size of the earth.
In 1876, Professor Asaph Hall, at the Naval Observatory, observed a spot on Saturn and again in 1903, Mr. E. E. Barnard reported a simi' lar phenomenon.
A plan for adjusting the financial difficulties of foreign service officers on duty in gold exchange countries, where the dollar value of their salaries has depreciated by about 25 per cent measured in the local currencies, was announced by the State Department today. Lower salaried officers, particularly in France, have been hard hit by the depreciation of their incomes since the dollar left the gold standard.
The Treasury Department is working out details of the plan approved by the State Department. This would permit foreign service officers in specified countries to cash their pay checks at the rate of exchange prevailing in those countries if the dollar were still redeemable in gold.
With the opening of the academic year 1933— 34, September 29, important changes in the organization of the instruction departments at the Naval Academy will go into full operation.
The most notable of these is establishment of the new department of economics and government embracing studies not before taught at the Academy.
The departments of navigation and seamanship have been merged. The department of engineering and aeronautics has been renamed the department of marine engineering, and the word “modern” has been struck from the title of the department of modern languages.
Secretary of the Navy Swanson said recently he would take steps to see that all shipments of oil and provisions for the Asiatic Fleet are transported in American vessels, after he had
een informed that two cargoes of oil for the ?aval base at Cavite in the Philippines had gone 111 British tankers.
The Atlanta (Ga.) Naval Reserve divisions aat came to Washington for the inauguration in . arch and appeared in the parade are the best
the nation, the Navy Department has de- ^'ded, as a result of its inspections. The First attalion by reason of its efficiency for the third Consecutive year, is entitled to retain the bat- auon trophy for another year. The fleet division ,r°phy likewise goes to Atlanta for its prowess 111 Naval Reserve matters.
After much haggling, the shipbuilding code as finally negotiated with a 32-hour week for avy work and an average of a 36-hour week for Private work over a 6-month period; a minimum Wage of 35 cents per hour in the south and 45 ^etlts in the north. It was signed by President oosevelt after all the yards had tendered their ■ds on the Navy construction work. It is re- P°rted that awards have been decided with the PProval of the President and will be announced s °rtly.-—Nautical Gazette, August 5.
I'dE Galveston, Denver, and Niagara have been , . ertised for sale. The two former are cruisers ^ujlt in 1902 and 1899, respectively. The Niagara u*it in 1898, is a converted yacht purchased by the Navy in 1917.
Admiral M. M. Taylor, who has commanded ^.e N. S. Asiatic Fleet since 1931, hauled down *s flag jn eariy August. The new commander in lefi Asiatic, is Admiral Frank B. Upham, re- ently relieved as Chief of the Bureau of Naviga- lon> Navy Department.
Japan has the same right to build her fleet P to the London Naval Treaty limit as we have,” se Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Claude A. Swann> said at a press conference at the Navy De- artment recently. The Secretary was comment- eff °n rePorts from Tokyo that Japan will make , °rts during the coming 3 or 4 years to bring er fleet up to treaty limits. He appeared to be ^Pcemed about the report. j> Swanson said the naval stations at Pearl arbor, Hawaii, and the Panama Canal Zone °uld be modernized first, as soon as funds are ade available for shore station renovation and obstruction.—Japan Advertiser.
jjAn agreement providing for the removal of l^lte4 States marines from Haiti on October 1, jrand new financial arrangements starting th0ni ^at ^ate> wBb less stringent supervision of e Island Republic’s finances, was signed at
Port au Prince August 7, the State Department announced.
The document is an executive agreement, which does not require ratification by the Senate. The signatories are Norman Armour, United States Minister, and Foreign Minister Albert Blanchet.
A treaty attempting to accomplish virtually these same results was signed between the two countries last September, but was rejected by the Haitian Senate. The present agreement, it is believed here, will satisfy the Haitian objections advanced at that time, which alleged that the date for the withdrawal of the marines was left vague.
GREAT BRITAIN Submarines
Naval and Military Record, Plymouth, July 19.—Having carried out various trials for a good many months past, the submarine Thames has gone to the Mediterranean, where she will pass into regular service with the First Submarine Flotilla. During these trials her speed performances have demonstrated her to be easily the fastest submarine nowafloat. Great Britain formerly held this record with the big steam-driven K class, which were credited with 24 knots. On the passing of these boats the United States was left with the fastest submarines in the Barracuda, Bonita, and Bass, which are engined for 21 knots. The Thames has maintained an average of 22.5 knots on a good many occasions. Towards the latter part of the war, the Germans were believed to possess some very fast U-boats, and, indeed, it was to cope with these that the K boats were built. Probably, there was some exaggeration on this point, for none of the submarines delivered to the British naval authorities under the Armistice terms had any remarkable speed qualities.
It is not altogether clear what particular advantage a high surface speed confers upon the submarine. The only circumstances in which this would be definitely useful is for fleet flotilla work, when it was desired that submarines should proceed in company with big surface ships. Such tactics, however, find little favor in our Navy. The whole raison d'etre of the submarine is secrecy, which means underwater operations. In surface fighting she is very inferior to a destroyer, even though she may carry one or two heavier guns. In submerged speed the submarine has made virtually no progress. She does not get beyond 9 knots, and even most of the craft which are designed for this speed fall considerably short of it. A German naval correspondent has expressed the opinion that the average submerged maneuvering speed of the U-boats during the war did not exceed 6 knots. As is generally known, electric motors have to be used in submerged running, because any type of heavy oil motor would involve too much combustion of air, and a submarine must be prepared to remain down for a long time in war operations. This limitation to underwater mobility is something to be thankful for. It calls for no effort of imagination to realize how infinitely more formidable the submarine would become were she capable of twice her present practicable speed below the surface.
As speed is usually associated with size —although it need not have any relation to it, as witness the speed boat—it may be of interest to add that the Thames has a displacement of 1,805 tons. She is the first of a new class, which will be the biggest boats constructed since the K group, with the exception of the solitary X-l. The ocean-going submarines of the 0 and P classes are of 1,475 tons, and although these are organized into flotillas for administrative and training purposes, they are really designed for independent action. The numerous L class are now dying out, but they remain very popular in the submarine service, being regarded as big enough and yet small enough for anything in the way of flotilla work. These craft range between 760 and 845 tons. The Thames must be regarded as a type of submarine cruiser, and the idea appears to be to maintain two categories—the flotilla submarine of modest dimensions for fled work in the Narrow Seas and the oceangoing submarine.
The French possess the biggest submersible in the world in the Surcouf, 0 2,880 tons submerged displacement. She represents a war-time conception which 15 unlikely to be repeated; indeed, there has been talk of taking her two 8-inch guns out of her. The United States has three submarines of 2,730 tons apiece—Argonaut \ Narwhal, and Nautilus, all suitable f°r mine-laying work. Japan appears rather indefinite in her views as to submarines; which is unlike her general attitude towards naval matters. At the London Nava Conference she strongly resisted the proposal to limit the size of these craft to 1,800 tons, and in consequence it was fixed at a maximum of 2,000 tons. She then had several boats of 1,955 tons, and has built 1 since to complete the class of 6- The next type was rather smaller, 1,635 tons. Only a few days ago there was launched at Kure the first boat of another new class, of 1,400 tons; so that; whilst insisting upon liberty to build stih bigger submarines, the Japanese are actually building smaller ones. Our own biggest submarine is, and is likely to remain, the X-l, of 2,425 tons, armed with four 5.2-inch guns and completed eight years ago.
West Indies and War Debts
Naval and Military Record, Plymouth, July U' —A warning that the West Indies might be handed over to the United States in payment oj war debts was uttered by Archdeacon Jullion, 0 St. Kitt’s, preaching on Thursday at the annua West Indies service at the church of St. Andre" by-the-Wardrobe, London. _ .
The Archdeacon said a certain section of polk1' cians in America was making such a demand. 1 might be said that England would never part wit" her islands as Denmark parted with the Virg10 Islands. Denmark made equally fervent protes tations, but she did part, and England had hersel done a similar thing as recently as 1905.
King Edward VII’s name was anathema in the sies de Los because the inhabitants believed °ey had been sold without being given any opportunity of retaining the English privileges of which they were so proud.
It was unthinkable, he added, that England Would ever agree to the demand from the United tates. Nevertheless, public opinion should be
Prepared.
* would be an injustice and calamity to the est Indies if any such change were made. They 34 played a part in England’s past history, and J e Old Country should remember its reponsibili-
L'berty Cards
Naval and Military Record, Plymouth, July 26.—Naval ratings will be interested ln a new system of checking liberty men, 'vhich, states a fleet order, has been approved on an optional basis through- °ut the fleet. The system, which has been recently tried successfully in certain ships 111 the Home Fleet, consists of a revised ?ritl of short-leave book used in conjunction with liberty cards issued to all ratings other than chief petty officers and petty officers. The cards are in the form of small oPiers, and are in three colors, according 0 Watches, as follows: Green, starboard Watch; red, port watch; blue, watch- eePers and miscellaneous ratings. The Part of watch (first or second) is written ltlside the card at the top right-hand c°rner. The ship’s name may be stamped ?n the outside of the card, as necessary, 111 the ship.
When liberty men are piped to fall in, ffg card of each man is collected, the color indicating whether the rating is e !gible or not for liberty, and the cards Jre Placed in the open position in pigeoned boxes, according to messes. On re- fRU t0 ship> the duty regulating petty Peer or divisional petty officer or non- ccmmissi0ned officer returns to the ratings their divisions the liberty cards from e Pigeonholed boxes. The card of any ]Pan whose leave is stopped for any reason taken away from him and retained at
the regulating office until he is again entitled to leave.
Further details of the new system are contained in the fleet order, which further states that while the short-leave book is being entered up information can be abstracted as to the number for whom grog should be stopped, while the quick counting up of the total of liberty cards will give the victualling staff early information as to the numbers for whom the next meal need not be prepared. Experience has shown that these arrangements enable a ship with general messing to effect appreciable savings.
Neu> Construction
Times, London, July 22.—An increased program of warship construction is expected to be submitted to the Cabinet shortly for inclusion in the navy estimates of 1934. There are 3 reasons which prompt this. (1) Next year’s program will not be subject to the limitations of the London Naval Treaty. The fourth and final installment of the replacement program due for completion by December 31, 1936, under the terms of that treaty was authorized in the current navy estimates. (2) Even if this were not so, we are entitled under Art. 21 of the treaty (the “escalator clause”) to make proportionate increases in relation to new construction by any power which has not joined in Part III of the treaty, and France and Italy have not joined in it. (3) New construction programs have been prepared in the United States and Japan the former under the National Industrial Recovery Act.
Owing to the abnormally slow rate at which warship building is put in hand in this country it is necessary to make provision for it well ahead of the date on which the ships will be required. The latest cruiser laid down in a public dockyard, H.M.S. Amphion, at Portsmouth, was authorized in the program of 1931, but her keel was not laid until June 26, 1933.
H.M.S. Apollo, authorized in the program of 1932, to be built at Devonport, has not yet been laid down, but her keel may be placed in position in August. The 8 destroyers of the 1931 program, allotted to contract, were not laid down until March of this year. Only half of the 8 of the 1932 program, also allotted to contract, have yet been laid down. So with submarines. It was not until June 12 last that the keel was laid at Chatham Dockyard of the Shark, authorized in the 1931 program. Unless the arrears of building can be overtaken a new program authorized in 1934 must wait for some time before being put into execution.
The government policy of refusing to extend their public works program for unemployment as unduly expensive does not apply to shipbuilding for the Navy, which is a national necessity. At the same time it is realized that, as was stated by the Secretary of the U. S. Navy on May 23,
no form of construction, private or government, is more directly beneficial to labor than naval construction. More than 85 per cent of the funds so spent is paid to the workers employed.
The First Lord Speaks
Times, London, July 30.—-Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell, First Lord of the Admiralty, speaking at Barrow-in-Furness said that the Admiralty and Barrow were mutually dependent on each other. He welcomed a slight increase of new construction which had brought to Barrow orders worth nearly £2,000,000. Sir Bolton continued,
People complain of the expense of the Navy, which costs about £50,000,000 a year, but they should remember the value of our over-seas trade.
In 1925 the value of our over-seas trade was over £2,000,000,000. The annual cost of our Navy is just about 2.5 per cent of that, and I suggest that 2.5 per cent is not a high rate of insurance.
But it is not only the cost that tends to blind the country to the true value of the Navy. There is the propaganda that says that navies ought to be replaced by universal brotherhood.
If this is true, the only people who have taken any such step towards universal brotherhood are ourselves, for we have cut our Navy to the bone.
But we have had no response from others. Since 1914 we have reduced our naval tonnage by y per cent, but in the same period Italy has increased by 20 per cent, the U.S.A. by 29 per cent, and Japan by 37 per cent.
It is true that France can point to a small reduction of 10 per cent, but the French Navy 1914 included much tonnage which, for practical purposes, was obsolete.
In spite of all this, there are people who urge that we should reduce our Navy still further ' who accuse us of standing in the way of further world disarmament. I believe that many of these people mean very well; they simply do not kno"’ the truth, and they must be told the truth.
We cannot have any more one-sided disarmament. We cannot always be idealists; we must face realities; and remember that it is not peacetime navy estimates that cost money; it is wars- And wars are not made by a strong British Navy! they are prevented by it.
If there is one fact that is shown by our own history, it is that the fortunes of England rise when our Navy is strong and fall when it is weak-
Brief Notes
The estimated expense in the present financial year of running the Centurion as a fleet target ship with the attendant destroyer H.M.S. ShikaO is £50,200. When asked if there were any scientific means of firing without this expense, the First Lord said it was considered to be the best practical experiment.
The Royal Navy has made great strides “a5 amateurs in the showman business” since Navy Week was instituted some years ago, and the event promises this year to be even more enjoyable and instructive than before. In all 3 ports the public will be welcome to visit and inspect typical ships of the fleet, and the work of the Navy at home and abroad will be demonstrated in numerous and often spectacular ways. The charge for admission to each dockyard will be Is. for adults, 6d. for children under 14, and all profits will go to naval charities.
In the program of Plymouth Navy Week, one of the most spectacular and thrilling displays will be a duel between a Q-, or mystery, boat and an enemy submarine.
A company with a capital of £5,000,000 has been organized in New South Wales for the production of oil from coal. It is expected to get 180
s- bead, will lay down the Fearless and Fore- & t on July 17 and 31, respectively. Vickers- /‘•nstrongs, Ltd., as sub-contractors to the Par- pas Marine Steam Turbine Co., will begin the g and Firedrake during the month. John a °Wn & Co. will start the Foxhound on July 25 for fortune on August 21. A sum of £146,000 ^ each pair of vessels is voted in the navy esti-
gallons of crude oil per ton of coal, and to be able 0 sell petrol at Is. per gallon.
A team of 5 “Admirals All” journeyed to Bisley Recently to fire for II.M.S. Britannia in the Public ehools Veterans’ Challenge Trophy. They were *pe Admiral Eric Fullerton (commander in ? *ef of Devonport station), Admiral B. Thesiger V!ho acted as captain of the team), Rear Ad- 'ral W. F. Sells, Rear Admiral J. C. Hamilton nQ Rear Admiral Bernard Fairbairn.
Admiral Fullerton found the bull’s-eye with c*s sighting shot, but with all his first 6 shots to °unt he could get no higher than an inner, °ugh many of them were within a hair’s readth of the bull. He dropped his last shot to Magpie for 3, and finished with a total of 41 °»t of 50.
Admiral Thesiger scored 46. Rear Admiral /~s.47. Rear Admiral Hamilton 48, and Rear dftiiral Fairbairn 9 bulls and an inner for 49. , onsidering that none of the admirals had been to get much practice recently, and one of had not fired a rifle for over a year, their °f 231 was a very excellent performance, and . ey won the bronze medal for the highest score 111 Class B.
3 g°od progress is now being made with the k ?ubmarines of the 1931 program, which after eing deferred owing to the need for economy 1 .^e ordered in November last. The Severn was Lm ^own at Barrow by Vickers-Armstrongs, k d., on March 27; the Sea Lion at Birkenhead ^Cammell Laird and Co., Ltd., on May 16;
d the Shark at Chatham Dockyard on June 12. 10 n ^evern W'B be of the large class of 1,805 tons, 1 dO horsepower, and 22-knot speed, of which ve Thames was completed in 1932 and a third ssel, the Clyde, is being begun under the 1932 °gram. All were ordered from Vickers-Arm- r°ngs, Ltd. The Sea Lion and Shark will be of e small Swordfish type, of 640 tons, 1,550 horse- rj°VVer> and 14-knot speed. The Thames class car- a.a 4-7-in. gun, and the Swordfish class a 3-in. ant‘-craft gun.
beVI-E DESTR0YERS the 1932 program will all st ^own soon- The first to be placed on the ^°cks were the Forester and Fury, by J. S. White t>_. .•> Cowes, in May. Cammell Laird & Co.,
H.M.S. Achilles was due to leave her builder’s yard at Birkenhead in late July to carry out her trials. Her prospective date of completion is October 5, when she will join the Home Fleet and make an independent cruise.
The Achilles is a sister-ship of the Leander, which was completed in March last. They are the only two cruisers to be passed into service during 1933. No cruisers at all were completed in 1932 (although 6 reached the age limit that year), and only 1, the Exeter, was completed in 1931. The average for the 3 years is thus only 1 ship a year. During the 3 years, however, 18 vessels reached their age limit of 16 years approved under the London treaty, and 15 of them are still retained in the list of the Navy owing to the lack of replacements by new construction. The next cruisers due for completion are the Orion, about the end of January, and the Neptune, in February.
FRANCE French Cruisers
Naval and Military Record, Plymouth, July 19, (by J. B. Gautreau).—The French cruiser fleet is numerically weak when compared with the Italian. In reality, it is even weaker than it appears to be on paper, for the reason that the French light cruisers in service are getting old, much in need of refits, and therefore not to be depended upon for prolonged campaigning. Whereas Italy arrays 6 light cruisers, all new, the Gallic cruisers which could be opposed to them, for the present, are only 3 in number, viz., Duguay-Trouin, Primauguet, and La- motte-Piquet, which were launched in 1923-24. The Primauguet is flagship in the Far East. The Lamotte-Piquet is to undergo a thorough refit at Lorient, which will cause her to be unavailable for at least one year. The Duguay-Trouin would be alone eventually to face the Italian light cruiser music in the Mediterranean; for, unfortunately, she is stationed in the Channel, with the result that, pending the completion, proceeding very slowly, of the Bertin at St. Nazaire, there will not be a single French light cruiser in the Mediterranean. This strange and unprecedented situation will not prevent ignorant and
prejudiced critics from speaking with shudders of “French naval imperialism.” Nor will it cause any naval scare in our blissfully slumbering republic, which hates thinking about war.
The teachings of the real thing have caused the various admiralities to start revising the whole of their naval material with a view to remedying defects or weak points. No navy has gone so far in that direction as the British has. All British battleships and battle cruisers have been reconstructed. Their fighting value has been considerably increased, practically making them new post-war ships. Such wholesale refitting policy did not appeal to the Paris Section Technique, although a tremendous amount of French money has been wasted in repairing and refitting perfectly useless vessels which were even commissioned before breaking up. The 24,000-ton cuirasses were subjected to superficial modifications, which changed their silhouettes. On the whole the increment of fighting strength thus obtained is hardly worth the expenditure it entailed. In the light of the ship transformations effected in the British Navy, and also of the German mercantile fleet (liners of the Deutschland and Columbus types for instance), those who planned the postwar modernizing of French ships must be said to have lacked both technical daring or resources and the fighting spirit.
Armament Factories
Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette, London, July 20.—By a decree dated April 29,1933, a new directorate has been created which will be responsible for the manufacture of all armaments, munitions, and war material, both in peace and war, and for the preparation and speeding up of industrial mobilization. It revives in peace an organization which will fulfill, on a small scale, the role of the Ministry of Armament in the World War. It will include various technical organizations formerly under the artillery and other directorates.
According to reports, General H. A. M. Saltet de Sablet d’Estieres, Inspecteur Permanent des
Fabrications de 1’Artillerie, has been appointed Directeur des Fabrications d’Armement. The services allotted to the new directorate will pr°" visionally continue to be operated either by per' , sonnel belonging to, but seconded from, the artillery, or by officers of other arms having the neces- | sary qualifications and similarly seconded. No m- crease in expenditure will be involved.
GERMANY The “Deutschland”
The Engineer, London, June 23.—Commissioned on April 1, the German warship Deutschland has now been in service for nearly 3 months. She is a smart-looking vessel. The upper works are so well proportioned that the triple 11-inch turrets fore and aft do not strike the incongruous note that might have been expected m view of the Deutschland’s modest dimensions. Funnel and military foremast are not too obtrusive, and the general effect of the ship’s profile is definitely pleasing-
Very little information, and none of official origin, has been disclosed about the Deutschland’s trials, which lasted 6 months- This is not surprising, since Germany could hardly be expected to advertise to the world all the technical secrets of the most important addition she has made to her fleet since the war. At some future time, however, we may learn how the powerful Diesel plant, with a capacity of 56,800 b.hp. acquitted itself during the sea trials- According to newspaper reports, them was little vibration even at full power, though the noise is said to have been somewhat disconcerting. In the absence of fuel consumption statistics it is impossible to determine whether the remarkable endurance claimed for this ship—10,000 nautical miles at 20 knots—is actual or, as in the case of most steam-driven men-of- war, merely nominal. We should not be surprised to learn that the engines have proved entirely satisfactory, for it Is hardly conceivable that Germany would have spent £3,750,000 on an experimental warship without having satisfied herself.
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y the most searching tests, that the experiment would prove successful. Further Pr°of of her confidence is the fact that two rther units of the class are under con-
action and a third is projected for next
year.
^From time to time such details of the k eulschlcmd as became available have sen quoted in our columns, including a ^ 1 description of the propelling plant. It > therefore, unnecessary to recapitulate these particulars. Briefly, then, she is a ^®ssel of 10,000 tons standard displace- e^t, rated neither as battleship nor Tt'1S<^r’ ^ut simp!y as an “armored ship.” j ls is undoubtedly the best designation, r although her armament pertains to ^at of a battleship and her speed to that a cruiser, she is, in fact, neither the one r the other. Had she been designed as a ^tort the Washington 10,000-ton _ !ser type, which is by no means cer- jeln.> she could scarcely have been more ef- ctive. It may not be a pure coincidence no further cruisers of this type have pCe.n laid down anywhere except in the ^aited States since the main features of jj. e ^eutschland became known. Certainly
shi^"011^ P°licy to 8° on building
jj ,^ which are demonstrably inferior in t0tln8 power to a new type of no greater So ?age. France, on her own admission, is impressed by the German newcomer t she has deemed it necessary to main- criy t^le balance by laying down a battle ti lsfr more than two and one-half times a size of the Deutschland.
^ ke last named is 609 ft. long over all, 2j a beam of 67.5 ft. and a draught of and ^ *n’ contract sPee(i is 26 knots, anc' aS ncded above, the cruising endur- ^ e at the relatively high speed of 20 to "rf *S e0uivalent to a run from Hamburg jnt . ongkong. Six 11-inch guns, mounted T'h Fl^e turrets, form the main armament. etnfSe weapons, it may be safely assumed, c0dy the highest ballistical properties Slstent with their caliber, and they are probably equal to any gun afloat except the 16 in. and 15 in. Incidentally, the British Admiralty’s proposal to establish 11 inch as the maximum caliber for future capital ships is the best evidence that guns of this size are capable of fulfilling all the essential requirements of the naval artillerist.
No 10,000-ton cruiser now afloat could withstand a single well-aimed salvo from the Deutschland. The vitals of most of this class are notoriously exposed, and the effect of 11-inch H.E. shell on these huge, virtually unarmored boxes of machinery would be devastating. It is true they could hit back with their 8-inch broadsides, but the German ship appears to be well armored over her sensitive parts, and there is little doubt that she could stand a great deal more punishment than her ‘‘ egg-shell” opponents. The sole advantage possessed by the latter is their superior speed; but speed is not in itself a decisive tactical asset once serious battle has been joined.
To appreciate the far-reaching effects of the Deutschland’s advent on naval construction, and naval policy in general, it is only necessary to envisage her in the role of commerce destroyer, and this may be done without lifting the argument out of the academic plane. How, then, could her depredations on the trade routes be countered? Six-inch-gun cruisers would be useless save for observation purposes, and in heavy weather their superior speed might be so far neutralized that they would be caught and crushed by the 26-knot Deutschland. Nor would the 10,000-ton cruisers with 8-inch guns be in much better case. They could evade the enemy, but could they engage with any reasonable prospect of crippling him before they themselves were destroyed? A comparison of the armament and protection on each side provides a fairly conclusive answer to this question. There seems to be no denying the fact that the building of the Deutschland and her sisters has completely upset preconceived ideas of naval strategy, tactics, and ship design, and it remains to be seen what new principles will emerge from the momentary confusion.
It is a significant fact that this country is so fettered by treaty restrictions that she would not be in a position to build ships capable of neutralizing the Deutschland even if the latter were a direct menace. We have, quite literally, surrendered the right of self-defense in the one sphere where adequate strength is indispensable to national existence.
JAPAN
Japan Builds
Japan Advertiser, Tokyo, July 11.—A naval replenishment program involving approximately ¥500,000,000 and to be over either the next 3 or 4 years was approved by the naval general staff yesterday and sent to the Navy Ministry for action, according to press reports last night. Different press sources disagreed on the total amount involved in the program, but all figures were in the neighborhood of ¥500,000,000.
This program, long under consideration in naval circles, was finally completed in outline form at a meeting of general staff officials held at five o’clock yesterday afternoon. It will now receive the careful attention and scrutiny of the highest officials of the Navy Ministry, after which it will be turned over to the Ministry of Finance for approval. Rengo asserted last night that, judging from present indications, the program will receive the approval of the finance authorities, who are likely to make no more than minor changes in it.
If approved by the Finance Ministry, the program will be actually inaugurated during the next fiscal year. The naval general staff, according to news accounts last night, wishes to have the program completed in 3 years, while other quarters are more inclined to have it spread over a 4- year period. In any event, the duration o the program is to be decided through ne' gotiations between the Navy and Finance Ministries.
Rengo outlined the ship construction program as follows:
(1) 2 light cruisers of 8,500 tons each, to be built at an estimated cost of ¥41,200,000.
(2) 2 aircraft carriers of 10,000 tons each, to
built at an estimated cost of ¥84,000,000. T*1® tonnage allotted to Japan under the London NaV® Treaty is 12,000; therefore 1 of the 2 newaircrai carriers will replace the Hosho. ...
(3) 14 destroyers of 1,400 tons each, to be bu» at an estimated cost of ¥94,080,000.
(4) 6 submarines, of both large and small typeSl with a total tonnage of 7,500, to be built at a® estimated cost of ¥40,500,000.
(5) 1 mine layer of 5,000 tons, to be built at a
estimated cost of ¥12,000,000. ,
(6) 8 torpedo boats to be built at an estimate cost of ¥50,000,000.
In addition to this the program include8 an expenditure reportedly totaling b® tween ¥160,000,000 and ¥200,000,000 oj» the aerial arm of the Navy. This, accord ing to Rengo, will go largely toward the establishment of 8 new Navy flying units'
The replenishment program, according to the news service, is designed to put Japan in possession of a navy that is UP to the maximum of strength permitte this country under the London NaV® Treaty.
Meantime, the compilation of tb6 Navy’s regular budget for the next fisc® year is being discussed by navy official5' It was asserted by Nippon Dempo la5 night that the estimate for the next yeafi which starts on April 1, 1933, would more than ¥500,000,000, this figure i11 eluding the outlay necessary for the fir5 year of the naval replenishment program
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The Vice Minister of the Navy, VicC Admiral Shotoku Fujita, and other hifr officials, held a meeting yesterday after' noon at which they discussed the be5 means of convincing the Finance Ministr) of the necessity of this large outlay for tbe sea arm of the nation’s defense forces. Thc
uPshot of the discussion, Nippon Dempo reported, was that all radical cuts that ^'ght be proposed in the Navy’s estimates should be fought tooth and nail on the grounds that the Navy’s figures represent an absolute minimum necessary for adequate protection of the empire against any attack by sea.
Tokyo’s War Game
Times, New York, August 10 (by Hugh ^as).-—Tokyo’s colored lights were dark- ei]ed last night when citizens co-operated ^th the Army in the most elaborate training l°r an anti-air attack ever undergone y any capital in peace time.
The night was a climax to a day of popu- ar excitement. The “enemy” fleet, somewhere in the southeastern seas, made four ?ay raids and two night raids on Tokyo. ts bombing planes could not always be Seen owing to a haze that made visibility Poor.
Tut the drumming of their propellers Was heard, and the authorities announced specific acts of “damage” which showed he heart of Tokyo had been reached. Each attack brought into operation not only the general defense scheme rehearsed during . past week but particular measures deigned to meet specific calamities, such as estruction of the Ryogoku Bridge.
, The alarm was given by blasts from the July's time siren, followed instantly by a 5°adcast. As soon as the signal had been ^vfn, young men’s associations went into action-—controlling traffic, patrolling
S^ets, manning first-aid stations, and ^eeing that all regulations were obeyed. ^chools and public halls were marked as 0spitals. Nurses and doctors were in re&diness.
Every block had some place designated here authority was centered. In congested districts every house was required 0 have a bucket of water in readiness against fires. When the headquarters announced that a certain bridge had been “destroyed” and a certain bank “set afire,” fire brigades, ambulance services, and policemen methodically carried out their instructions.
Stretchers with masked bearers and nurses carried bandaged men to hospitals. In one case, which your correspondent witnessed, the sight of a young boy as a “casualty” drew tears from the eyes of sentimental bystanders, although they knew it was all a game.
The night rehearsal was extremely dramatic. The darkening arrangements seemed to be carried out perfectly. As soon as the siren ceased, all that was revealed of this city of 5,000,000 inhabitants was the hooting of taxis and the grinding of street cars.
Even after all clear had been sounded, the citizens kept their lights out and Tokyo continued to present the eerie appearance of a city seeking safety in darkness.
Although public interest was naturally keen, the authorities made every effort to stimulate it. General Sadao Araki, Minister of War, had issued a manifesto telling the people the aim of national defense was not only to guard the nation’s territory but its culture. He commended the maneuvers as training in the discipline and morale that are necessary for good citizenship.
Admiral Osumi, Minister of the Navy, reminded the people that air raiders might slip through the Navy’s defenses and that civilians must, therefore, be trained to meet emergencies calmly. The Emperor sent an aid with a message to the defense headquarters. Seven imperial princes visited focal points of the maneuvers including department store roofs, schools, and public parks.
A Japanese View
Evening Star, Washington, Aug. 19, (by Lieutenant General Sadao Araki).—The Japanese Empire has no apologies to offer the world for what critics abroad have considered the drastic and abrupt action her armies have taken in Manchuria and more recently in North China. Such criticism clearly indicates either ignorance of, or unwillingness to understand the history of the past generation, especially with reference to Japan’s relations with China and with the rest of the world.
It is perhaps just as well that Japan’s action has impressed the Occident as strong, direct, and perhaps more drastic than circumstances warranted, for in this way it may lead to study and understanding of the events which have led to Japan’s present situation, in which she appears to some as isolated from and defiant of the main currents of world opinion.
Japan, not of her own free will, was drawn into the international scheme in the middle of the last century and a generation ago began her education in international dealings in the hard school conducted by the great European empires. The influence of Napoleon was still dominant; diplomacy was secret, realistic, cynical, selfish. The lessons of this school we learned to our cost as we strove to make a place for ourselves in the society of nations.
Alike in the period of realistic, secret diplomacy, and in the era of so-called open diplomacy which succeeded it after the World War, with its lip service to peace and its accumulation of pacts and peace machinery, we learned from bitter experience that reliance on our own strength, foresight, tenacity, and courage was the only safe method for the defense of our independence, our vital interests, and our rights.
For a generation Japan tried to follow a policy of co-operation with the Western world in its search for peace and stability, subscribed to its pacts, joined its organizations. All this helped us in none of our real problems. International accords, international combinations have helped Japan in none of her times of need, but often they have been invoked against her.
Japan was provoked into war with
China in 1894, and while an astounded world looked on we defeated that decadent empire. China then ceded us the Liaotung Peninsula. In 1896 three great European empires—Russia, Germany, and France-J compelled us by threats to relinquish thi® prize. Within the next 3 years Russia had occupied that same peninsula by virtue o1 treaties with China, which gave the Czar also the right to build railways across Man' churia and which bound Russia and China in alliance against Japan. Germany had occupied Tsingtao, Great Britain Weihai' wei and France Kwang-chau Wan.
For years we have sought only peace and friendship with America. Nearly two decades of controversy, beginning with the anti-Japanese land and school agitation® in California, reached its climax in 192-* when the American government brusquely abrogated its gentleman’s agreement wi^ us and adopted an absolute exclusion 0 our people as immigrants, branding the®1 as racially inferior.
We fought loyally on the side of the allies in the World War. At the peace con' ference the great powers of Europe and America refused recognition of our raci® equality.
For two decades we fulfilled loyally ^ the responsibilities of our alliance WitP Great Britain. In 1922 the British Empire’ desiring the favor of the United State®1 then grown to unprecedented wealth anfl power, summarily abrogated the allianc^ Today our people are practically barre from micratincr to the vast semi-fill*-'1’ spaces of the British dominions, Canada and Australia. More recently there ha® been a determined effort to bar even odf goods from the British Empire.
The troubles between Japan and Chin®' in Manchuria were the culmination of ^ years marked by China’s unceasing effodj® to interfere with and nullify Japans legitimately acquired rights and interest®' We Japanese brooked all kinds of obstrUc tion, insults, even violence with the ut
not with vague and sentimental
^°ft patience. In later years, however, hlna’s tactics became more and more oppressive and obstructive, until they could e tolerated no longer.
What reason had we to hope in this ^risis that redress could be obtained from ae nations which had never helped us in °Ur emergencies of the past? Still fresh in ?ar memories were the incidents of Niko- a]evsk (a port at the mouth of the Amur iver in Eastern Siberia, where in March,
. ,9) more than 600 Japanese soldiers and Clvilians, including women and children, Were massacred by Russian “partisans” °r reds), and of Nanking (where on March > 1927, Chinese Communist troops at- acked the foreign residents, including JaPanese, killing and wounding many and plating women). Who came to our aid j° mvenge these injuries and insults? We earned from these and other lessons that 'Ve must defend ourselves.
l-n Manchuria in 1931, when events were toying unmistakably toward another ^sis of this tragic nature, we were compelled to act in self-defense. What use at sUch a time to appeal to the slow-moving, o Umsy, and ill-informed peace machinery Hie Western world? We have no doubts the full justification of the vigorous ac- J1 We took in that emergency.
. n the long run the world will be con. bced of the wisdom and fundamental dis- j ^restedness of our course. The Occident, believe, will one day believe that our tions far more surely were calculated to r°mote peace and the welfare of all the ^e°ples of the Orient than all the ma- q Uverings of the so-called peacemakers of eneva and other occidental capitals, to K °Ur act*on> stern and decisive as it had be, shocked the idealists and pacifists, at could not be helped. In the long run t> e effect may be salutary. The vision of . e Japanese Army, firm in its own in- jtfty, convinced of the righteousness of
,, Cause, and dealing with facts as it finds them —- --1 theories, may bring the world to a realization of the true path to peace.
Mikado Reviews Navy
Herald, Washington, August 25.—Emperor Hirohito, supreme commander of one of the most modern war machines on earth, today reviewed the Imperial Japanese Navy in final maneuvers of the annual war games.
More than 1,000,000 of Hirohito’s subjects saw the Navy pass in review before the slender, erect ruler. One hundred and eighty war planes flew overhead.
The Emperor selected the 27,500-ton battle cruiser Hiyei to be his flagship.
The ships, sleek, gray fighting units flying the red and white flag of Japan, were ranged in line formation 3 miles offshore.
The Emperor’s flagship passed through the lanes these vessels formed while the guns of ship after ship took up the imperial salute as the flagship came abreast of each, creating a continuous and tremendous din.
Foreign naval officers were given a place of honor. The United States was represented by Captain Isaac Johnson, with his aid, Lieutenant Henri Smith-Hutton, aboard the Emperor’s flagship.
MERCHANT MARINE
Our Dwindling Sea Power
Herald, Washington, July 28.—One year ago the United States was building 162,203 gross tons of merchant shipping.
This volume of production has steadily declined until now we have under way only about 3,000 gross tons of new merchant ships—less than 0.5 per cent of the world total of ships grossing 100 tons or more which are under construction.
In the last quarter of the year American production fell off 28,000 tons. During the same period Great Britain and Ireland showed a gain of 35,000 tons and Japan’s gain was 26,000 tons. Even little Denmark increased its production by 7,000 tons.
The figures are taken from the quarterly statement of world shipping issued by Lloyd's Register and are, of course, official. And so far as this country’s interests are concerned the figures ought to be alarming.
At the London Economic Conference, Great Britain sought to eliminate an American Merchant Marine by “abolishing” shipping subsidies. Latest dispatches indicate the virtual abandonment of that palpable scheme.
This country could not permit the proposal to be seriously considered. But the Lloyd figures shed light on the obscure transactions in London. Why, indeed, should British fight insistently to abolish our Merchant Marine “subsidy system” when we ourselves, by our own lethargy, are effectually abolishing the Merchant Marine itself?
The commercial value of an adequate merchant marine is too well established in our history to be debatable. And at no time was an adequate merchant marine more essential than now.
The federal government has adopted a policy of developing and maintaining closer trade relations with Latin America and other favorable regions. But how can such a policy be effective unless we have the ships to make it so?
Moreover, our new naval policies are involved also. The Middle West Foreign Trade Committee has shown, by exhaustive study, that an adequate Navy cannot give this country an adequate national defense unless we have an adequate merchant marine for auxiliary service.
Certainly it is high time for the federal government to take the situation actively in hand. And there is no better means of putting idle men to work than to give them jobs in our idle shipyards.
A French White Elephant?
Nautical Gazette, New York, August 5, (by M. Desclaire).—With regard to the Normandie, both M. Frot and M. Germain-Martin—who, it may be recalled conducted last year an inquiry into the company’s affairs at the request of the government—made it clear that this 73,000-ton liner would not have been ordered had it not been for the placing into service of the Bremen and the Europa, and also for the construction (which was
later suspended) of the great Cunarder. Over 40 million francs (or half the total cost) having al" ready been spent on the Normandie, there is alternative but to complete her as soon as possible although the Minister admitted that the operatic of this, the largest liner in the world, would be3 delicate problem.
A New Queen of the Seas
Evening Star, Washington, August 17."' This seems to be an Italian summer. Glo^ after glory comes to the Fascist colors"' even the heavyweight championship of the world. Within the week that witnessed the triumphal return of General Balbo’s At' mada to home waters after conquest of tbe Atlantic by air, the traditional blue ribbob of the herring pond is wrested from Get' 1 many’s Europa by Rex, the pride 0 Italy’s merchant fleet, which dropp® anchor in New York Harbor early WeCl' nesday morning, the fastest liner in the world. In a record-breaking crossing s^e traversed the 3,181 miles between Gibra1' tar and Ambrose Light in the dizzy tic16 of 4 days 13 hours 58 minutes, or an aver' age speed of 28.92 knots. From Monday to Tuesday noon of this week Rex covert 736 miles at an average speed for the da 1 of 29.61 knots, a rate never achieved by any liner before. In July the North Get man Lloyd Europa crossed from Cherbourg over a track measured at 3,149 miles in days 16 hours 48 minutes, at an average of 27.92 knots. On one day Euro pa's sister ship, Bremen, developed 28.51 knots, bu neither German vessel in her greatest bur5 of speed ever approached the 4^-day avef age generated by the Rex this week. Tbe honors and record are indisputably in tbe Italian ship’s possession. , .
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enSthening German Liners
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London, July 21.—It is understood Uloh Hamburg-American Line has entrusted to °f and Voss, of Hamburg, the lengthening haii-S ^ Ballin class Atlantic liners, the Albert Th V*’ Deutschland, Hamburg, and New York.
ships'” a.utumn> and it is expected that all the 8itUiir~ l.a^ain he ready for service for the be-
6
at]d its intrepid leader. It is a feat upon j^ch the rest of the world will not with- °ld deserved congratulations.
Rex’s record, as all Atlantic blue-ribbon ^fcords always have been, is something to aL and that efforts in that direction U be prompt and persistent can be taken 0r granted. The Germans are sure not to est content with laurels once held and £°w l°st. It is already suggested that both uropa and Bremen have reserve engine ower intentionally restrained hitherto. ^ e _ French are building the gigantic
• for the avowed purpose of achieves the supremacy of the Atlantic. The
ntish, with the aid of lavish government Pport, have a super-liner on the stocks h the same goal in view.
* *a source of poignant regret to many ^tericans that though it is our ocean-
£ ln8 propensities that mainly inspire i.Ur°Pean shipping lines to build ever Ho e«r’ l>etter) an(l faster vessels, there is .^sible prospect that the Stars and HblfCS are S°ing to float from a bluetDt)on holder. Will we be eternally con- ^ith that state of affairs?
< He bn XT ou/ 1 urn.
,, Ws °f the vessels are to be modified in form tecall j lengthened by some 39-ft. It will be ago that the ships were re-engined some years pec] a,n(t the proposed lengthening will, it is ex- 2 to ’ ahow for an increase in speed of about of tes on the same fuel consumption. The cost ^170ConStrUCtion we understand, be about at ttg l°r the 4 vessels, and will be recovered of qjj6. end of 4 years’ operation should the price in tbgUe^ remain unchanged. Work will be begun lng of next year’s passenger season.
rief Notes
Whali^fl1” Nourishing institution, the America] g fleet, is nowon the verge of becoming non
existent, the Commerce Department said today.
In the heyday of its activity the fleet comprised some 200,000 gross tons, but has been gradually reduced until, according to A. J. Pyrer, assistant director of the department’s Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection, only 14 vessels of 9,367 gross tons are left, as compared with a fleet of 198,594 gross tons at the close of 1858.
Lloyd’s register of shipping for the quarter ended June 30 states that in Great Britain and Ireland there is an increase of 35,101 tons in the work in hand as compared with the low figures for the previous quarter, and also that the present total—287,502 tons—is 6,810 tons in excess of the tonnage which was being built at the end of June, 1932.
In The Willowpool, 65 F. (2D) 385, a tug was towing a steamship. The line between them was about 420 ft. The tug passed an anchored steamship, and the tow, which was light with no steam up and being steered by its crew with hand gear, left the wake of the tug, took a sudden sheer, and collided with the anchored steamship. Various libels followed which were consolidated, and the trial resulted in a decree against the tug. Held, on appeal: That it was the duty of the steamship, being towed, to follow the wake of the tug, and that its failure in this respect resulted in the collision; that there was no proof of negligence on the part of the tug; and that the finding in the lower court that the tug contributed to the sheer was unsupported by the evidence.
AVIATION
The Winning Post
The Aeroplane, London, July 26, 1933. —At 10:59 p.m., on July 22, 1933, Mr. Wiley Post landed at Floyd Bennett Field, New York, on the conclusion of his solo flight around the world in the Lockheed Vega monoplane Winnie Mae (Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine). His time for the circumnavigation of the top of the world was 7 days 19 hours 10 minutes, or 21 hours, 1§ minutes less than the time which he and Mr. Harold Gatty made over the same route and in the same machine in 1931. He covered a distance of 16,500 miles, as against 25,000 miles around the equator, in about 187 hours.
Mr. Post left Floyd Bennett Field on July 15 and flew across the North Atlantic to Berlin in 25 hours 45 minutes. After a 2-hour stop he flew to Koenigsberg, where he stayed the night of July 16.
On July 17 he flew to Moscow and then on to Novosibirsk, where he arrived early on the following morning. After refueling he flew to Irkutsk. Fog and rain held him up until the following morning.
On the morning of July 19 he left for Kharbarovsk. He was forced down by bad weather at Rukhlova, 700 miles short of his mark, but flew on after a short stop and reached Kharbarovsk early next morning, July 20.
After a stay of a few hours he continued to Nome, Alaska, which he passed over to land at Flat, also in Alaska. Here he damaged his propeller but a new one was flown to him from Fairbanks.
After his propeller had been replaced he left Flat early on Friday, July 21, for Fairbanks. After a short stay he continued to Edmonton, Alberta, where he arrived early on the morning of July 22. He left again at 9:40 a.m. and flew to New York.
He made such good progress across the United States with a following wind that he arrived at Floyd Bennett Field 2 hours before he was expected. In spite of this there was a crowd of 50,000 people to greet him, and one of the first was Mr. Harold Gatty, who was his partner on his previous flight around the world.
The ability of the Lockheed Vega monoplane and the Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine to “go places” at speed and with reliability have been emphasized, but this flight proves mainly that a pilot with superhuman endurance is the most important adjunct to record-breaking flights of this nature and that Mr. Wiley Post is a fairly good sample of that type of human being who can use up his nervous energy to almost vanishing point without losing his essential senses.
Pursuit versus Bombardment
Aero Digest, New York, August, 19^ (by Major General James E. Fechet, V S. Army [Ret]).—All the wars of all tic1*' have had one habit in common. After eacR conflict, some man representative of & group which had dash, intrepidity, an color always has seized the popular id1' agination.
The last war was no exception. The strug' gle in the clouds spawned this model11 gladiator. That was because battles in tb® air were fought by lone antagonists. Al° men did not maneuver in prosaic squad or commonplace battalions. Rather, they mounted their engined steeds and sough1 to destroy the enemy in single-hande , combat. When these roaring chariots ®et’ it made a great spectacle. As the van' quished tumbled earthward that made i romantic exit. Little wonder that airman drew the curtain call as the lead ing man of that great play.
When the war was over, and we begad to summarize the lessons we had learned’ the better to revise our strategy, tactic5' and principles in preparation for the ne* encounter, the air fighter loomed large oh the horizon. It was perceived that the fly ing force must be taken into serious aC count in building our armies for the future That experience was repeated on na°^e than one occasion. In short, it is now fa®' generally conceded that bombers of late types are too fast for pursuit planes t0 bother.
The pursuit adherents said: “You ®uS give us faster planes. Single-seaters cad always be made faster than big bombers-
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1 what accuracy that one precious shot °uld. be delivered. In the meantime the rUrsuit plane would meet a veritable bar- which the 6 or 8 machine guns per a°n]l)er would lay for him to fly through he passed. Each big ship carries 8
i on ne ^Uns’eac^ &un^res lrom^00 to ’ 0 rounds per minute; there are, let us 18 planes in the bombardment for- *°». That means that the bombers ^Id deliver some 100,000 to 140,000 bul- s Per minute, thus warmly to greet the “J-skot attacker.
hispers have crossed the Atlantic ineating that England has made some
anTn’ Cann°t he prevented from reaching destroying its objective.” ach weapon developed in warfare tyeSSes through the same stages as have all ^ h°ns of the past—discovery, experi- le ’ development, supremacy, obso- ^eC®nce> decadence and discard. Thus an 1 broadsword, battle-ax, crossbow, tr Muzzle-loader. May it not well be of ^one air knight is in the late stages Mhat cycle?
tbe • e further we go in warfare the less a Mdividual counts. The more it becomes tj0^a ter °f mass, machines, and mobiliza-
qe^,Ut there were many types of air bat- sbj Ts- There were the bombers, attack the S- °hservation planes, and, above all, pja ^turesque single seater—the pursuit \yj1-e' Which of these merited the lead? dev i these should predominate in the ^lopnrent of the sky armada? gine 6W P°Mted out that bombers as en- gjVeS °i greatest destruction should be n Preference. But this contention was
drowned out by the shouts of the advocates of the pursuit—the air fighters. Said the latter:
If you have pursuit dominance, bombers cannot accomplish missions; they will never reach their objectives. Therefore have plenty of pursuit to protect your own bombers, and to sweep the enemy from the sky and you will have complete air domination.
That line of reasoning won out perhaps because it was advanced by and in favor of the heroes of the last war. So it came about that the Army, building its air component, spent most of its money and effort in developing pursuit aviation, neglecting bombardment, observation, and attack, accordingly.
During the last 15 years the pursuit arm has become the elite section of the corps. Young fledglings bucked for it at our pilot schools; our best men were assigned to it as squadron commanders. These formations of single seaters got the call when air meets and public gatherings demanded to see the show troops of the air corps on parade.
But of late there has been a definite change of sentiment. Some tests, to try air tactics by fire, so to speak, were made and maneuvers devised to determine the relative merits of the divisions of air fighting men and ships. The results have been startling.
It now seems that pursuit planes cannot prevent bombardment planes from accomplishing their missions. In one tactical exercise a formation of pursuits dived, 18 strong, with screaming wires and motors wide on a formation of 9 bombardment planes in order to come down under the huge dynamite carriers and rise under their tails, the better to strike their least protected spots. But when the bombardment commander saw the single-seaters committed to their dive he opened up his engines, increasing his speed from about the normal 110 to nearly 160 m.p.h. When the pursuit leader rose from his dive to destroy his targets he found that they had flown over into the next county, far out of range, and when he opened up in hot pursuit, he did not have the speed to overtake his prey. They went on to their appointed targets, dropped their bombs, closed into tight protection formation, changed their altitude, and, being camouflaged, returned unobserved to their airdrome.
Various Notes
United States
It is not envy, but an honest desire to learn from the experience and the pioneering ventures of others, that makes us draw a lesson for American consumption from every performance as notable as the flight of the Italian Air Armada; In the present case we express again, as on various occasions in the past, our profound regret that American air forces have had in the last few years so little long-distance, over-seas squadron operation of a genuinely testing nature. The strategic problems of the United States lie largely in the Pacific. We renew the suggestion, already made in these pages, that the Navy Department should without further delay perfect its plans for a squadron flight by American flying boats around the Pacific from our Pacific coast to Honolulu, through the islands of the southwestern Pacific to Australia and the Philippines and perhaps a courtesy call in Japan, if the authorities there desire it, and then back by the island route to Hawaii. As a test of equipment and of personnel, and as a demonstration of the quality of our forces, such a flight would be well worth while. It would be so well worth while that it seems to us almost obvious that it should be made if it can be. A few months ago there might have been doubt on that score, but there can no longer be any question about the possibility of making a circum-Pacific flight within the next couple of years. To question it would be to admit the inferiority of our own equipment and our own organization to those of the Italian Regia Aeronau- tica. There is no occasion for any such admission, and we do not believe that the Navy Department wants to put itself in the position of making it.— Aviation, August, 1933.
Priority in appointments to the Army Air Corps primary school at Randolph Field, Texas, has been announced in the following order under a change of policy by the War Department:
Graduates of West Point, graduates of Annapolis, graduates of the United States Coast Gu Academy at New London, enlisted men of Army Air Corps and other branches of the Arw with at least 6 months’ service, officers and ® ^ listed men of the National Guard with at least months’ service with Air Corps units, cofleg graduates who are graduates of Air Corps R- ‘
T. C. units and similar units of other arms of set ^ ices, graduates of recognized universities _aD, colleges, officers and enlisted men of the Nation Guard with at least 6 months’ service, coffi* students who are members of Air Corps R. y- '
C units and who have completed their year, reserve officers and enlisted men with J least 6 months’ service, students who have ished 2 years at a recognized university. ^
Midshipmen and Coast Guards who are no made eligible for admission to Randolph Fi® must be recommended for appointment by 1 ;
superintendents of their academies and must aP ply for the appointment within a year after to j graduation.
A SATISFACTORY AGREEMENT was repoA^ reached regarding details of the proposed Not Atlantic transoceanic air route following an > temational conference last month. The projec air-line route is the one in which Colonel Char ^ A. Lindbergh and Mrs. Lindbergh are engaged surveying. The conference was conducted • representatives of Pan-American Airways, ] Newfoundland government, Imperial Airways, a the Civil Aviation Branch of the Canadian V partment of National Defense. ^
As a result of tests made by the Reseat ^ Division of the United Aircraft and Transp0' Corporation, the last 30 of the 60 Boeing transports ordered for United Air Lines in ^ United States will have Hamilton-Standard c° trollable-pitch propellers. j.
The Boeing 247 transport is a low-wing ca»^ lever monoplane with a retractable landing g® and two direct-drive Wasp engines, which devel 550 hp. each at 2,200 r.p.m. at 5,000 ft.
The tests showed that a remarkable impr°; ment in performance can be achieved by uSl Hamilton-Standard controllable-pitch propeU® ’ with 2 blades, of 9 ft. 2 in. diameter instead of1 3-bladed Hamilton-Standard fixed-pitch 3 screws of 9 ft. 1 in. diameter, which had Pre ously given the best all-round results.
For a gross weight of 13,100 lb. the comparat* , distances for take-off in no wind were 740 ft. a 925 ft., or an improvement of 20 per cent for controllable-pitch propellers. At 5,000 ft. the c°^ trollable-pitch propellers improved the rate climb by 22 per cent. ^
The use of these propellers doubled the cen>
Ihh °ne engine st°PPed»from 2>00010 4,000 ft~ ough the tests with the fixed propellers were ade less gross weight.
(je^UR.THER Reduction in the number of acci- . s ln scheduled air passenger operations is ex- 2gC to result from an order, announced July i 1933, by the Aeronautics Branch, Depart- caent °1 Commerce, that all forced landings sed by mechanical troubles or bad weather ^1 hereafter be reported.
These
w. reports, it was stated by Ewing Y. bp1 c ,1> Assistant Secretary of Commerce, will noSRbjected to the same careful scrutiny that f0t.v ls given to reports of accidents, and the in- red113^*011 will enable the aeronautics branch to v; ,?ce further the number of accidents by pro- co ?.g.more comprehensive data with respect to op l°ns which might result in accidents, ch 11 aC^ mechan'cal forced landing,” Mr. Mit- s 1 u.sal<i> “is a potential accident which may refin ^ seri°us injury and loss of life, as well as ancial loss to the operator. The information ob- to tL ^rom those reports will be made available v , . operators and manufacturers, without diin names 01 places, for the purpose of assist- 8 them in eliminating mechanical failures.”
hold°lALS 01 17,958 pilots and 6,874 aircraft Wp Qlng actfve Department of Commerce licenses nQre reported on July 1,1933, according to an an- ncement last month by the Aeronautics toM*^ t^le department of Commerce. The of !Rumber of aircraft, licensed and unlicensed, 9 Os? tbe department had record on July 1 was ’ “• Unlicensed craft, bearing identification URibers only, totaled 2,181. j: m°ng the 17,958 persons holding pilots’ j anses as of July 1, there were 7,040 of the , Rsport grade, 1,167 limited commercial, 22 in- p strial, 9,381 private, and 348 solo pilots. The ensed pilots included 573 women.
Great Britian
p A p°werful air-cooled heavy-oil aeronautical 8me has been developed by the Bristol Aero- 0ne Co. Known as the Phoenix, the engine in en -Vard appearance closely resembles the Jupiter p §lnes. Like them, and their successors in the gasus and Mercury classes, it has 9 cylinders anged about a central crankcase, cr ?rtnaf horsepower is 350, developed with the ^ankshaft turning at 1,900 r.p.m., with a maxi- sn ^ °/ hp. The mixture of air and heavy-oil jj . y ln the cylinders is ignited by compression corn** nearly to lb. to the square inch; the Pression ratio is 14 to 1. The complete engine
weighs 980 lb. Fuel is consumed at the rate of 2/5 pound of heavy oil per hp. hour.
A small number of permanent officers of the general duties branch is required to undergo training in foreign languages, with a view to qualification as interpreters and employment subsequently in staff and extra R.A.F. posts in which a knowledge of certain languages is essential.
The course in which officers may be trained under air force arrangements include one in Iraq for instruction in Arabic or Kurdish, lasting about a year; one at the School of Slavonic Studies, London, in Russian, lasting 6 months; and 2 at the School of Oriental Studies, London, in Japanese and Chinese, respectively, each lasting 6 months. Two officers a year are wanted to qualify in Arabic or Kurdish, 1 a year in Russian, and 1 every other year in Japanese and Chinese, respectively.
Officers who qualify as interpreter, 1st or 2nd class, in the foregoing languages will receive an antedate for promotion. In addition, officers may qualify as interpreters in French, German, and Spanish by studying at their own expense. These languages carry no antedate.
The Annual Command Exercises of the Air Defense of Great Britain were conducted between July 17-20, 1933.
There was only one forced landing from causes other than bad weather throughout the exercises which, considering that 318 airplanes were used, is an astonishing demonstration of the reliability and efficiency of British military airplanes.
During the bad weather raiders flew much lower than originally ordered and clouds and mist gave a definite advantage to the offensive. Nevertheless the defenders put up a very good show and the number of raids intercepted was greater than could be expected in real war.
The official communiques indicate that although very few of the raids were entirely unintercepted, many of them got through and the raiders were not engaged until they were on their return journey. An attempt to raid in big formations was not satisfactory, because although the units of the wing which started out on the raid, and split up into squadrons for the attack on 3 different targets, managed to reach the targets, the plan to re-form and return as a wing broke down because of the opposition of the fighters, and the 3 squadrons had to go home as best they could without joining up at the rendezvous.
The night bombers did not have things so much their own way. Of 49 raids by single machines during the hours of darkness on one night more than 50 per cent were intercepted on their inward
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flights. Of the7.85 jDomber' attacks during this night only 35 were successful.
In spite of the variety in the weather there were few instances in which the bombers failed to find their]objectives although many of them had long distances to go. Several squadrons made one raid after another, returning to their home stations to refuel.
No mention is made in the official communiques of the methods of the defending force, and when the statement appears that a bomber squadron was intercepted by a fighter squadron there is no indication of the^strength of the fighter squadron at the time.
France
Twenty-four years ago, on July 25, 1909, Louis Bleriot made the first airplane flight across the English Channel. He used a high-wing parasol monoplane of his own invention and crossed from Dover to Calais. The distance covered was 23.5 miles; the time was 37 minutes.
Today Bleriot, at the age of 61, is a most important airplane manufacturer in France, and another plane built by him is waiting in New York for favorable weather before taking off on a transatlantic flight, the aim of which is to set a new world’s nonstop distance record. It will be piloted by two French flyers, Paul Codos and Lieutenant Maurice Rossi.
The French aviators Rossi and Codos set out to fly from New York to Karachi, India, a distance of 7,200 miles, without alighting. They have come down at Rayak, Syria, after covering 5,700 miles.
Their flight betters that of Gayford and Nichole tts last February from Cranwell Airdrome, England, to Walfisch Bay, South Africa, by some 500 miles. It beats the record set in 1931 by Board- manfand Polando in their nonstop flight from New£York*toMstanbul, Turkey, by almost 900 miles.
It would be easy to exaggerate the value to the future of aviation of these efforts to hop farther than the last champion. The contest really is not between flyers so much as between fuel loads. Rossi and Codos, for example, were able to lift their monoplane into the air with more gasoline than^everTa ship carried leaving Floyd Bennett Airport. How they did it is undoubtedly of scientific interest and may influence airplane design, but beyond this their feat belongs in the category of a sporting venture.
Regular weekly air mail flights betw# France and South America are planned by 1 Aeropostale Company beginning in April, 1 it was announced August 3.
Following three more trial crossings, the ref?11 lar service is contemplated. .
The Arc-en-Ciel, the plane used in a recent ^ way crossing of the South Atlantic, will carry cargo of mail on the next flight, scheduled for first week in December.
The French Aero Club today accepted tb® new woman’s altitude record for light planes 5 by Helene Boucher. The corrected figures gaV, her an altitude of 19,364 ft. The former recot of 18,097 ft. was held by Mae Haizlip, an Arne11 can.
A decree modifying for the second half 1933, the conditions of state subsidies to own^ of private airplanes was issued during the paS week by M. Pierre Cot, the French Air Minister The principal changes are:— j
The grant for upkeep is to be abolished, an, with it therefore, the obligation on the part 0 the owner to insure his machine for an amoUD enough to cover the grant.
The right of free disposal of his machine will be long to the owner after it has been in his posses sion for 2 years. Hitherto it has been necessary10 cover 8,000 km. before acquiring the right of free disposal. _
Certain specifications relating to range, weigh1’ and other features designed to ensure great' safety in the air must be followed. ,
Multi-seat machines will receive for the fit® seat Fr. 8,000, Fr. 10,000 for the second, Fr. 9,00 for the third, and Fr. 5,000 for the fourth.
Additional grants dependent upon the po"'e of the engine will be given. Up to 60 hp. the gra® will be Fr. 60 per hp.; from 60 to 90 hp. it willjp Fr. 100 per hp.; from 90 to 120 hp. it will be Fr' 180 per hp.; and from 120 to 150 hp. it will be Fr. 100 per hp.
Grants on account of club machines will D raised by between 10 and 15 per cent.
Germany
The world’s gliding record was wrests1
today from Lieutenant William A. Cocke, Jr. the United States, who stayed up 21 hours minutes in 1931, by Kurt Schmidt, a student Konigsberg University. ,
Herr Schmidt rose from Konigsberg at 7:-’ a.m., August 3 and landed at 8:00 p.m., August his time in the air being 36 hours 25 minutes.
Authorized by Act of August 29,1916:
[2] Transport No. 4—no funds for construction.
Authorized by Act of February 13,1929:
[3] Cruisers (CA41, CL46). # .
• Reports indicate possible delay in completion, actual delay or amount not determined.