UNITED STATES
Admiral Sims
Star, Washington (editorial). —The United States Navy probably is not primarily intended to produce great captains. Instead, theoretically at least, it is designed to be a powerful fighting machine in which even the most abundantly gifted individuals are mere cogs in a system of dehumanized construction and operation. The nation generally approves that view of its marine defense and is drastically skeptical of the good faith of any critic who presumes to challenge the rigid institutional character of its fleet. But occasions nevertheless do arise when the people applaud independence of opinion and conduct in an officer, and the fame of Admiral William S. Sims traces back to a moment in November, 1901, when, fully aware of the danger, he decided to be courageously insubordinate.
Of course, no one knows what travail of soul he experienced before he risked his career to protest to his commander in chief against the conditions which had stirred his indignation. But it is plain from his correspondence with President Roosevelt that he was desperately sincere in his appeal. The result is history. Called home from the East, “that young man” was put in charge of target practice and “taught the Navy how to shoot.” Had he failed he certainly would have “lost his head” for his impertinence. But it happened that he had been correct in his diagnosis of what was wrong with the naval establishment. Therefore he succeeded in the reforms which he was commissioned to effect.
But that was only the beginning. Admiral Sims earned his stars by tireless application to a lengthy series of problems in shipbuilding and management. He was a creative student of the annals of the sea, burning unestimated quantities of midnight oil in his devoted effort to improve the science to which he was dedicated—the art of marine protection for the country he loved. Enemies complained that he was Anglophile in temperament, pro-British in sentiment. The fact was that he possessed the genius to vision clearly the inevitable events of a future for which he desired that America might be prepared.
When the World War finally began he had equipped himself for the work he was to do as commander of the United States fleet in European waters. Also he had won the confidence of those with whom he was assigned to co-operate. With a smile he conceded that he likewise had taught politicians the peril of interfering with his procedure. His pen was an instrument not to be challenged with impunity, and he spoke his mind without regard to consequences, especially at times when he was angry, as he frequently was.
Now his flag is hauled down forever and he rests from his labors and cares nothing for his honors. The tradition he leaves, however, must be respected. A personality rich and rare, he takes his place among the heroes of a community which does not forget and is deeply grateful.
Navy in Europe
Tribune, Chicago, September 16. —The Navy Department today announced the creation of a temporary European squadron to be known as “Squadron 40- temporary” under the command of Rear Admiral Arthur P. Fairfield.
Admiral Fairfield will hoist his flag aboard the light cruiser Raleigh at the Norfolk Navy Yard Friday to sail for Europe in command of the first Atlantic squadron this country has had since 1929. The squadron will consist of the flagship Raleigh, the destroyers Hatfield and Kane and the Coast Guard Cutter Cayuga. Navy officials expect the squadron to be increased.
The Hatfield, Kane, and Cayuga had been on emergency duty in Spanish waters since the outbreak of the Spanish revolution until they were withdrawn to near-by neutral ports last week. The withdrawal followed the attempted bombing of the Kane by an unknown plane off Cadiz last August 30.
The creation of the European squadron was announced as a possibility by Admiral William H. Standley, Chief of Naval Operations, while he was acting Secretary of Navy. Both President Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson, on his return to duty, threw down the proposal, contending it would tend to involve this country in European affairs. Later they quietly backed water.
The squadron is to be organized when the Raleigh reaches Gibraltar. There the Raleigh will relieve the cruiser Quincy, which has had a tour of duty in Spanish waters and is to return to this country to complete her acceptance trials.
Admiral Fairfield won promotion a little over a year ago. Until recently he commanded Cruiser Division 7 aboard the Astoria, and before his promotion he was Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Navigation with the rank of captain.
Building Awards
Marine Progress, September. —The Navy Department, on August 19, received bids from private shipyards on the construction of 6 destroyers and 3 submarines. At the same time estimates were received from navy yards on the cost of constructing 6 additional destroyers and 3 additional submarines but these were not made public.
The private shipyards also submitted alternate prices providing for adjustments in the contract prices to meet changes in the cost of labor and material during construction. All bidders promised delivery of the first destroyer within 30 months and the second within 32 months. On August 25 contracts were awarded to private yards for the construction of 6 destroyers and 3 submarines. At the same time allocations were made to navy yards for the construction of 4 destroyers and 2 submarines of equivalent types. Later 2 additional destroyers and 1 submarine will be allocated to government yards.
The awards to private yards were to “the lowest satisfactory bidder,” the prices specified being subject to adjustments for changes in the cost of labor and material within certain limitations. These awards were as follows:
Two destroyers to the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., at $4,125,000 each.
Two destroyers to the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., of Kearny, N. J., at $4,267,000 each.
Two destroyers to the Bath Iron Works Corp., of Bath, Me., at $4,343,150 each.
Three submarines to the Electric Boat Co., of Groton, Conn., at $2,734,000 each.
Vessels allocated to navy yards were as follows: 2 submarines to Portsmouth, 2 destroyers to Boston, and 1 destroyer each to Norfolk and Charleston.
Equal Damages
Nautical Gazette, September. —In middle July, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the 2d District of New York handed down an interesting decision relative to the collision which took place between the SS. Papoose of the Petroleum Navigation Co. and the U.S.S. Wright on May 2, 1931, off the Virginia coast. The District Court had fixed the blame entirely upon the Papoose but the C.C.A. went farther in determining the blame. “About ten minutes before the collision the two white masthead lights of the Wright were seen from the Papoose a point and a half on her port bow and about 3 miles away, but as no side lights were visible, it was erroneously assumed that the two white lights indicated a vessel at anchor and no attempt was made to determine, by taking accurate bearings, whether this assumption was right.” The Court continued to discuss the navigation aspects “as the fault of the Papoose is obvious and conceded.” . . . “The serious matter is the failure of the Wright to sound fog signals.” Though she was not actually in the fog, she was running along a heavy bank but 300 yards distant out of which a ship might emerge at any time as the Papoose did. Both the Inland Rules and the International Rules provide that ships must sound signals as described, “In fog, mist, falling snow or heavy rainstorms, whether by day or night.” Compliance requires the sounding of the signals by a vessel not only when she is herself in the fog but is so close to it that her position should be made known to a vessel which the fog might be hiding. The Court further held that the Wright failed to prove that her fault could not have contributed to cause the collision and therefore, the decree of the lower court was modified to hold both ships at fault and divide the damages. (1936 A.M.C. 1126.)
Various Notes
The United States Marines renewed today their claim to having the best team of rifle marksmen in the United States. The marines won the team match of the national rifle matches with a point total of 2,830, competing against 119 teams of 10 men each. They retained the trophy which they have held since 1930.
Among civilian teams, California was high with 2,756. Massachusetts led the National Guard teams with 2,737.
The highest individual score was turned in by Sergant Raymond D. Chaney, who made 292 points out of possible 300.
The Marines scored 454 at slow fire on the 200-yard range and 488 at rapid fire; 476 at rapid fire, 300 yards; 482 at slow fire 600 yards, and 930 at slow fire, 1,000 yards.
In second place behind the Marines was the United States Infantry, with a score of 2,782, followed by the United States Cavalry, 2,771, and the Coast Guard and United States Engineers, each with 2,776. The Engineers outranked the Coast Guard.
The second best score by civilians was 2,719, made by Texas. Kansas civilians were next, with 2,706. —Star, Washington. Camp Perry, Ohio, September 12.
In making up the Journal we reserved this space for comment on the result of the National Matches. Frankly, it was our fond hope to fill it with a paean in celebration of the triumph of the Infantry team. Instead, we shall devote it to a congratulatory tribute to our ancient rivals, the Marines, before whose shooting prowess our ablest Infantry riflemen bowed in defeat.
There is no question about it; those Leathernecks can shoot. If evidence other than their long custodianship of the celebrated Dogs of War trophy were needed their decisive victory over this year’s Infantry team supplied it. For the Infantry was well represented at Camp Perry. The team we put on the firing line was a credit to the best shooting tradition of our arm. That the Marines outshot it and held it to the role of runner-up justifies our unrestrained admiration for their marksmen and their system.
The Infantry Journal heartily congratulates the victors but in doing so takes occasion to recall the remark of Peter the Great following his defeat at Narva: “These Swedes will teach us how to beat them yet.” After Narva came Pultowa. — Infantry Journal.
An examination for commission in the Medical Corps of the United States Navy will be held beginning December 1 this year. There are about 25 vacancies in the corps to be filled. The examination will be held at the U. S. Naval Hospital, Mare Island, California; the U. S. Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, Illinois, and the U. S. Naval Medical School, Washington, D. C., when examining boards will be in session.
Candidates for admission must be between the ages of 21 and 32 years at the time of appointment, graduates of Class A medical schools only, and have completed an internship of one year in a hospital accredited for internes by the American Medical Association and the American College of Surgeons.
Those who are interested should write the Surgeon General U. S. Navy, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department, Washington, D. C., for further information in regard to the examination and the procedure to follow for them to appear before one of the examining boards. —The Military Surgeon.
The following information received from the office of the Quartermaster General of the Army, Memorial Branch, War Department, Washington, D. C., is considered of general interest:
All enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps, or men who have been honorably discharged from service therein, may be buried in any national cemetery. In all cases the last service of a deceased man must have been honorable. If an enlisted man’s death occurs prior to that of his wife, she will be entitled to interment in the same grave upon her death. In the event that the wife dies prior to the husband, she is not entitled to burial in a national cemetery unless the husband is over 70 years of age at the time of her death, and provided he gives assurance that he will eventually be buried in the same grave. Children of enlisted men of the Navy or Marine Corps are not entitled to burial in a national cemetery. —Bureau Navigation Bulletin.
Two new international naval developments yesterday pointed to the possibility of a naval race after the expiration of the London limitation treaty this year.
Japanese Ambassador Hirosi Saito formally notified Secretary Hull of his government’s intention to retain 15,598 tons of submarines and 11,059 tons of destroyers above present treaty limits.
Only a few hours earlier Secretary Hull had announced that the United States would be “reluctantly obliged” to follow Great Britain in keeping in service 40,000 tons of destroyers which would be scrapped under the treaty.
Obscured for the moment by an academic discussion over whether the Japanese procedure was technically correct was the answer to the question: “Will the United States, and Great Britain as well, insist upon matching Japan submarine for submarine?
Unofficial, but responsible quarters generally believed they would. Whether this would set the stage for the beginning of a naval building race at the expiration this year of the London limitation treaty none would venture to predict. — Star, Washington, Sept. 6.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., son of the President, “joined” the Navy for two weeks today, boarding the U. S. S. Arkansas for a cruise of the North Atlantic with 500 naval reservists from New England cities. Roosevelt, a junior at Harvard, will take the instructions given to the reservists. Last spring he missed a cruise he had planned aboard a warship because he was rowing with the Harvard crew at New London. The President’s son, not a member of the reserve, traveled as a guest. —Herald Tribune, N. Y.— Boston, Sept. 12 (A5).
The Navy’s 6 new submarines, to be built under the current year’s construction program, today were assigned the names of fish “of aggressive characteristics” by Claude A. Swanson, Secretary of the Navy.
They are the Sargo, Saury, Spearfish, Sculpin, Squalus, and Swordfish.
The first three are under construction at the Connecticut yards of the Electric Boat Co., the next two at the Portsmouth (Va.) Navy Yard and the sixth has not yet been allocated. —Sun, Baltimore. Washington, Sept. 26 (AP).
The Acting Secretary of the Navy has designated Mrs. Huberta P. Earle, wife of Honorable George H. Earle, Governor of Pennsylvania, as sponsor at the launching of the U. S. S. Philadelphia, light cruiser, (CL41), named for the city of Philadelphia, and the fifth vessel of that name. This vessel is building at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and is scheduled for launching in November, but no date has been set. The U. S. S. Philadelphia (CL41) was authorized and appropriated for under Act of Congress, June 16, 1933.— Bureau Navigation Bulletin.
The Boston Iron & Metal Co. of Baltimore, Md., with a bid of $75,000, was high bidder August 27 for the scrapping of five destroyers when bids were opened at the Navy Department, Washington, D. C.
George Johnson of Baltimore, Md., with a bid of $763, was high bidder for the scrapping of three submarine chasers.
The vessels are at Philadelphia and the bids were for scrapping them or reducing them to a hull.—Marine Progress.
The Navy Department, Washington, D. C., on August 4, received the following bids for furnishing new engines for the submarines Cachalot and Cuttlefish:
Winton Engine Corp., Cleveland, Ohio, electrical equipment supplied by General Elec., $991,284; Westinghouse, $992,488; Elliott Co., $988,163; Electric Dynamic Co., $997,224.
Fairbanks-Morse Co., Chicago, electrical equipment supplied by Elliott Co., $1,531,920.
Hooven-Owens-Rentschler Co., Hamilton, Ohio, electrical equipment supplied by General Electric, $1,102,950; Westinghouse, $1,104,155; Elliott Co., $1,101,480; Electric Dynamic Co., $1,108,900.—Marine Progress.
Aircraft carrier No. 6 will be christened U. S. S. Enterprise by Mrs. Claude A. Swanson at 12:30 p.m. next Saturday, as the vessel is launched at the plant of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company.
The Enterprise, sister-ship of the U. S. S. Yorktown, christened by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt last April, has been designed for 19,900 tons displacement.
Both vessels were included in the program of 32 naval vessels authorized by the National Industrial Recovery Acts of 1933. —Herald, Wash., Sept. 21.
GREAT BRITAIN
Anti-Aircraft Cruisers
Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette, September 16.—The return of the two freak cruisers, Coventry and Curlew, from the Mediterranean to their home ports, indicates that their special function as floating anti-aircraft batteries is not considered an essential requirement of a peace-time fleet. Among other panic measures taken in an endeavor to counter the air menace to the Mediterranean Fleet, on its concentration at Alexandria last autumn, these cruisers were brought forward from the Reserve Fleet, denuded of their normal armament, and fitted with numerous anti-aircraft guns. Like the majority of panic measures, this creation of anti-aircraft cruisers was fundamentally unsound. In the event of war, all available cruisers would be required for the trade routes, though they would nowadays be greatly assisted by aircraft. The proper place for the anti-aircraft defenses of a base is obviously ashore, with the many advantages of better communication, fire control, supply of ammunition, etc. Any claim that mobile anti-aircraft batteries are essential for the protection of a fleet in harbor, is countered by the fact that the very few harbors in which a modern fleet would be at all safe, ought to be safeguarded by shore defenses. Even Scapa Flow, almost landlocked as it is, was untenable for the Grand Fleet in the early days of the war. The submarine and destroyer menace also made it imperative that whenever the fleet put to sea, the battleships should be screened by numerous cruisers and destroyers. Such screens may be efficient against submarines and destroyers, but to provide an all-round screen of anti-aircraft cruisers for the battle fleet would require all the cruisers we have, and even then be almost valueless. At sea, ships ought to be able to defend themselves against air attack, but battleships, with comparatively low speeds, are “sitting shots” for aircraft. In harbor, the anti-aircraft armament of the fleet, with that of the base defenses, ought to provide security. Aircraft will do much to render harbors untenable in any future war, but if, in an attempt to provide increased security, floating anti-aircraft batteries are added to the already long list of fleet auxiliaries, they will have to be merchant vessels. Mobility does not necessitate 29-knot cruisers!
Submarine Salvage
Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette. — Two years ago the First Lord of the Admiralty, in his annual speech on the navy estimates, stated that the Admiralty had come to a very important decision with regard to saving life from a sunken submarine. The raising of a submarine in time to save life was not a feasible operation and the only practical as well as the most certain method of saving life was by the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus. The successful escapes from the sunken Poseidon in China in 1931 helped to fortify him in this contention. The negative results obtained from the attempted salvage of submarine M2 in 1932, as well as those of the United States naval authorities, proved that the salvage of submarines problem had not been solved. Further experiments have recently been carried out at Spithead, over a period of several weeks. Submarine L.19 was sunk and raised by compressed air. The naval authorities, though reticent about the operation, seem to be well satisfied with the experiment, because it “provided valuable data.” But the salvage of a damaged submarine in deep water is a far different problem from simply raising an undamaged one, nicely placed in a cradle on the bottom, in a few feet of water in a sheltered anchorage. Even then, it is reported that L.19 slipped out of her cradle and great difficulty was experienced in getting her back again. The build of a submarine makes her a slippery customer under water. Having decided that these vessels cannot be salved in time to save life, is it worth while for the Navy to spend large sums of money on providing and maintaining submarine salvage equipment at the several dockyards, and on experiments and trials? It is generally understood that had the salvage of M2 been left to the private firm engaged on the job, the vessel would have been raised. Would it not be better, in the event of a submarine disaster, to call in an expert salvage company and leave the job to them?
Various Notes
The disconcerting failure of the latest British effort to coax the nation’s youth into the Army was revealed today.
Less than 2 per cent of the 17,000 recruits expected under the “supplementary reserve” plan of Alfred Duff Cooper, War Secretary, were obtained in the first fortnight’s recruiting. The total to date is 286 enlistments.
This “join the Army on approval” plan, as it is called scornfully by veteran officers, allows the recruit to decide after 6 months whether to remain in the regular army for 6 years or become a reservist, doing a fortnight’s training annually. — Tribune, Chicago. London, Sept. 18.
H.M.S. Keith (1,400 tons) arrived here this morning under her own steam and went on later to Chatham, her home port, to dock and repair the damage suffered yesterday in collision with the Greek steamer Antonis G. Lemos (4,410 tons). The collision happened hear Alderney, about 12 miles from the Casquets, and the Lemos was sunk. Her crew were brought to Portsmouth by the destroyer Brilliant. They are being cared for by the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society before being sent to their homes. The Keith had her bows badly stove in above the water line, a hole torn in her forward plating, and had lost her topmast.
Captain D. W. Boyd, of the Keith, said that the collision occurred at 1.20 p.m. There was thick fog at the time. The Keith’s topmast snapped off and fell over the side, and the Greek steamer sank in about 3 hours.
Captain Stefanos Samonas, master of the Lemos, said that his ship’s boiler-rooms and stokehold flooded at once after the collision. Seeing that the ship was sinking they took to the boats and the Brilliant picked them up. Only one man, a steward, was injured, and he but slightly. There was no panic among the crew of 27, most of whom lost their personal belongings. —Times, London. Portsmouth, Aug. 25.
Orders have been placed with Harland & Wolff, Ltd. and Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd. for 2 of the 7 cruisers authorized under the 1936 program. These vessels will each be of 10,000 tons and the machinery for the Tyne- built ship will be supplied by the Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co., Ltd.—Marine Engineer, London.
The submarine Sunfish is to be launched at Chatham Dockyard on September 30. This is the last of the three submarines of the 1934 construction program and the eleventh of the small, quick-diving vessels of the Swordfish type, the construction of which was begun in 1930. — Times, London.
The Hostile commissioned for her acceptance trial and service in the 2d Flotilla on September 10. She is the first of the H-class destroyers, and was built by Scotts, of Greenock. The Hotspur, built by the same firm, will commission for acceptance trial and service on October 21. These destroyers are going into the 2d Flotilla, which is to be transferred from the Home Fleet to the Mediterranean to replace the 4th Flotilla. —Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette.
Subject to the settlement of certain points of detail, the British Admiralty announced on August 15 that they had decided to entrust the orders for two cruisers of the 1936 program to the following firms:
Messrs. Harland & Wolff, Ltd. Belfast; and Messrs. Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd., Wallsend.
The vessel to be constructed at Belfast will also be engined by Messrs. Harland & Wolff, while that to be built by the Tyneside firm will be engined by the Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co., Ltd. Both cruisers will be of the Southampton class, having a standard displacement of about 9,000 tons and mounting twelve 6-in. and eight 4-in. anti-aircraft guns. Of the other three cruisers of this program-—each of about 5,000 tons displacement—one each has been allocated to Portsmouth and Devonport Dockyards, while the other has still to be ordered from a private yard.
In addition, the British Admiralty have placed with Ailsa Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., Troon and Ayr, orders for two surveying ships each having a standard displacement of about 1,200 tons. Messrs. John I. Thornycroft & Co., Ltd., Southampton, will provide the propelling machinery of these vessels. Both belong to the 1936 program.
Supplementing the note published in these columns last month it is announced from Athens that 6 British shipbuilders have tendered for the 4 Greek destroyers mentioned. At the time of writing the tenders are understood to be under consideration by the Ministry of Finance. —The Shipbuilder.
The third of the new motor torpedo boats ordered under the 1935 construction program has now been commissioned as tender to the Vernon, torpedo school, for service at Portsmouth. No. 1 was commissioned on June 23 and No. 2 on June 26. In the former King Edward went for a run during his visit to the naval establishments at Portsmouth on June 30. —Times, London.
A new order, offering a special bonus to ratings for re-engagement after completing their time for pension, is issued by the Admiralty. From the date of the order (September 11) until March 31, 1937, men who have already been discharged to pension for not more than two years may be considered for re-engagement; from April 1,1937, to March 31, 1938, only men discharged for not more than one year will be considered; and from April 1, 1938, re-engagement will be restricted to men still serving. In addition to their substantive pay men will receive a special engagement bonus of Is. a day. —Times, London.
Whilst carrying out trials on the Clyde on Thursday, September 3, the new destroyer H.M.S. Hotspur struck a submerged object and damaged her propellers. A report says that a piece of propeller blade broke off and shot upwards and penetrated the ship’s hull above the water line. —The Engineer.
A fleet of 45-foot high-speed picket boats, each powered with 4 Ford V-8 engines adapted for marine use, has been ordered by the British Admiralty from Vosper & Co., Ltd., of Portsmouth, England, and will be used to patrol the coast of Great Britain.
On a recent trial run of 260 miles from Portsmouth to Plymouth and return the first of these craft to be completed averaged 21 knots, running through heavy seas and in a stiff wind.
The engines, as adopted for marine use, develop 75 hp. each and are set side by side. They give the boat a maximum speed of 25 knots. The machinery occupies only one-third the space required in older 45-foot steam-driven picket boats, and the service speed is approximately three times as great, it is claimed.
The boats are fitted for mounting a machine gun forward, with depth-bomb dropping gear amidships and mine-sweeping gear aft. Each is capable of carrying more than 100 men in an emergency. They have full fire-fighting equipment and four watertight compartments.
The same company is also delivering seventeen 25-foot flotilla-type fast launches, each equipped with a single Vosper-adapted Ford engine giving a cruising speed of 18 and a maximum speed of 23 knots. It is expected that the boats will be standardized for use in connection with the latest classes of cruisers, destroyers, and sloops throughout the British Navy. —Herald Tribune, N. Y.
The British Admiralty has recently ordered a further batch of pinnaces and launches all of which are to be propelled by high-speed Diesel engines. Among them are open type auxiliary pinnaces which are extensively used for taking liberty men and working parties ashore and are generally considered to be the heaviest boats for their size in the service. Only moderate power of about 20 b.hp. is necessary and this is provided by four cylinder units having a bore and stroke of 3.74 in. and 4.92 in. and a maximum rating of 22. b.hp. at 1,200 r.p.m., reversing propellers being fitted in lieu of gears. A series of larger craft for dockyard service has also been constructed, the length in this case being 52 ft. 6 in. with a 100 b.hp., 6-cylinder, Ruston Diesel for propulsion. —Motorship.
Owing to the expansion of the Royal'" Air Force, an entry of 500 aircraft hands will be required each month until further notice. Of these, 150 will be entered for training as armorers and wireless operators, and the balance of 350 for general duties as aircraft hands. The age limit for the first group is 17 to 32. Previous trade experience is not necessary, but applicants must have received a good general education. The age limits for entry as aircraft hand, general duties, are 18 to 26, and those selected will have an opportunity, after approximately 12 months’ service, for selection for training in one of a number of trades, e.g., fabric worker, storekeeper, fitter’s mate, motor driver, etc. Men entered as armorers and wireless operators are enlisted for 6 years, and aircraft hands, general duties, for 7 years. —The Engineer.
The importance of preparation for civil life is now realized to a greater extent than a few years ago, both by the Admiralty, who provide facilities for vocational training, and by the ratings about to leave the service, who take full advantage of them. A report of the training carried out during the year ended March 31 last shows that 29 courses were organized at 4 home divisions and on 4 foreign stations, and that there were 1,744 applicants, of whom 1,016 were trained and 175 were under training. The favorite subjects were motoring, 572 applicants; handyman, 348; and automatic telephony, 82. In the Mediterranean and in China the numbers of applicants for modern languages were 16 and 64, respectively. —Times, London.
At the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics conference at Edinburgh today, in the Association of Terrestrial Magnetism, the Hydrographer of the Navy, Rear Admiral J. A. Edgell, said he had been authorized by the Admiralty to make an announcement regarding the construction of the specially designed nonmagnetic ship Research, which would carry on the international work so well organized and so efficiently performed by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, having for its object the determination of the magnetic properties of the earth at sea.
The Research, he went on, would be laid down forthwith. Designed on the lines of the famous non-magnetic ship Carnegie, the Research would have to depend mainly on sail-power. It was probable that work during the first cruise would be confined to the determination of terrestrial magnetism at sea and to some research into atmospheric electricity, but her subsequent cruises were likely to be far more ambitious.
The design of the Research, he continued, was so unusual that it was difficult to prophesy the time when she would be ready to begin her work, but he had every hope that in less than 2 years she would be in the Southern Indian Ocean, revisiting the stations formerly used by the Carnegie. He would like to express heartfelt thanks to the Carnegie Institution, not only for their most generous help in the loan of personnel and of the design and specification of the Carnegie and the instruments used in her, but also for the encouragement they had given from the moment the Admiralty announced their intention to build the Research. —Times, London. Edinburgh, Sept. 17.
FRANCE
Composition of Second Squadron
With the change in command, there has been made a change in composition of the Second Squadron. Following are the names of the ships which will make up this force:
BATTLESHIPS Provence (flagship) Bretagne Lorraine
Super Destroyer Group Cruiser, Emile Berlin 4th 6th 8th 10th
Division Division Division Division
[TABLE]
Air Force Three observation squadrons and one torpedo squadron Upon commissioning the new cruisers, probably La Galissonnière, Jean de Vienne, and Marseillaise will make up the second light division of the second squadron. —Revista Marittima.
Various Notes
On June 12 the battleship Lorraine and the destroyer Foudroyant were in collision off Cherbourg. The destroyer was badly damaged above the water line in the bow but made Cherbourg under her own power. At the maneuvers of the 11th Squadron off the Gironde the destroyer leader Indomplable collided with the submarine Pasteur. There were no personnel casulaties. The Indomplable had to return to L’Orient for repairs.
The Dunkerque finished her initial trials satisfactorily. The Strasbourg is to be launched in St.-Nazaire on October 29. The first battleship of 35,000 tons, often referred to as “La France” has been given the name of Richelieu. She has been building in dry dock in Brest since October, 1935. The sister-ship, thus far called “Verdun” was named Jean Bart, and has been placed in contract with Chan tiers de La Loire, St.-Nazaire. Dunkerque—weight of armor 10,000 tons, side armor 14 in., deck 5-6 in.; it is rumored that she has blisters with sponge hard rubber as underwater torpedo protection.
The new Naval Academy at Brest was dedicated by President Lebrun. The press spoke of it as the largest, most beautiful academy in the world. It accommodates 250 students but only 75 were entered this year against 100 last year. — Marine-Rundschau.
The cruiser Marseillaise left dry dock at St.- Nazaire and docked at the armament pier of the Loire Yards to continue the work of fitting out. — Journal de la Marine Marchande.
The three 1,750-ton destroyers to be built under the French program for 1936 are to be named Casque, Lansquenet, and Mameluk. All are names that have been borne by French torpedo craft in pre-war days. Two submarines of the medium-size Aurore type will be named Ceres and Pallas. For the eight mine sweepers authorized by the 1935 and 1936 estimates, the full list of names is as follows: Élan, Chamois, Chevreuil, Gazelle, Commandant Bory, Commandant Delage, Commandant Duroc, Commandant Rivière. —The Navy, London.
The French contre-torpilleurs Chacal and Léopard have been making a cruise in Norwegian waters and are visiting an English port. Their complements include a number of midshipmen undergoing their first sea training, with whom this cruise appears to have been very popular.
The Chacal and Léopard were amongst the first of the series of 32 super-destroyers built for the French Navy since the war. Of 2,126 tons standard displacement, with a main armament of five 5.1-inch guns, they are completely eclipsed by the latest of the series, the Mogador and Volta, of 2,884 tons, mounting eight 5.5-inch guns. For practical purposes all these ships may be regarded as small cruisers. —The Navy, London.
GERMANY
Single Motor Submarines
Tribune, Chicago, September 16. —Submarines of revolutionary design, propelled both above and under the surface by a single instead of the usual dual engines, are incorporated in Germany’s new under-seas fleet, well informed naval circles in London disclosed today. The new motor, described by naval experts as unique in naval construction, is operated by hydrogen and oxygen. Although successfully tested some time ago, its existence until now has been a close secret.
As a result of the invention Germany is building small lightweight submarines which, nevertheless, are highly efficient.
For many years engineers have been attempting to evolve a “unit” motor to lighten the weight of underwater craft. Hitherto all submarines were equipped with Diesel motors for surface running and electric motors for below the water.
Many of the 32 German submarines whose construction was officially admitted are understood to be propelled by the new motors. Twenty of these boats displace only 250 tons each, yet have fast surface speed and a considerable radius of action. They are armed with three 20-inch torpedo tubes and a machine gun.
Six larger boats of 500 tons and six of 750 tons are completed or building. In spite of moderate tonnage they are ocean-going vessels with a wide radius of action.
Now that small submarines are available for training purposes British naval experts believe Germany will concentrate on building under-seas craft equal in size and fighting power to any afloat. —London, Sept. 15.
Brief Notes
Germany’s first 26,000-ton battleship will be launched October 3 at Wilhelmshafen, it was announced today. Provisionally called “Battle
ship D,” it will carry nine 11-in. guns and twelve 6-in. anti-aircraft pieces. The launching will be a festive occasion, with special trains carrying “Strength Through Joy” sight-seers to the ways. —Herald Tribune, N. Y. Berlin, Sept. 24 (A>).
The navy school of Athletics in Mürwik has been taken out of the command of the Naval Academy and constituted as an independent command directly under the inspector of training. —Marine-Rundschau.
ITALY
Pantellaria
La Revue Maritime. —According to the Morning Post, the Italian government has actually begun the important work of fortifying the island of Pantellaria, situated between Sicily and Tunis. Here is what the naval authority for the paper has written.
Italy has begun to fortify the Island of Pantellaria. Precise details cannot be obtained on the construction undertaken but it is known that a large proportion of the work has been completed. Pantellaria is a volcanic island situated about 160 miles northwest of Malta. It is about twice as long and one half as wide as the latter island. At the northwest tip is found a port used by smaller craft. Situated exactly in the middle of the deep channel which separates Sicily from Tunis, it is of great strategical importance. This position permits it to control the only deep-water passage which separates the eastern and western parts of the Mediterranean.
It is about 80 miles from the nearest point on the Sicilian coast, and slightly over 50 miles from Ras-el-Milhr, the nearest point on the African seacoast. Actually, the nearest Italian base is Castellamare, on the northwest tip of Sicily. On the African coast France is developing Bizerta as a naval base.
The construction of a fortified naval base at Pantellaria will be, so far as small units are concerned, of great value for a nation desirous of separating the two sectors of the Mediterranean, by stationing a flotilla of submarines or other patrol units there. South of Pantellaria, about 90 miles west of Malta are the islands of Linosa, Lampion, and Lampedusa, which form the Pelagian group. These little islands also belong to Italy but do not have the strategic importance of Pantellaria considering the broadening of the Mediterranean and the falling off of the African coast to the south, east of Cape Bon.
Various Notes
According to a report on the budget for the Navy, the total expenditures for the fiscal year 1936-37 will be 1,609,891,000 lire. It is an increase of 305,010,000 lire over the previous year.
From the report on the Navy budget of 1936- 37 there is actually under construction: 2 battleships of 35,000 tons; two 8,000-ton cruisers; 1 destroyer of 1,675 tons armed with four 4.7-in. guns and 6 torpedo tubes; 7 torpedo boats of 705 tons armed with three 4-in. guns, 2 mortars and 4 torpedo tubes; 1 torpedo launching escort vessel of 46§ tons; 1 long range submarine of 1,356 tons armed with 8 torpedo tubes, two 4.7-in. guns and 4 machine guns; 2 mine layers of 1,126 and 667 tons, respectively; 10 coastal submarines of 617 tons, armed with 6 torpedo tubes and one 4-in. gun and 2 machine guns.
The May issue of the Marine-Rundschau announces that of the 615-ton torpedo boats of the Spica class, two have already been commissioned, four will be completed soon, and construction was begun on ten others in 1935. —La Revue Maritime.
According to information of an Italian source, for sometime various experiments have been tried relative to attacks by aircraft torpedoes on ports or on ships at anchor in these ports. According to information received on the subject, the torpedoes armed with parachutes will be dropped from altitudes of 10-15 thousand feet. When the torpedo strikes the water, the parachute will automatically detach itself from the torpedo which then starts running, describing a track previously set.
Trials of this nature have been made since last autumn. Although they have not been as successful as was expected a number of aviation squadrons have been equipped with such torpedoes. It is figured that such an attack will have a considerable moral effect on a fleet anchored in a confined port and which must be continually on guard against such an attack. —La Revue Maritime.
The commissioning of the long range submarine Enrico Tazzoli, built at La Spezia was the cause of an imposing ceremony. It is similar to but a bettered Balilla type. It is approximately 300 ft. in length and 26 ft. in breadth. —La Revue Maritime.
We have spoken before of the modernization of the battleships Cavour and Cesare. The changes made on these two ships are as follows:
(1) Modernization of the machinery plant to increase the speed by about 5 knots.
(2) Modernization of the fire control equipment.
(3) Increase in the range of guns by means of increased elevation.
(4) Re-enforcement of anti-aircraft defense armor.
(5) Installation of a catapult to launch the two seaplanes with which the vessels will be equipped.
(6) Increase in displacement from 22,000 tons to 26,000 tons.
The two other battleships of the same series, the Duilio and the Doria will not be modernized but will be used as school ships. —La Revue Maritime.
The two 8,000-ton-cruisers Garibaldi and Duca Degli Abruzzi launched in April at Trieste have been equipped with two groups of Parsons reaction turbines. The contract speed is 35 knots (100,000 hp.). Their armament consists of ten 6-inch guns in four turrets; eight 4-inch guns; eight 1.5-inch anti-aircraft guns and six 21-in. torpedo tubes. Each will carry four seaplanes. They are well protected against air attacks. These two cruisers will complete a total of 16 modern light cruisers, very fast and well armed. —La Revue Maritime.
In the May 5th edition, the Giornale d’Italia, published an important article on the fascist fleet of the year 1936.
This publication was printed in the form of a table which tabulated the principal types of ships in commission. The Italian fleet is composed of 4 battleships, 23 cruisers, 36 destroyers, 51 torpedo boats, 27 scouts, 4 aircraft escort vessels, 70 submarines, 7 mine laying submarines, and 1 submarine chaser. —La Revue Maritime.
Early in 1936 four destroyers of the Maestrale type of 1,500 tons, 4 convoy vessels of 908 tons, and a speed of 28 knots, 3 tankers of 2,000 tons capacity, and 20 tugboats were placed under construction. The following ships were removed from the Navy list: submarines Nani, F-6, F-12, F-13, F-20, N-3, N-4, N-6; dispatch motor boats M.A.S.-307, 398, 399, 400; and four tugboats. —La Revue Maritime.
On May 9 the motor torpedo boat Geberal Stefano Turr was launched. It displaces 46 tons and is the first of this class since up to now boats of 12-14 tons have been preferred. —Marine- Rundschau.
In addition to the four big destroyers Vittorio Alfieri, Giosue Carducci, Vincenzo Gioberli, and Alfredo Oriani, there are under construction for the Italian fleet the following 600-ton torpedo boats of the Spica type: Aldebaran, Altair, Andromeda, Antares, all by Ansaldo; Canopo, Cassiopea, Castore, Cigno, by Cantieri Riuniti, Ancona; Sagittario and Vega, both by the Quarnaro Yard, Fiume. Two medium-sized submarines, provisionally numbered 1 and 2, are in hand at the Adriatico yard. Their surface displacement is 667 tons, rather larger than the 10 of the Gem series laid down last year, but decidedly smaller than the two mine laying submarines Foca and Zoea, building at Taranto. — The Navy, London.
Italy has begun to reorganize her shipping after the Abyssinian war. It is intended to build 100,000 tons of shipping in Italy. The leading Italian shipping companies are in some cases being re-named. The familiar Lloyd Triestino will in future be known as the Orient-Africa Line and the Italia will, it seems, be called the Compania Transatlantic. The greater number of new ships will be employed on the Italian-East African and on the Far East routes. —Nautical Magazine.
During the recent Italian maneuvers experiments with a new type of tank have been carried out. Known as bridge tanks, they carry a steel bridge which can be placed over ravines and fast streams, and used not only by the men but also to carry the tanks themselves. It is believed that they have made it possible to use tanks in country where they have before been considered out of the question. —Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette.
A decree gazetted by the Italian government on August 24 authorizes the increase of the regular Italian Air Force this year and next to 3,200 officers and n.c.os. and 34,000 men on the ground staff, if the Air Ministry considers it essential. — Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette.
Italy has for some years past been gradually building up an organization for the protection of the population during air attacks, and the latest measures to this end are contained in a Royal Decree published today. This gives the regulations for the utilization as permanent antiaircraft shelters of all the tunnels which are to be constructed in urban centers.
Under the Decree plans for all such tunnels, which include those built for the railway and the underground railways undertakings, must be approved by the central inter-Ministerial Committee for Defence against aircraft, which will decide as to their suitability as permanent shelters. Directions are also given as to the material to be used in and the manner of their construction for anti-aircraft protection, and detailed regulations are laid down regarding ventilation, defense against poison gas, lighting, medical posts, water supplies, and telephones. The expense entailed by constructing such tunnels in accordance with the Decree must be borne by the builders.
It is interesting to note in this connection that schemes for providing both Rome and Milan with underground railway services have long been under consideration, and the Central Station in Rome is soon to undergo alterations which will place it and a long stretch of the lines leading to it underground. —Times, London. Rome, Aug. 27.
Premier Benito Mussolini informed the cabinet today that an extraordinary appropriation had been made for the Navy, Air Force, and Army. No figures were discosed.
The cabinet approved a decree increasing the basic salaries of state employes 8 per cent.
An official communique said that extraordinary appropriations for the fighting services “permit our military preparations to be adequate to the necessities of the international situation and to be perfected in a limited period of time.”— Tribune, Chicago. Rome, Sept. 12. —[U.P.].
JAPAN
Tokyo Bay
Times, London, August 31. —Plans for an ambitious land reclamation scheme in Tokyo Bay which will include the dredging of a new deep-water channel between Yokohama and Tokyo have been completed by the engineering department of the Home Office. It is proposed to entrust the enterprise to the Prefectural Governments of Tokyo and Kanagawa (Yokohama). The cost is estimated at 70,000,000 yen (about £4,000,000), and it is hoped to realize an eventual profit of 80,000,000 yen from the sale of land. Work will begin next year. The press declares that the relamation will provide Tokyo with an industrial zone comparable to that of Hamburg or Rotterdam.
The engineering problem is simple and, except for its larger scale, the work does not differ from the reclamation of land from the shallow waters of Tokyo Bay in which the Tokyo municipality has been engaged for years. A great part of Tokyo is built on such land, and the international exhibition, which- will commemorate in 1940 the 2,6000th anniversary of the foundation of the Empire, will be housed on land which a few years ago was under water.
It is proposed to build a sea wall 8f miles long and roughly about a mile from the shore, which will follow the contour of the shallow muddy coast from Shinagawa, on the outskirts of Tokyo, to Kawasaki, half-way to Yokohama. Within this wall a channel 770 yards wide and 23 ft. deep at low water will be dredged, and in the process a vast expanse of foreshore will be drained. Other channels will be dredged through this, the sand taken out being used to heighten the ground which is left, and between the new channel and the present high-water mark 10 “islands,” comprising some 20,000,000 square yards, will be formed and will be offered as factory sites. The channel, or canal, will enable large cargo ships to dock beside the reclaimed land and eventually to discharge cargo in Tokyo Harbor, which now takes vessels of 3,000 tons.
Formosa
Herald. Tribune, N. Y. September 6.—Japan’s “southward expansion movement,” while attracting less world attention than her military and economic penetration in North China, has been increasingly evidenced in recent months by naval and military preparations on the Island of Formosa and economic activities in Kwangsi and Fukien Provinces.
The Hongkong Shen Wu Jih Pao, a Chinese daily, recently published a special article devoted to Japan’s naval and military measures in Formosa and Japanese economic penetration in Fukien. The paper points out that in addition to the sum of 100,000,000 yen already appropriated by the Japanese government for the augmentation of Japanese naval forces in Formosa, a further outlay of 50,000,000 yen has recently been authorized for the same purpose.
The rebuilding of fortifications at Keelung, important seaport situated on the northern tip of Formosa, has recently been completed, according to the paper, after three months of construction with 1,300 laborers. Makung (Makyu), a port city in the Pescadores Islands, is being fortified secretly, the paper alleges. The Pescadores are situated at the lower end of the Formosan Straits, opposite the Fukien port of Amoy.
With the completion of the military airdrome at Takushan, Formosa has an airport second to none in the Japanese Empire. Additional squadrons of military planes have been sent from Japan for permanent assignment at the new Formosan air base. The paper further reports that antiaircraft defense batteries have been established at all lighthouses on the Japanese side of the strait. —Shanghai, Aug. 8.
South Sea Company
Japan Advertiser, September 4. —The South Sea Development Co. will be established November 27 to open for business January 1. This company is closely related to the Formosa Development Co. whose establishment was formally decided on August 25. Count Hideo Kodama, former Overseas Minister, is chairman of the establishment committees for the two concerns.
Subscriptions to shares of South Sea Development will be invited for three days between September 10 and 12. The company’s business prospectus follows:
(1) The company will carry on agriculture, marine product, mining and shipping enterprises necessary for Japan’s over-seas expansion.
(2) Emigration enterprise necessary for overseas expansion.
(3) Acquisition of land (including lease) for over-seas enterprises and its management.
(4) Land management on trust.
(5) Supply of materials necessary for overseas industrial development.
(6) Supply of funds for the same purposes.
(7) All incidental enterprises necessary for these.
The company will be capitalized at 20,000,000 yen in 400,000 shares, each share being valued at 50 yen. Of that amount the government will invest, 10,546,000 yen in the institution in the shape of investment in property, as is the case with the Formosa Development Co.
The remaining 9,454,000 yen will be offered for public subscriptions. The first calling in of the share price will be a quarter, or 12.50 yen. A sum of 2,363,500 yen will be raised from among public subscribers as a result of the first installment. The company will be given the privilege of issuing debentures three times as great as its paid-up capitalization.
The company will carry on mining of phosphatic ores on Anguar and other of Japan’s mandated South Sea islands. The ores are now held by the government. It also will conduct a marine product industry. Manufacture of canned provisions, dried fish, and cold storage fish will be carried on.
In addition the company will operate a steamship service among the South Sea Islands and will advance loans for industrial development. The company’s activities will extend to Japan’s mandated South Sea Islands, the Straits Settlements, Australia, New Zealand, other Oceanian islands, the Dutch East Indies, French, Indo-China, and Siam.
The recent utter failure of negotiations between the Japan Sugar Manufacturing Co. and Siamese Government on the proposed establishment of a sugar refining company in Bangkok under joint investment of Japan and Siam is said to have been mainly caused by Siam’s unjustified fear of Japan’s military aggression on the basis of Japan’s economic expansion there, reports the Chugai Shogyo. Japan sugar’s representative who went to Bangkok for the negotiations is on his way home. He is expected to arrive about the middle of this month.
Various Notes
Admiral Osumi Nagana has returned from his inspection trip of the South Sea Islands which are under Japanese mandate, and declared himself as fully conversant with the living necessities and the possibilities of the islands, as also of the possibilities of the islands from the standpoint of national defense. There are living there now 55,000 Japanese against 10,000 natives. The area can however absorb 50,000-60,000 additional immigrants. A great industrial expansion is promised, a highly developed sugar industry already exists. —Marine-Rundschau from Osaka Mainichi.
The Takasaki was launched on June 19 in the Yokosuka yards. The principal characteristics of this ship are: Length, 650 ft. (approx.); displacement, 12,000 tons; speed, 19 knots; armament, four 5-in. guns.
It is included in the general class of naval transports and grouped with various other auxiliary units under the denomination of “ships for special service.”—Rivista Marittima.
The aircraft carriers in commission in the Japanese fleet are the following: Akagi, 26,900 tons, 28.5 knots, 50 airplanes; Hosho, 7,470 tons, 25 knots, 26 airplanes; Kaga, 26,900 tons, 25 knots, 60 airplanes; Ruyjo, 7,100 tons, 25 knots, 24 airplanes. The Soryu of 10,000 tons is under construction. Two other units, the Kama and the Noloro, respectively of 19,500 and 14,000 tons, carry 16 airplanes each. —La France Militaire.
The principle of the Commonwealth Constitution’s ban on establishment or expansion of businesses not controlled by Filipinos was confirmed by the Philippine Supreme Court today in a unanimous decision denying a Japanese permission to add one more car to his taxi business in Davao.
The test case was instituted by Mr. Genkichi Ishii, who operates an automobile in Davao to carry passengers. He obtained a permit to operate one car before the adoption of the Commonwealth Constitution.
Desiring to expand his business, Mr. Ishii filed an application with the public service commission of the Commonwealth Government for permission to add one more car to his business. The commission rejected the application.
In denying the application, commission officials pointed out that Mr. Ishii did not comply with the provisions of the Constitution, since he was neither a citizen of the Philippine Islands nor a representative of a corporation in which Filipinos own 60 per cent of the capital.
The Supreme Court, in the decision handed down today, ruled that the challenged order by the public service commission “is in conformity both with the letter and the spirit of the Constitution.”—Japan Advertiser, Manila, September 10.
It may be going too far to say, boasts the Jiji, which long has specialized in naval news, that the fighting strength of Japan’s 9 battleships is as great as that of America’s 15 or Great Britain’s 15.
To make good the defects in defensive strength created by the 10:10:6 ratio for battleships in the Washington naval treaty, the paper explains, the Japanese Navy has for the past several years been spending considerable money on modernization of its battleships, the oldest of which was completed in 1913 and the latest in 1921. The modernization program has been pushed vigorously and will be practically completed in the current fiscal year. The aim has been to obtain the utmost efficiency from the vessels, and the changes have made them quite different from what they were when built. From the next fiscal year, funds for modernization will be spent mainly on light cruisers.
Battleship modernization has not made much progress in the United States, continues the Jiji, and so far only two-thirds of the program has been completed. Britain has not done much to improve its capital ships. Thus it may not be too much to say that Japan has as much fighting strength in this category as the other two major powers even though it has six fewer vessels. — Japan Advertiser.
Japan gave Western powers another problem today in the midst of the Spanish war tension. The Tokyo government informed Great Britain that Tokyo has decided to keep 15,598 tons of submarines and 11,059 tons of destroyers under the escalator clause of the London naval treaty. The vessels were to be scrapped under the London treaty before the end of the year. The escalator clause allows any party to the treaty to increase naval strength if it feels its security menaced.
The move answered Britain’s recent decision to retain 40,000 tons of destroyers which were to be scrapped, but the Japanese decision was considered disturbing since it gives Japan an undersea strength one-third greater than that of either the United States or Britain.
A note delivered by the Japanese embassy explained that not having 28,000 tons of extra destroyers which the Nipponese are entitled to keep after the British decision, Japan would compensate by keeping submarines, as well as available destroyers. —Tribune, Chicago. London, September 2.
Admiral Seizo Kobayashi, a high war councilor on the reserve list, was appointed governor general of Formosa today by Emperor Hirohito on the recommendation of Premier Koki Hirota. Kobayashi, who was born in October, 1877, succeeds Kenzo Nakagawa, former vice minister of education. Nakagawa has held the Formosa post since May, 1932. Much importance was attached to the appointment since Kobayashi comes from the defense services. Proponents of these services declared that better co-operation would result between the Navy and the overseas ministry in Japan’s southern affairs. — Tribune, Chicago, Tokyo, August 29.
Automobiles, propelled by energy received by burning charcoal, will soon be in vogue in Japan, with the blessings of the military and civil authorities.
The War Office has already announced its approval of the new automobiles, which can be manufactured at the cost of 500 yen, with the gasoline expenses amounting to about one-fifth of the bills footed by owners of gasoline-driven vehicles. —China Press, Shanghai. Tokyo, August 4. —(Domei).
Further particulars of that interesting vessel, the Japanese mine layer Okinosima, are now available. On a standard displacement of 4,400 tons, she will mount four 5.5-in. guns, besides carrying an uncertain number of mines. Her speed with 9,000 s.hp. is designed to be 20 knots. She was launched at the Harima Shipbuilding Company’s yard in November last. —The Navy, London.
As the first and second naval air force improvement programs near completion, the Navy Ministry finds a third one imperative because of changing circumstances and trends in other countries.
The new plan, for which estimates for the first year already have been submitted to the Finance Ministry, will be concentrated upon the training of fliers and improvement of planes to get maximum results with the least strain on the national treasury, says the Asahi. Establishment of additional bases will be delayed, but the early part of the new program—training of aviators and mechanical improvements—will make quick establishment of new bases a relatively easy matter.
Two new naval air bases, the last in the first and second programs, will be opened in October, the paper reports. One is at Kanazawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, and the other is at Chinkai, Korea. With the 24 added under the two previous plans, the Navy will have 39 air bases.
First project under the new program will be the reform of the training stations attached to the naval air corps at Yokosuka and Kasumigaura, with a view to turning out better fliers. At the same time, the naval air arsenal and the airplanes departments of the naval arsenal are to be extended. —Japan Advertiser.
Indications that the Navy is ready to compromise and trim its fund demands for next year to fit reasonable revenue limits is seen by the Asahi in a survey of naval budget prospects.
In drawing up the estimates which have been submitted to the Finance Office, the Navy Ministry has not been following the shipbuilding policies of Great Britain, the United States, or the Soviet Union, it was asserted, but it has naturally considered the tension in the international situation and the fact that treaties will lapse at the end of this year.
In the budget for the next fiscal year, the Navy is also faced with the necessity of including as new demands 180,000,000 yen for the final year of the second replenishment program and funds for the first year of the third replenishment program, which overlaps it.
This is seen as making inevitable an increase in the naval budget next year, but on the other hand it is conceded that Finance Minister Eiichi Baba is right in holding that there is a limit to the increase of deficit bond issues. The revenue prospects of the Finance Ministry will therefore be considered carefully and if it is found impossible to carry out the Navy’s program within those limits, then efforts will be made to find some way to cut the navy’s budget without unduly impairing national defense, says this account. — Japan Advertiser.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Australia
Sir Archdale Parkhill, the Minister of Defense, announcing details of the expenditure for defense in the House of Representatives today, outlined the immediate aims of the policy to be completed in the current financial year.
For the Navy an additional ship of a type yet to be decided would be built in Australia. The armaments of the 8-in.-gun cruisers would be modernized, and the seagoing forces would be increased to 4,290 men, making an increase of 1,050 since 1934. £3,237,387 would be spent on the Navy, ultimately putting into commission 3 cruisers, 1 flotilla leader, 2 destroyers, 2 sloops, and 1 survey ship. A second sloop would be commissioned in 1937. —Times, London. Canberra, September 11.
As the first of a series of destroyers to be built at Cockatoo Island dockyard for defense against sea raids the government have ordered a flotilla leader armed with 6-in. guns for the destroyer unit.
The component parts of the destroyers are to be made in the Commonwealth. The capacity to do so has been thoroughly tested in the recent trial building of two sloops. Hundreds of shipwrights and other workers will be continuously employed under the new plan, which, it is hoped, will constitute a permanent industry similar to the projected new aircraft industry. The building of cruisers in Great Britain will be continued when funds are available. —Times, London. Canberra, September 15.
Greece
The law passed on September 15,1934, by the Greek Parliament included the construction of 1 cruiser, various shore constructions (building of a graving dock in the Salamis Navy Yard; fortification of certain islands in the Aegean Sea), and the construction of 12 destroyers. During the first period of this building program, 1934-35, 4 destroyers of 1,330 tons have been launched and their commissioning is forecast for early in 1937. These ships with a speed of 40 knots, will be equipped as mine layers and will be armed with four 4.7-in. guns, three 1.6-in. anti-aircraft guns, and 6 torpedo tubes. During the second period, 1936-37, two destroyers displacing 1,050 tons will be built. Like the destroyers mentioned above, they will develop a speed of 40 knots. They will be built in England and will be armed with three 4-in. guns, two 1.6-in. anti-aircraft guns and 6 torpedo tubes. The remaining 6 destroyers will be built prior to 1942. Little is known of their probable characteristics but it is believed that they will be similar to the 1,050-ton destroyers mentioned above. It is probable that the construction of all these units will be accelerated because the Greek Navy has now but 4 destroyers of 1,000 tons and 30 knots speed. They are the Aètos, Leon, Panther, and Ierax, built in 1912.—La Revue Maritime.
According to reports from Athens the government has ordered 4 destroyers in English shipyards. They are to be of the British H-type, Hardy, 1,350 tons, 35.5 knots, four 4.7-in. guns, 7 machine guns, 8 torpedo tubes. They will cost £1,200,000. Attractive German bids were refused because the complicated German construction would require too much technical training on the part of personnel. Two to four submarines were also to be ordered. Greece has also 4 destroyers of 1,013 tons that were built in England for Argentina but were not accepted. Four other destroyers of 1,339 tons came from Italian shipyards, and 2 of 1,375 tons of the British Dainty type are under construction in England. The newer Greek submarines came from France. — Marine-Rundschau.
Iran
Up to the year 1930 Persia had but 3 gun boats. In 1930 Persia wanted to have 6 gunboats built in England provided the Admiralty was prepared to train the necessary officers and men to man the boats. This was refused in England. Thereupon Persia ordered in Italy the following craft which started their trip to Persia from Naples in the fall of 1932: Babr and Palang 950 tons, four 4-in. guns, 2 machine guns, twin engines of 1,900 hp. giving 15 knots, radius 4,000 miles, and 4 picket boats. Italy trained 400 sailors for the manning of these boats. Lately the Iran seamen are being trained in Japan, which country is also extending itself to obtain shipbuilding orders. The further training of officers for the Persian army is also in part being pursued in Japan. Others are being trained in France.
Sometime ago it became known that the Persian government wished to equip the harbors of Bushire and Linga as war bases; the work was to be undertaken by a Japanese firm. A third base is contemplated above Bandar-Shapur. The Iran men-of-war serve, first of all, as guards for the fishing industry, and the guarding against opium and sugar smuggling in the Persian gulf. —Marine-Rundschau.
Yugoslavia
Until the latter part of 1935, the Yugoslavian fleet consisted of 8 old 500-ton monitors for the Danube, 8 small ex-Austrian torpedo boats of 260 tons, the ex-German 2,400 ton cruiser Dalmatia, 2 dispatch boats, 6 mine layers, 11 mine sweepers. Her recent construction includes the scout Dubrovnik, of 2,400 tons, 2 submarines of 975 tons built in England, and 2 submarines from the Loire yards.
A new naval program will include 100,000 tons of destroyers and submarines.
The Loire yards have received an order from the Yugoslavian government for the construction of 3 torpedo boats. The preliminary planning on this order was started 3 months ago and although the necessary material for construction of these ships have been ordered, up to the present construction has not begun. Two of the torpedo boats will be built at the builders’ Yugoslavia yards, and the third will be built at Nantes. — Journal de la Marine Marchande.
Norway
The total budget (1/7/36-30/6/37) comes to 481.4 million kronor against 436.9 for the previous year. Of this 19.4 million kronor go to the Army, .36 million kronor to aviation (last year’s .72), 11.86 million kronor to the Navy and for new construction 2.8 million kronor. To this credit for new construction must be added .7 kronor from another fund so that altogether 3.5 million kronor are available for new construction. It will be used as follows: 2.35 million kronor for further work on the two torpedo boats (Sleipner & Aegir), .47 million kronor for continuation of work on two picket boats, and .5 million kronor for the commencement of work on another torpedo boat.
In Norway, too, a rearrangement of national defense, which is being worked out by Minister Torp, is under way. The essentials in the proposal include a lengthening of service time (conscripts), the combining of the national defense under one head, and the division of forces into the three branches Army, Navy, and Air. Up to this time aviation has been attached to the Army and the Navy. —Marine-Rundschau, August.
Portugal
The budget for the Portuguese Navy for 1936 increased to 440,000 pounds, according to the Schiffbau of April 1. Aside from seaplane construction, it provides for but a certain number of fast dispatch boats.
A sum of 873,000 pounds was appropriated for naval work and 90,000 pounds for the construction of a new navy yard at Alfertes, on the southern bank of the Tagus River. This work will be completed in 1938.
The 1930 naval construction program included 2 cruisers, 1 aircraft carrier, 12 torpedo boats, 12 gunboats, 12 submarines, and 2 submarine tenders. Up to the present only 5 torpedo boats, 6 gunboats, and 3 submarines have been placed in construction. All of the latter have been completed with the exception of the 1,000-ton gunboat Infanta Henrique. —La Revue Maritime.
The government clamped military control on Lisbon tonight after blasting with shell fire revolts on two warships in the Tagus River Harbor, off Lisbon. The capital itself was calm, as was the countryside, the government said.
Rigid censorship delayed complete reports on the rebellion and it was not known whether the incidents were connected with the civil war in Spain. (The Madrid People’s Front government has accused authoritarian Portugal of aiding the Spanish Fascist rebels, and Lisbon has not yet unconditionally accepted a place on the neutrality body scheduled to sit in London on Wednesday.)
Today’s rebellious outbreaks occurred on the sloop Afonso de Albuquerque, of 2,100 tons displacement, and the destroyer Dao, of 1,383 tons displacement.
When the government learned of the mutinies it ordered land batteries to open fire on the warships. Six mutineers were killed and 9 injured before the shelling pounded the crews into submission and disabled both craft. They were towed ashore and the crews arrested.
Extraordinary precautions were taken by the government in Lisbon as authorities sought to learn whether the mutinies had any ramifications. Strong guards were placed around all ministries.
Witnessing the bombardments were the British steamships Asturias and Strathmore, carrying several hundred British holiday-makers. So far as could be learned tonight neither British vessel had been endangered by the shelling. —Herald Tribune, N. Y. Lisbon, September 8.
Siam
Two of the new torpedo boats that are under order with Cantiere Riuniti del Adriatico in Triest have completed their trials with speeds of 32.5 knots against the contracted 31 knots. Fully equipped the boats displace 460 tons. Armament: three 7.5-cm. guns. Sixty Siamese naval officers and cadets are at present making an educational tour through Italy. —Marine Rundschau, August.
Sweden
The proposed defense bill was voted down by both houses of the Reichstag. In its place the proposal of the middle parties was accepted. It contemplates a defense expenditure of 148 million kronor (against 135 million kronor in the government bill): for Army 79.75 million kronor, Navy 31.5 million kronor, Coast Artillery 25 million kronor, Air 27.8 million kronor, misc. 1.7 million kronor. For new construction the year 1937-38, 9.3 million kronor are to be expended and in the following years until 1940, 7.3 million kronor each year. As a result of the defeat of its defense measure the government resigned. —Marine-Rundschau.
Turkey
According to a new official source dated July 1, 1936, the National Assembly has appropriated 25,800,000 Turkish pounds, of which one third will be made available for the national defense.
According to a telegram of the Reuter Agency to the Morning Post, the Turkish naval program will include 2 new cruisers of 8,000-10,000 tons, 4 destroyers, and 4 submarines. This information was given by Mr. W. Staffans, Director of the Crichton-Vulcan de Abo naval construction firm. Mr. Staffans declared that the competition to obtain these contracts had been very keen among the foreign naval construction firms.
The Japanese yards will receive the bid for the 2 cruisers. In exchange the Tokyo government will obtain certain economical advantages, notably the authority to establish textile factories in Turkey.
The Spanish firm of Cartagena will be given the order for the four 1,000-ton mine laying torpedo boats. Finally the four 600-ton coastal submarines will be built by the Feljenoord yards of Rotterdam, a firm which has already had Turkey as a client.—La Revue Maritime.
U.S.S.R.
According to Morskoi Sbornik the following officers are in the command positions in the Russian Navy:
(1) Orlov, 40 years old, C in C of the Naval Forces; flag officer of the first rank. Record: son of a gymnasium director; completed Gymnasium, University, Naval Academy 1923; thereupon Chief of Naval Educational System (at 27 years), then Chief of the Black Sea Fleet, special recognition for placing that fleet in shape.
(2) Wiktorov, 44 years old, chief of the East Asiatic Naval Forces; flag officer first rank. Record: son of an officer, Cadet, Sea Cadet until 1913; officer on cruiser Oleg, and on destroyers, captain of capital ship; chief of Baltic Fleet from 1920-32.
(3) Haller, 53 years old, chief of Baltic Fleet; officer since 1905, flag officer second rank. Record: executive officer of Slava (sunk at Oesel Island operations December 10,1917), chief of Staff. Commander battle line ships, chief of the Baltic Fleet.
(4) Koschanov, chief of the Black Sea Fleet, flag officer second rank. Took part in civil war against Koltschak and Denikin; Naval Academy; Attaché Japan, command destroyers, chief of Staff Baltic Fleet; chief of Black Sea Fleet.
(5) Ludri, Second in command of Naval Forces; flag officer first rank; Esthonian peasant son, sailor, revolutionaire, commissar of the Onega Flotilla then the Black Sea Fleet, until 1923 chief of the Caspian Flotilla; Naval Academy, Commander Coast Defense in Black Sea, chief of Staff Black Sea Fleet.
(6) Duschenov, chief of the Northern Flotilla; flag officer first rank. Peasant son, errand boy, sailor, participant in civil war; Naval Academy, staff duty, chief of Staff Black Sea Fleet.
(7) Kadatzki-Rudenev, chief of Amur Flotilla; flag officer first rank. Fisherman; 1908-11 Merchant Marine school, Ensign in mine sweeping brigade; civil war; Naval Academy, Commander Cruisers Black Sea.
(8) Kirejev, Second in command Far Eastern Fleet; flag officer first rank. Iron worker, fireman, soldiers council, civil war, Naval Academy.
The list is not without interest. Duty at the Naval Academy seems throughout to serve for at least 15-20 years sea and command duty in other navies. The single Czarist officer has reached only the second flag rank; against this, one officer’s son, and one citizen’s son have risen to the first rank. All others followed the soldiers council route which is not necessarily comparable to the revolution route of Napoleonic stamp.
At the dockyards of Onega several survey vessels were launched. The “Fram” and “Mod” served as models for these ships. Thanks to their form they rise up on the ice when subjected to pressure by it. Four of these survey vessels will work on the coast between Archangel and the Bay of Providence. —Marine-Rundschau.
Russia is concentrating a new and secret submarine flotilla here, reliable sources disclosed today, to guard against the possibility of attack from Japan.
The submarines are the “mystery fleet” of the Pacific. They are unlisted in regular naval manuals. No prying eyes are permitted to fathom their design.
Soviet officials admit no specific number. Informed sources estimate that between 40 and 50 under-sea craft are stationed here. Japanese sources state 80 are based with the Vladivostok area.
The submarines are new, small, and easy to conceal, capable of quick maneuvers, this much is known, observers here say. They are believed intended chiefly for defensive purposes because of their small size. They are subject to no restrictions or treaties, however, because the Soviets retained a free hand on construction in the Pacific.
Intended for the Pacific, informants related, they were manufactured in European Russia thousands of miles from this Asiatic port. Knocked down for delivery they were transported 6,000 miles to secret shipyards here, these informants continued, and assembled. New personnel is being trained constantly to handle the craft as their numbers increase, it was learned. — Tribune, Chicago, Vladivostok, Soviet Russia, September 21.
Scores of Soviet submarines, comprising most of the Russian fleets in the Baltic and Pacific, put to sea today for the most extensive naval maneuvers the Bolshevists ever have held.
The games will conclude the 1936 defensive practices, in which the land forces waged mimic warfare on the Russian western frontier, bordering Europe.
The number of submarines participating was not announced, but it was known the fleet was of considerable size.
The naval base at Kronstadt, port for the northern city of Leningrad, was turned over completely to military control. Planes roared overhead protecting the city, while the ships steamed out down the Finnish Bay to meet an “enemy,” readily identified in the Soviet press as Germany. —Star, Washington. Moscow, September 29.
According to the Transport Administration Commissariat of Foreign Trade, Moscow, the Soviet merchant marine has finished its 5-year- plan in 4 years and during 1936 will be capable of carrying 60 per cent of all Russian merchandise. At the end of 1935 the merchant fleet had fulfilled its plan and reached a capacity of 1,350,000 tons, the largest in Russian history. In 1914 the Czarist merchant fleet capacity was 905,000 tons.
During 1935, 40 per cent of the Soviet exports were carried in Russian ships; in 1936 they plan to transport 7,000,000 tons of merchandise under the red flag, or 60 per cent of the total estimated transport. In 1925 the total tonnage of the vessels of the U.S.S.R. was only 246,000, and in 1928 it had risen only to 327,000. Under the 5-year-plan building in Soviet shipyards was carried on at an increased pace and a number of vessels were bought abroad. Last year, 37 ships with a total tonnage of 175,000 were purchased from foreign shipyards and 13 more are now under construction for the Soviet. Soviet shipyards built 6 vessels during 1925 with a total tonnage of 51,000. —Marine Progress.
MERCHANT MARINE
Canal Measurement Rules
Marine Progress, September. —The special committee appointed by President Roosevelt under the terms of the Act of April 13, 1936 (Public No. 516), providing for a study of measurement rules and tolls for vessels using the Panama Canal, is scheduled to hold its first hearings in Washington from October 7 to 10. The committee has sent notices to all steamship companies and other interested parties to appear at the hearings. The hearings will be held in the Majority Caucus Room, Senate Office Building.
The act provides for the appointment of a neutral committee of three members to make “an independent study and investigation of the rules for the measurement of vessels using the Panama Canal and the tolls that should be charged therefor.” The law instructs the committee to hold hearings “at which interested parties shall have full opportunity to present their views,” and to report to the President prior to January 1, 1937, with such advisory recommendations of changes and modifications of the “Rules for the Measurement of Vessels for the Panama Canal” and the determinations of tolls as it finds necessary or desirable to provide a practical, just, and equitable system of measuring such vessels and levying such tolls.
The committee is composed of Dr. Emory S. Johnson, Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania; Hon. Arthur J. Weaver, Falls City, Nebraska, former Governor of Nebraska; and Rear Admiral George H. Rock, U. S. N., Retired, Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, New York.
Various Notes
An unusual plan for training crews in the event of fire as part of a program to enhance safety of life at sea is employed by the masters of the United States liners Washington and Manhattan, the drill being carried out without prearrangement with the crew, it was revealed by the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, Department of Commerce. The bureau, in its regular bulletin, suggests to commanders of large vessels that motion-picture programs be presented aboard liners for the benefit of passengers, the film being presented as part of the entertainment program and showing in detail a complete fire and boat drill in which a large group of passengers participate.
The drills on the Washington and Manhattan, witnessed recently on the vessels by officers of the bureau, are held without a pre-arranged plan of conducting such a drill. The chief officer of the vessel, selecting a location on the vessel which may be in the passenger or crew quarters, tacks up a red flag with the word “fire” in large letters to indicate the location of the “blaze” for the purpose of the drill. The first person to observe the flag immediately proceeds to the near manual alarm and sounds a code signal which indicates the section of the ship in which the fire is supposed to be located. He then starts fighting the “fire” with an extinguisher until the fire squad arrives.
The moment the alarm is sounded all blowers and fans are stopped and certain members of the crew station themselves at fire doors, corridors, and emergency stations to assist the passengers. Others are detailed to prepare lifeboats for embarkation. —Herald Tribune, N. Y.
Forsaking the policy of scrapping one old vessel for each new one built, the Communications Ministry is starting negotiations for a 4-year program to bring Japan’s shipping facilities to a high level by encouraging the construction of 52 ships, including two 26,000-ton liners.
The Ministry is reported to be discussing construction of the liners with Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Domei says. The proposed liners would have a speed of 24 knots at half-capacity load and should be finished before 1940. They are planned for the San Francisco line. Each of the vessels would be 10,000 tons bigger than the Chichibu Maru.
The remainder of the program contemplates construction of 20 liners in the 10,000-ton class and 30 freighters in the 7,500-ton class. The smaller liners are expected to have a speed of 19 knots and are to be used on Seattle, South America, East Africa and European lines. There are 80 ships on scheduled foreign routes and 250 free freighters already in service, the news agency adds. —Japan Advertiser.
Officials of the United States Lines announced this week that they have received two bids—one from the New York Shipbuilding Co. at Camden, $12,995,000 to duplicate their liner Washington and $13,095,000 for the same with improved machinery, and one from the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. at Kearny, New Jersey, of $16,500,000 for an improved Washington in accordance with design “K” of Gibbs & Cox subject to increase in labor and material costs or $17,500,000 with the builders taking care of all increased costs. The former company believes that the building of a vessel similar to the Washington or Manhattan for service between New York and Hamburg would require 2 years and 8 months, whereas the latter allows 3 full years for its construction.
The bids are now in the hands of the Secretary of Commerce and will be carefully weighted by government and I.M.M. officials.—Nautical Gazette.
The International Safety Convention to be held as part of the first annual Marine and Safety Exposition in the Port Authority Building in New York from November 30 to December 5, may be opened by President Roosevelt, according to announcement of Commodore Augustus G. Miller, head of the Life Saving Service of the City of New York, who is in charge of the exposition; the latter will go to Washington in person to extend the invitation to the President. Leading steamship companies and maritime associations will be represented at the exposition made up of 200 exhibits of highly improved devices for life preservation at sea, as well as on land and in the air. —Nautical Gazette.
Dollar Steamship Lines and Pan-American Airways have negotiated an agreement whereby the former will act as general agents for Pan- American, as recently announced by R. Stanley Dollar, president of the Dollar Steamship Lines.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dollar Line offices, pursers, and officials will be authorized to book passages via Pan-American planes. In turn, Pan-American Airways offices will represent the Dollar Line. Close co-operation will be maintained by the over-seas air and water lines. Constant radio communication between planes and ships will provide constant advice to the planes relative to positions and weather conditions. Recent reports indicate that Pan-American Airways will inaugurate transpacific air passenger service in the near future. —The Log, San Francisco.
A crew from the Italian liner Conte di Savoia won the 10th annual lifeboat race held off Bay Ridge Saturday, finishing nearly three lengths ahead of the W. C. Teagle’s crew. The Savoia’s boat crew completed the course in 17 minutes and 29 seconds, thus winning a second leg on the R. L. Hague Trophy. —Nautical Gazette, Sept. 12.
The North East Passage is to be used by Russian shipping to a greater extent this year than ever. No less than 90 ships with varied goods amounting to 267,000 tons will travel on this arctic route although the navigable period is very short. They will be supported and accompanied by 4 of the strongest icebreakers posted at various points. Two ships will travel from Vladivostok to Murmansk, and four from Murmansk to Vladivostok, whilst the others will visit the various trading points in between. —Nautical Magazine.
The Osaka Shosen Kaisha has ordered four new cargo ships. Two will be placed on the Osaka- Dairen Line and the other two on the Moji- Bangkok Line. They will have a speed of from 15 to 16 knots. The first two are mainly passenger ships with 42 passengers first class, 138 second class, and 670 third class. The other two will carry 14 passengers first class, and 50 third class. —Nautical Magazine.
Kriegsmarine, August, 1936, in its column, “Luff and Lee of Shipping,” reports fair tides and breezes in German shipbuilding and shipping during the summer with the launching of some 8 vessels, three of them motor tankers of over 14,000 tons, the completion of trials on three vessels, and the placing in service of two other new ships. It is further reported that hardly a month passes that a motor tanker for foreign registry does not leave the ways, and that a gratifying number of orders for the future are in hand.
After looking over Democratic prospects in New York as a prelude to a conference of national party leaders tomorrow, President Roosevelt tonight named “a temporary maritime commission to carry out the new ship subsidy act.” He appointed:
Rear Admiral Henry A. Wiley, U.S.N. (Retired); Rear Admiral Harry G. Hamlet, former commandant of the Coast Guard; George Landick, Jr., Treasury Department official.
Two more members, a White House announcement said, will be selected shortly.
“This temporary organization,” said a White House announcement, “will start functioning immediately, setting up a skeleton force.”—Sun, Baltimore. Hyde Park, N. Y., September 23.
AVIATION
Plane Exports
Herald Tribune, N. Y.—American aircraft manufacturers are doing more business abroad this year than last, with sales in China, Germany, Italy, and Australia contributing to the upturn.
This was disclosed today by Commerce Department figures. They showed aircraft exports for the first seven months of this year were 32 per cent greater than for the similar 1935 period the totals being $11,639,450 and $8,818,096, respectively. The statistics did not reveal whether the exports were designed for commercial or military use.
A total of 294 planes valued at $6,416,369 was exported in the seven months this year, compared with 199 valued at $4,740,145 in the 1935 period. This was an increase of 47 per cent in number.
Exports of airplane engines increased from 295 valued at $1,076,752 in 1935 to 409 valued at $1,902,768 this year. Shipments of parts and accessories and other equipment also were up.
China was the heaviest buyer in both the 1935 and 1936 periods, accounting for more than a third of the exports this year. Shipments to that country in 1936 were placed at $4,310,480, a sharp rise over the $1,785,498 total for the corresponding 1935 period.
Russia’s buying dropped off from $490,060 in the 1935 seven months to only $45,482 this year. Japanese purchases also decreased from $656,006 to $436,653.
Officials said both the Russian and Japanese decreases could be traced to a step-up of manufacturing activity in those countries. Both nations, it was said, were becoming less and less dependent upon imports, and the planes purchased from other countries were used largely as “samples” in connection with their own designing.
Among individual countries, however, increases far outnumbered the declines. German buying rose from $161,063 in the 1935 period to $267,147. French purchases were up from $131,506 to $149,189, Italy’s from $91,459 to $177,483 and Australia’s from $26,700 to $468,653.
Exports to Spain dropped from $142,309 to $105,121, but an increase from $5,081 to $390,515 was listed for Siam and a rise from $324,002 to $1,171,486 for Argentina.
A sharp upturn was reported also for Czechoslovakia, exports to that country rising from $24,387 to $185,795. —Washington, Sept. 15.
Clipper by Douglas
Herald Tribune, New York September 9.—A giant new flying boat, rivaling in speed range and carrying capacity Pan- American Airways’ Martin and Sikorsky transpacific clippers but depending for its performance on two motors, compared to their four, is scheduled for a test flight here tomorrow after being secretly built at the Douglas aircraft factory in Santa Monica.
Officials of [the 'company are noncommittal about their plans for the 32 passenger craft and another craft of the same type now nearing completion other than to say they were “built for export.” It is reported, however, that they are destined for service either between Australia and New Zealand or for one of the Royal Dutch Air Lines (K. L. M.) over-water routes in the East Indies.
The new ship is smaller than either the Martin or Sikorsky clippers, having a gross weight of 28,500 pounds, compared to their respective 19 and 26 tons. Its motors are Wright Cyclones, of 1,000 hp. each as compared to a battery of Pratt & Whitney engines of similar power in Pan-American’s clippers.
The design is considerably cleaner than that of the older ships, due to a cantilever wing construction and retractable wing- tip pontoons, so that the Douglas is expected to match the 190-mile-an-hour top speed of the Sikorsky and at the same time equal the 3,000-mile range of the Martin with a reduced passenger load—probably 12 persons.
In general appearance, the ship closely resembles Great Britain’s recently completed short transatlantic flying boats except that this craft, too, being patterned after the Sikorsky clipper’s, has 4 engines and a fuel consumption which reduces its range to less than 800 miles with a full payload of passengers and mail.
Douglas officials are confident that their new boat easily can cover routes of 12 to 15 hundred miles with 32 passengers and a ton of mail and express without stopping to refuel. If their expectations are fulfilled the new craft may have a profound effect on the future of transoceanic and coastal flying services. —Los Angeles, Sept. 8.
Various Notes
The German flying-boat Zephyr, which yesterday left the aerodrome ship Schwabenland at Horta, Azores, on a transatlantic flight, is one of the two flying boats now making experimental flights for Lufthansa in connection with the proposed air-mail service between Europe and the United States. Her companion, the AEolus, made a flight southwards on Wednesday, and returned after 10 hours. The Zephyr was catapulted in a northwesterly direction.
Both the Zephyr and the AEolus are Dornier 18 flying-boats, driven by heavy-oil engines. Their flights are intended to serve two purposes—to enable Lufthausa to test the suitability of the new Do. 18 for service in the North Atlantic, and to gather the information on weather and sea conditions which is still required before the route of the projected service can be finally fixed.
Our New York correspondent telegraphs that the Zephyr arrived at Port Washington airport, Long Island, yesterday at 5.17 p.m. Eastern Time. Our Bermuda correspondent also telegraphs to the effect that the AEolus landed there at 4.31 p.m. after a flight of 1,750 miles. —Times, London. Berlin, September 11.
What is claimed here to be a world record was set up on Saturday night and Sunday by a Junkers Ju.86 express commercial airplane which flew non-stop from Dessau to Bathurst, Gambia, a distance of about 3,700 miles, in 18 hours. The machine was driven by heavy oil engines and carried a crew of three. —Times, London. Berlin, August 24.
As foreshadowed in a recent issue, it has been decided to introduce a special category of reserve pilots who will be entered direct from civil life and will pass through the same course of training, lasting approximately 12 months, at civil and service flying training schools as is attended by pupils under training for the regular Air Force. While at the civil schools, pupils entered under this scheme will be of civilian status and will serve under the same conditions as regards emoluments, leave, sick leave, medical attendance, hospital treatment, and noneffective benefits as pupils under training for commissions in the regular Air Force. On completion of the course at the civil schools, pupils will be appointed to commissions in class A of the Reserve of Air Force officers as acting pilot officers on probation and will be posted to the R. A.F. Depot, Uxbridge, for a short course of disciplinary training and thence to a service flying training school for advanced training. On completion of this training they will revert to civil life to complete the remainder of their reserve service. —Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette,
During a slight pause in the transatlantic peregrinations of the airship Hindenburg, which have continued without fuss but with regularity and full loads for many weeks, some alterations will be made. These modifications have nothing to do with teething trouble but constitute one of the best possible evidences of a success all too rare in aeronautics. The passenger accommodation is to be increased from 50 to 72 by the addition of 10 double cabins and 2 single. This will enable the long waiting list to be reduced somewhat, and presumably, increase the profitable possibilities of the airship, although other pay load may possibly be sacrificed rather than fuel. —The Aeroplane.
The Atlantic has been flown in record time by two American airmen, H. Richmann and D. Merrill, who landed at Llandilo 18 h. 8 min. after leaving New York. The average speed was about 210 m.p.h. and a height of 11,000 ft. was maintained during most of the trip. —The Engineer.
The newspapers are making quite a mystery out of the recent bombing plane maneuvers of the reserve officers during their annual tours of duty. One paper states, “In the nose of each plane is a secret mechanism about which no questions are answered. As soon as each plane comes down, the secret box is taken out and put for safe keeping in a safe.”
To save other countries the expense of investigating this little box, we can explain what it is. The little mysterious box contains the personal cigars and cigarettes of the officer doing the flying. Reserve officers are always “broke” and in the past many an officer has returned from a practice flight to find his entire supply of tobacco smoked up.—Aviation.
America’s annual air speed classic, the Thompson Trophy race, was won by Michel Detroyat, of France, here this afternoon before a Labor Day crowd of 60,000 persons on the closing day of the National Air Races at an average speed of 264.261 miles an hour. His dark blue Renault- motored Caudron racing monoplane led the field by a wide margin.
Earl Ortman, of Los Angeles, who finished second, averaged but 248.042 miles an hour in his Wasp-motored Keith Rider racer, although it was equipped with an engine of more than double the French ship’s horsepower. Roger Don Rae, of Los Angeles, finished third in his Menasco- motored Keith Rider monoplane at an average speed of 236.559 miles an hour. Fourth place was taken by Harold Neumann, of Kansas City, in a Menasco-motored Folkerts monoplane at 233.074 miles an hour. —Herald Tribune. Los Angeles, September 7.
Within the next month the United States Army is to get its first autogiro, it was learned today. The flying windmill is to get a thorough test of its uses, principally in army co-operation work, by artillery, infantry, cavalry, and mechanized units.
For several months army pilots have been testing a demonstration craft, the Kellett KDL wingless plane, built by the Kellett Autogiro Corp. of Philadelphia. The plane has a top speed of 125 miles an hour, a minimum of 16, a cruising speed of 103, and a cruising range of 3£ hours, or 361 miles. It is powered with a Jacobs model L-4 engine, which develops 225 b. hp. at 2,000 r.p.m.—Tribune, Chicago. Washington, D. C., August 29.—[Special.]
Barring typhoons and unforeseen circumstances, Captain F. C. Chichester, New Zealand amateur air ace, will arrive in Shanghai today in his high speed Puss Moth from Hongkong for a visit of brief duration before pushing on to England by way of Russia.
A cable was received from the flier from Hongkong at a late hour yesterday afternoon stating that he hoped to fly to Shanghai today, weather permitting, by way of Foochow, where he will stop for a few minutes for the purpose of refueling. He is expected at Lunghwa airdrome this afternoon.
Captain Chichester is known as one of the most colorful fliers in British amateur aviation circles due to his many aeronautical exploits, some of which are quite astounding.
He is accompanied by another New Zealander, Mr. F. Herrick, who is a passenger and is merely along for the fun of it. The two are making a most leisurely trip and if they are unable to obtain permission to fly through Russia they will probably do an about face and go to England by way of India.
The airman reached Hongkong from New Zealand by way of Malaya and Siam. —China Press, Shanghai, August 8.
An order has been placed by the Latvian government with the Gloster Aeroplane Company for 13 single-seat Gladiator fighters. The aeroplanes will be delivered within a year, a fact of some interest in view of the widespread belief that the British aircraft industry is so fully occupied with the R.A.F. expansion as to be unable to give early deliveries abroad. The first Gladiators have yet to go into service in R.A.F. squadrons.
The fighters for Latvia will be identical with those destined for the R.A.F. The type, with its Bristol Mercury (840 hp.) supercharged engine, has a top speed of 255 miles an hour and carries 4 guns, 2 of which are set in the usual grooves on each side of the fuselage and 2 below the lower wing. Its rate of climb is remarkable. It reaches 20,000 ft. in 9 minutes and its service ceiling is 35,000 ft. It is equipped for use by day or night.
The Gladiator is a development of the Gloster Gauntlet, and although it is 25 miles an hour faster, it carries a bigger load and is even easier to handle. Hitherto the Gauntlet has been regarded as the most easy to fly and maneuver of all military aircraft. The report of pilots who have flown the Gladiator is that it is still more easy of control and could probably be flown safely by a pilot who had learned to fly in a Moth. Its landing speed with full war load is 60 miles an hour. — Times, London.