UNITED STATES
Expansion of Duties
Herald Tribune, N. Y., July 10.—The Navy Department has been forced by a shortage of commissioned personnel and the completion of new ships during the last year to order a drastic reduction in the number of officers allowed to various types of ships, and a curtailment of shore billets.
Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, who is responsible for allotting officers and men to the units of the fleet and to shore stations, announced today a change in general policy regarding duty for officers, chief petty officers, and petty officers.
Battleships, for instance, which had an allowance a few years ago of more than 60 officers, have now been reduced to 48, with further reductions in prospect for the fiscal year 1938.
The solution of the present situation, in the opinion of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, lies in placing a greater degree of responsibility upon the enlisted men of the fleet. These men, many of whom are college graduates, and all of whom enjoy a high standard of intelligence and ability, will be called upon to man battle stations in the fleet that have been the traditional posts of commissioned or warrant officers.
Admiral Andrews, in his letter to the service, said in part:
The intelligence and competence of enlisted personnel of the Navy is higher today than it ever has been in the history of our Navy, and it is confidently felt that the utilization of chief petty officers and other petty officers to the full in certain battle stations and for certain administrative duties is not only necessary but will permit the Navy to carry on without reduction in its efficiency.
It is directed that all commanding officers take steps to reassign officers of their command and to train chief petty officers and petty officers to meet these new responsibilities and increased demands. In so far as possible, permanency of detail of these enlisted men to battle stations should be maintained.—Washington, July 11.
Spy Sentenced
Tribune, Chicago, July 7.—A sentence of 15 years in prison was imposed on Harry Thomas Thompson, discharged Navy yeoman, who was convicted of spying on the United States Fleet for a Japanese agent. He received about $700 for his information.
Thompson is the first American penalized under the spy law written during the World War and was described by Judge Leon R. Yankwich, who levied the sentence, as America’s first convicted peace-time spy.
As the former seaman was brought into the crowded courtroom to hear his sentence a dozen other prisoners, also awaiting sentence, drew away from him. A scarred and hardened appearing criminal curled his lip in a sneer at Thompson.
The former yeoman was convicted of selling naval secrets to a Japanese, who was identified in a joint indictment as a lieutenant commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Thompson was found guilty at a speedy trial that lasted less than two days.
A funeral hush fell on the packed courtroom when Judge Yankwich began the talk that concluded with Thompson’s sentence. The prisoner kept his eyes straight ahead and his face set in a cast of immobility.—Los Angeles, Cal., July 6.— [Special.]
Lag in Building
Herald Tribune, New York, July 14.— The Navy Department disclosed tonight that despite efforts to speed up its building program, work on 49 of the 79 warships under construction was behind schedule.
On January 1 the Navy Department reported that delays in private and navy yards had held up from 6 to 8 months the completion dates for 50 of the 84 vessels then under construction.
Although several vessels have been completed in the last 6 months, the July 1 report indicated that the shipyards had been unable to overcome the time handicap imposed, officials said, by old N. R. A. requirements, shipyard troubles, shortage of experienced construction specialists, and other difficulties.
Of the 79 ships under construction, 28 have been launched. Hull construction is more than 75 per cent complete on 28, more than 50 per cent complete on 8, and more than 25 per cent complete on 21.
During June gains of 5 per cent or more were recorded in hull construction on the submarines Plunger, Pompano, and Skipjack and the destroyers Porter, Selfridge, McDougal, Winslow, Dunlap, and Mug- ford.
Engine and machinery installation is more than 75 per cent complete on 28 ships, more than 50 per cent complete on 17, and more than 25 per cent complete on 8.
Although the contracts call for completion of 30 vessels this year, only 25 are now scheduled to be completed before the end of December. Among those to be finished are 5 which, under the contracts, should have been completed late in 1935.
The airplane carrier Yorktown, originally slated to be finished in October, will not be ready for delivery until March, 1937. The aircraft carrier Enterprise, although more than 75 per cent finished, is 5 months behind schedule. The keel for the third carrier under construction, the Wasp, was laid in April. Progress has been slow, officials said.—Washington, July 13.
Sixteen-Inch Guns
Herald Tribune, N. Y., July 2.—Admiral William H. Standley, Chief of Naval Operations and Acting Secretary of the Navy, today hinted broadly that Japan’s rejection of the London naval treaty of 1936 limiting battleship armament to 14-in. guns may result in recommendation that new capital ship replacements the Navy will request next year be armed with 16-in. guns.
Aware of the fact that the United States has not received formal notification of the Japanese attitude, which has been communicated to Great Britain, Admiral Standley did not commit himself positively on the larger gun. Nevertheless, expressing the Navy’s best opinion, he said that he felt the 16-in. was “more advantageous” to the American fleet.
The Agreement of London provides that unless Japan and Italy agree to the smaller guns before April 1, 1937, 16-in. guns will continue to be legal in the fleets of the United States, Great Britain, and France.
The American battle fleet now has three ships armed with 16-in. guns, the West Virginia, Maryland, and Colorado, all completed after the World War. Eleven of the other capital ships carry guns of 14-in. caliber and the Arkansas is armed with 12-in. guns.
The immediate result of Japan’s rejection was the disclosure that Great Britain will invoke the “escalator” clause of the London treaty of 1930, whereby any signatory power is at liberty to increase tonnage in specified categories upon notification to treaty partners that new construction by non-signatory powers has materially affected its national security.
Britain’s purpose in taking advantage of the so-called “escape” provision is to retain excess destroyers due to be scrapped this year, in light of the fact that non-signatories have built more than 200 submarines since 1930. The United States, which is committed to maintenance of parity with Britain, will benefit by the latter’s decision because this country also has built beyond treaty limits in destroyer tonnage and will now not need to scrap excess construction.
Washington authorities have notified Britain that the United States is willing to accede to the British increase in destroyer strength provided the London government assumes exclusive responsibility for invoking the “escalator” clause. This country thus maintains to the uttermost degree possible its consistent opposition to naval expansion and anything that leads to renewed building competition.
Admiral Standley said that the question of an understanding between the United States and Great Britain to maintain the 14-in.-gun-type battleship, even in the event of failure of Rome and Tokyo to subscribe to the treaty provisions, had not been discussed. Neither did he have information whether Japan would use the 16-in. gun, he added.
Asked whether the United States was considering experiments with the “mosquito” torpedo boats now being built in quantities by the British navy, Admiral Standley said that while keeping abreast of all developments in armaments no particular attention had been given by the Navy high command to these swift little auxiliaries because it was preoccupied in building up standard types of ships to treaty strength. During the World War the United States, he recalled, used with some success “Eagle” boats similar to those now being built by the British.
The Admiral lamented failure of the recently adjourned session of Congress to enact legislation for the construction of 55 auxiliary ships such as oilers, coalers, and other non-combatant types for which the Navy had asked. He said that absence of these necessary adjuncts to the fighting fleet crippled the efficiency of the Navy and that another request for them would be made to the next Congress.—Washington, July 1.
Various Notes
Former Lieutenant Commander John S. Farnsworth, court-martialed from the Navy in 1927 for “scandalous” conduct, was remanded to jail here today in default of $10,000 bond following his plea of “not guilty” to charges of betraying American Navy secrets to the Japanese.
Farnsworth’s arrest came early today as the result of more than a year’s investigation of his activities by agents of the Naval Intelligence service in co-operation with agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice.
The specific charge against Farnsworth is that in May, 1935, he unlawfully “communicated, delivered, and transmitted” to an officer of the Japanese Imperial Navy a confidential publication of the Navy entitled “The Service of Information and Security.” It was said by naval officers to include information on naval tactics and critiques on existing and planned operations. —Herald Tribune, N.Y. Washington, July 14.
Despite the destructive effects on building efficiency of the long naval building holiday which preceded 1933, “an adequate Navy is being built,” Admiral William H. Standley, Chief of Naval Operations, tonight told the annual convention of the National Sojourners, Masonic group, comprising officers of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Public Health Service, and their reserves.
Urging the Sojourners to combat the activities of groups that oppose the building up of the Navy, Admiral Standley asserted, “if through the existence of the Navy we are spared the ordeal of war, and for generations that Navy never fires a gun in anger, or is engaged in battle—I say to you that no matter what it costs us, it is cheap at the price. Any amount of fire insurance premium is cheaper than a fire.”—Herald Tribune, N.Y. Washington, June 26.
In the first year since its reopening—after being closed about two years—the Great Lakes Naval Training Station received 3,071 recruits, Rear Admiral John Downes, commandant, announced yesterday. Of this number 2,031 were sent to sea or to naval trade schools. The station reopened a year ago. “As an evidence of the high type of recruits we are getting,” Rear Admiral Downes said, “less than 1 per cent have been discharged as unfit, and those principally for physical defects.”—Tribune, Chicago.
The Navy Department, Washington, D.C., will receive bids on August 19 for the construction of 6 destroyers and 3 submarines. These vessels will comprise half of the total building program in these categories during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1937. The other 6 destroyers and 3 submarines are to be built in navy yards. The Navy also asked bids on July 15 on the propelling machinery required for all 6 of the submarines.— Marine Progress.
Estimated Distribution of Naval Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1937, by States into which Moneys May Eventually Go
Alabama................................ $1,740,000
Arizona....................................... 234,000
Arkansas................................. 1,210,000
California............................... 38,130,000
Colorado................................. 1,865,000
Connecticut........................... 14,320,000
Delaware............................... 11,060,000
District of Columbia............... 26,900,000
Florida..................................... 3,686,000
Georgia................................... 3,203,000
Idaho......................................... 384,000
Illinois..................................... 9,800,000
Indiana.................................... 4,320,000
Iowa........................................ 2,605,000
Kansas.................................... 1,794,000
Kentucky.............................. 2,883,000
Louisiana................................. 3,585,000
Maine.................................... 10,560,000
Maryland................................ 13,150,000
Massachusetts...................... 37,730,000
Michigan.................................. 4,610,000
Minnesota............................... 2,000,000
Mississippi............................ 1,150,000
Missouri................................... 5,219,000
Montana..................................... 347,000
Nebraska.............................. 1,437,000
Nevada....................................... 220,000
New Hampshire....................... 1,815,000
New Jersey.......................... 16,450,000
New Mexico................................ 240,000
New York............................. 120,300,000
North Carolina......................... 2,622,000
North Dakota.............................. 302,000
Ohio........................................ 9,950,000
Oklahoma............................. 1,421,000
Oregon................................. 1,294,000
Pennsylvania........................ 91,000,000
Rhode Island......................... 10,950,000
South Carolina......................... 5,800,000
South Dakota............................. 405,000
Tennessee.............................. 2,299,000
Texas...................................... 5,765,000
Utah........................................... 642,000
Vermont..................................... 680,000
Virginia.................................. 30,950,000
Washington........................... 12,862,000
West Virginia........................... 2,226,000
Wisconsin................................ 4,215,000
Wyoming.................................... 217,000
Total expenditures............ $526,547,000
—Marine Progress.
The District Staff Headquarters, 12th Naval District, are now located in the Federal Office Building, Civic Center, San Francisco, California. The major part of the District activities are located on the third floor, while the Naval Reserve offices are located on the second floor, entrance at room No. 262, “McAllister” side of the building. Telephone No. is MArket 3741. To call the Naval Reserve office, call above number and then ask for extension No. 316. The Educational Center is still located at 105 Market Street.—The Log, San Francisco.
GREAT BRITAIN
Rebuilding the Navy
The Engineer, July 17.—Supplementary Estimates representing a total of £19,652,- 700 were issued July 9 for the three defense services. Of this sum, the Navy takes £1,059,000, the Army £6,600,000, and the Air Services £11,700,000, while £293,700 is earmarked for the Royal Ordnance Factories. It will be recalled that the original navy estimates for the current year, introduced on March 4, amounted to £69,930,000, but that no provision was made for new construction. The building program for 1936, it was announced on April 30, was to be financed by a supplementary estimate for £10,300,000. Provision was made for beginning 2 battleships, the keels of which are to be laid next January on the termination of the London naval treaty, together with 5 cruisers, 9 destroyers of the “Tribal” class, 1 aircraft carrier, 4 submarines, 6 sloops, and some miscellaneous craft. This program was critized at the time on the score of its inadequacy, particularly in regard to destroyers; but, as is now evident, the government had not then completed its stocktaking of the national resources for shipbuilding and naval armaments production, and was therefore reluctant to embark on a larger program which might have unduly taxed those resources. Fortunately, the shipyards and armament establishments have proved capable of undertaking heavier commitments than those originally contemplated, with the result that the building program for 1936 has been substantially enlarged. The additional ships covered by last week’s supplementary estimate are 2 cruisers (about 5,000 tons each), 1 leader and 8 destroyers, 1 aircraft carrier, and 4 submarines. The total cost of these additional ships is estimated to be £11,015,000, but only £150,000 of this sum is to be spent in the current financial year. Clearly, therefore, little progress can be made with the construction of the extra tonnage before the spring of 1937. Unless the “token vote” is largely increased by yet another supplementary estimate, it is difficult to see how overlapping, both in regard to the placing of contracts and the actual progress of work, can be avoided towards the end of the present financial year.
The First Lord of the Admiralty states in his explanatory memorandum that it has been found possible to accelerate certain ships of the existing program and to make earlier provision for some material at an estimated cost of £759,000. Unofficially, but on good authority, we learn that the 9,000-ton cruisers now building will probably be completed 6 months in advance of the original contract dates, and that destroyer and submarine construction is to be proportionately speeded-up. Further, to obviate delay in starting the 2 battleships next January, and to ensure the rapid progress of work on both, the sum to be spent on each ship has been increased from £202,900 to £403,360. Thanks to the additional vessels announced last week, the building program for 1936 has assumed really imposing proportions and now comprises the following units: Two battleships, 7 cruisers, 2 aircraft carriers, 18 destroyers, and 8 submarines, a total of 37 vessels, not counting sloops and smaller craft. While it is too early to analyze this program in any detail, some interesting facts about the new ships have been semiofficially disclosed. The battleships will be of approximately the same displacement as the Rodney and Nelson; that is, between 33,000 and 34,000 tons, and are to be armed with 14-in. guns. This caliber has been adopted in view of the fact that all the capital ships now building on the Continent are to carry guns of 13-in. caliber or less. The new American battleships, it is true, are to mount 16-in. guns, but there will be general approval of the British government’s policy of omitting the United States Navy from calculations of relative strength, whether expressed in terms of numbers of ships, individual tonnage, or gun caliber. From the technical point of view the decision to restrict the armament of our new battleships to 14-in. guns is equally to be welcomed. It means that the margin of weight available for protection will be appreciably greater than would be the case were the 16-in. gun retained, and no student of modern naval tactics will question the importance of endowing the capital ship with robust protection against gunfire, and against overhead and underwater attack. It will be surprising if the development of air power does not lead to radical changes in the design of the capital ship as we know her today, though it is to be doubted that the menace of the aircraft bomb will effect in naval architecture a revolution so far-reaching as that produced by the advent of the rifled shell gun nearly 80 years ago, which in the course of a single decade transformed the capital ship from a wooden-walled 3-decker into a mastless ironclad turret ship. We confidently anticipate that our new battleships will be considerably faster than the 25- knot Queen Elizabeths, hitherto the fastest battleships built in this country. Judging from contemporary foreign construction, high speed is more than ever in favor, and all the capital units now building in France, Italy, and Germany are designed for not less than 29 knots. The former line of demarcation between battleship and battle cruiser is already fading, and may be expected to disappear entirely within the near future. . . . Turning to cruisers, 5 of the 7 ships of this year’s program are to be comparatively small vessels of 5,000 tons, similar to the Arethusa class, while the remaining two will be sisters to the Southampton, of 9,000 tons. In contrast to the average type of cruiser now under construction for foreign navies, the Arethusa, with her armament of six 6-in. guns, is not impressive. On the other hand, the type is undoubtedly well adapted to convoy work and general service with the battle fleet and has the additional advantage of being relatively cheap. Nevertheless, we should prefer an intermediate cruiser of, say, 6,500 tons, capable of mounting eight 6-in. guns, because such a design would tend to preserve a more equitable balance of individual fighting power between British and foreign cruisers. The most satisfactory feature of the cruiser program is the evidence it affords of the government’s intention to fulfill its pledge to raise our cruiser strength to 70 ships with the minimum of delay. The additional destroyers are badly needed, for one of the most disturbing features of the naval situation today is our deficiency in modern destroyers. Whether or not the destroyer is the natural antidote to the submarine, naval authorities are agreed that our strength in the former type must be largely determined by the size of Continental submarine flotillas, all of which have undergone phenomenal expansion in recent years. Altogether, 34 destroyers have been authorized under the 1935-36 program, and 16 of these belong to the very powerful “Tribal” class of 1,850 tons. It is to be hoped that not less than 16 destroyers will be voted in each subsequent year, until the whole of our over-age tonnage now in service has been replaced and the destroyer establishment consists in the main of up-to-date craft in the minimum ratio of two units to each submarine possessed by the strongest Continental power. ... It is generally understood that the recent critical situation in the Mediterranean has confirmed the Admiralty in its opinion of the marked utility of the aircraft carrier, both as a floating base for aircraft serving with the fleet and as a means of rapidly projecting air power into regions where danger threatens. Hence the inclusion of two such vessels in this year’s program. Both ships will be much smaller than the Ark Royal, of 22,000 tons, now building, for apart from the question of cost, naval opinion is swinging steadily away from the huge carrier because of its extreme vulnerability to every form of attack and its dangerous concentration of many eggs in one basket. Little needs to be said about the addition of 4 submarines to the 1936 program, making 8 in all. Despite its sinister reputation, the submarine is a perfectly legitimate instrument of warfare, and one that is just as useful to the British Navy as to any other. In the World War British submarines were able to perform invaluable service without infringing in a single instance the rules of international law. It is therefore all to the good that the Navy should be provided with ample submarine strength.
As we have indicated above, the new naval program has perforce been conditioned by the country’s manufacturing resources and equally by the necessity of not interfering with the concurrent development of the other defense services, both of which, but particularly the Royal Air Force, are now making heavy demands on the industrial machine. Taking these circumstances into consideration, the naval program must, in our opinion, be deemed satisfactory. It would, however, be a grave mistake to assume that its completion will restore the Navy to the minimum standard of strength consistent with security, or indeed, that the new construction now in hand and authorized represents more than one stage in the long and costly process of rebuilding our neglected defenses.
New Battleships
Sun, Baltimore July 30.—Announcement today that orders have been given for two new battleships settles for the time being the “bomb versus battleship” argument that lately has consumed much time of British political and naval experts.
Recent armament debates in Parliament have been concerned not so much with the wisdom of rearmament—for the preponderant opinion favors rearmament with all possible speed—but over the form rearmament should take.
Many have contended that airplanes render battleships obsolete. Sir Samuel Hoare, First Lord of the Admiralty, has ordered an inquiry into the matter, but today he announced that the design of the battleships will not be affected by the inquiry’s recommendations.
Reports that the United States will build two new battleships are not considered likely to cause any change of plans either.
The government is at present wrestling with a bizarre legal problem involved in the laying down of ships. By the terms of the 1936 naval limitation treaty, France and the United States must be informed of the principal features of new ships at least 4 months before the keels are laid.
But the British government has not yet got around to ratifying the treaty, partly because of the preoccupation of Parliament with rearmament plans. Since Parliament will end its session this week, the ratification bill cannot be presented before November.
The government, however, wants to lay down the new ships early in January, as soon as the 1922 Washington naval treaty restrictions go out of force. Either the ships will have to be delayed, the government will have to break the 1936 treaty provisions before the treaty is ratified, or the government must advise the other powers of its plans before it is legally bound to do so.
Few details as to the new ships are yet available. It is known their guns will be 14-in. instead of 16-in. despite Japan’s announcement some time ago that she would not abide by the 14-in. limitation. British gunnery experts, however, are not strong for the larger-size guns.
Since the ships cannot exceed 35,000 tons, it is estimated they will cost in the neighborhood of $30,800,000, as the Nelson and the Rodney cost $880 a ton to build. The actual costs are not yet known, because the government placed its orders before specifications had been completed.
One reason the announcement was made today was to allay the disappointment in the Tyne and Mersey area over the news that the Queen Mary’s sister-ship is going to be built at Clyde.—London, July 29.
Various Notes
For many years Messrs. John I. Thornycroft & Co., Ltd., of London, Southampton, and Reading, have specialized at their Hampton works in the production of small high-speed surface craft, and in the course of their wide experience in this field have evolved a particularly efficient type of high-speed motor torpedo boat, which, owing to its speed characteristics, seaworthiness, and relatively high carrying capacity, is fast assuming an essential part in coastal defense and torpedo attack.
In recent months Messrs. Thornycroft have had under construction at their Hampton works several vessels of this type for a foreign power. These vessels have a length of 55-ft. and a beam of 11-ft. The hull is constructed of double-skin mahogany, and forward there is an extra skin fitted, which forms part of the step on which the boat planes when at speed.
The armament consists of two torpedoes, depth charges, two pairs of machine guns, and smoke floats. The torpedo-firing arrangements are such that the torpedo is discharged in the direction of the vessel’s motion, which is changed immediately after discharging. The firing is carried out by rams using cordite charges, and at the time of ejection the gear setting the torpedo’s compressed- air machinery in motion is operated.—The Shipbuilder and Marine Engineer.
The first two motor torpedo boats ordered under the supplementary navy estimate of 1935 have recently been commissioned at Portsmouth. They form part of an order for 6 from the British Power Boat Co. of Hythe, Southampton, and are generally similar in power plant and hull design to the R.A.F. rescue boat, described in a Journal note of June 5 last. They may be regarded as the successors of the Thornycroft “C.M.B.’s” used successfully at Zeebrugge and Kronstadt during the war, although they have been developed independently by the designer, Mr. Scott Paine. The new type of vessel is essentially a high-speed motor launch, carrying 2 torpedo tubes on the after deck and machine gun armament. No attempt at protective armoring is made, as the vessel’s speed is in excess of 40 knots and, coupled with her small size, makes her an exceedingly difficult target to hit, and airplane bombing is unlikely. The vessel has a crew of 8 or 10 men under one officer. Each costs about £23,000 and its ability to keep at sea in rough weather is claimed to be little less than that of a destroyer costing about thirteen times as much. It is claimed that in addition to its qualities in time of war, this type of vessel enables all ranks to get training in the handling of high-speed craft and also in the care and attention of modern high-speed petrol engines, which do not generally come within the purview of naval engine-room ratings.—The Engineer.
The King had a cordial popular reception when he visited Portsmouth to inspect the Royal Naval and Marine Establishments.
His Majesty, who was given a civic welcome at the city boundary at Portsbridge, drove to the Royal Naval Barracks, where he inspected the officers and men of the barracks and representatives of other ships in port.
After visiting H.M.S. Vernon and inspecting the officers and men, the King embarked in the fast new motor torpedo boat No. 1, in which he proceeded to H.M.S. Excellent. There he inspected the officers and men of the Gunnery School and representatives from ships of the Reserve Fleet and H.M.S. St. Vincent. An inspection at the Royal Marine Barracks, Eastney, followed, and the King had luncheon with Admiral Sir John and Lady Kelly at Admiralty House. He afterwards went on board the royal yacht Victoria and Albert and inspected the officers and men—Times, London.
Sir Samuel Hoare, First Lord, received Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, commanding the U.S. Naval Training Squadron, at the Admiralty yesterday morning. Sir Samuel Hoare and Lord Stanley, Parliamentary Secretary of the Admiralty, received 50 naval cadets at the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.—Times, London, June 25.
With reference to the article in The Times of yesterday on the first promotions to the new rank of captain (E), it is authoritatively stated that the upper limit of the zone of selection of commanders (E) for this rank has recently been raised. It is now llj years instead of 11 years.
The effect of this change is to retain in the zone until the promotions due in December next all the officers at present at the head of the list of commanders (E). There are three commanders (E) with seniority of June 30, 1925, who still have a chance of further advancement. One of these officers was in the first batch of cadets entered at Osborne in September, 1903; the other two were in the second batch, entered in January, 1904.
The midsummer promotions show that the zones for the ranks of captain and commander are still very crowded. The zone for promotion to captain this time included commanders with from 4 to 8 years’ seniority, that is, who were promoted commander between June, 1932, and June, 1928. In this zone were 186 officers, whose positions on the commanders’ list ranged from 50 to 235. The 12 who have been promoted stood in the positions of 55, 67, 74, 75, 82, 88, 90, 95, 129, 159, 184, and 210. It will be noted that large blocks were passed over without a single promotion between them—33 officers in one case and 29 in another. Taking the zone as a whole, the ratio of total officers to vacancies was as 15 to 1; taking the section of the commanders’ list from which promotions were actually made, the total of officers to vacancies was as 13 to 1.
With the exception of Captain Rory O’Conor, the junior of the group, who is promoted with 4 ½ years’ seniority, and who has been executive officer in H.M.S. Hood for nearly 3 years, none of the new captains comes from a flagship. Except for Captain A. G. N. Wyatt, who is Superintendent of the Chart Branch in the Hydrographic Department, none comes from the Admiralty. The list includes one gunnery specialist, 2 who have commanded submarines and 4 destroyers, 2 navigators, 1 hydrographic specialist, and 2 non-specialists, both of whom have qualified, however, at the Staff College.
The senior of the group, Captain D. J. R. Simson, was King’s Medallist of his term at Osborne and Dartmouth in 1905-09. He was sublieutenant of the destroyer Acasta at the beginning of the war, and during the past year has commanded 4 destroyers—the Thanet at the Jubilee Review; the Vivien and Winchelsea in the 20th Flotilla, Home Fleet; and the new leader Grenville.—Times, London, July 3.
The new naval training establishment at Rosyth is to be on a more extensive scale than was generally understood from earlier references to the matter. The original idea was that the large number of destroyers and other craft in maintenance reserve at the Forth base would be utilized for accommodation and instruction. Probably, this course may be followed as a temporary measure, but it is now known that a great permanent establishment is to be constructed at an estimated cost of three-quarters of a million.
A sum of £1,000 only is included in the supplementary navy estimate recently approved by Parliament towards putting this work in hand, from which it would appear that progress will not be very rapid, at any rate, in the immediate future. Probably, with the development of the new Impregnable establishment at Devonport and the formation of a training division in the Second Battle Squadron, the organization will be sufficient to meet the growing demands upon it for some time to come.
It appears likely that the Rosyth establishment is intended to become the chief of the training organizations. One reason for this assumption is that it will be more comprehensive in character than the others. Not only boys for the seamen class are to be trained there, but artificer apprentices as well. Heretofore, these latter have only been instructed in the old Fisgard at Portsmouth and the present Mechanical Training Establishment at Chatham. No more practical testimony could be desired as to the reality of the new era of naval expansion than this doubling of the training resources upon a permanent basis.
The selection of Rosyth for the new establishment has been largely determined by the relative remoteness from the risk of air attack. Probably, this is more a concession to sentiment than a counsel of prudence, since, in face of the steadily- increasing range of bombing aircraft, there can be no claim to immunity from Continental raids anywhere along the Eastern seaboard. Apart from this consideration, however, Rosyth is excellently adapted to the purpose.—Naval and Military Record.
On September 1 next, H.M.S. Birmingham, one of the 4 cruisers authorized in the 1934 naval program, will be launched.—The Engineer.
Great Britain notified the United States and Japan today that it was taking advantage of Art. 21—the so-called escalator clause—of the London naval treaty of 1930.
A formal note handed to the American Ambassador here, Robert W. Bingham, and the Japanese Charge d’Affaires, Keinosuke Fujii, by Robert Leslie Cragie, naval expert of the British Foreign Office, stated that the clause was being invoked to enable Britain to retain 40,000 tons of overage destroyer tonnage beyond the tonnage figure in this class of naval strength to which the British Commonwealth of Nations would be entitled under the terms of the treaty.
Bingham and Fujii also were informed in the memorandum of the reasons why the British government contends that its retention of the Hawkins class cruisers is in accordance with the treaty. Britain intends to retain 3 cruisers of this class by reducing the size of their guns, and a fourth is being converted into a training ship. It is understood that Japan previously had objected to Britain’s plan to retain the cruisers.
In the case of the cruisers, the treaty is not involved, according to the British government’s contention, since gun calibers of three ships are to be reduced and the fourth ship put to other uses.
Tonight, officials said there had as yet been no reaction to the invocation of the escalator clause to keep aging British destroyers in active service. The American Navy has the right to keep at parity with the British strength, and thus would be entitled to salvage 40,000 tons in the same category. Japan would be entitled to three-fifths, or 24,000 tons.—Herald Tribune, N. Y. London, July 15.
The British government today decided to forbid flights by the German Zeppelin Hindenburg over the British Isles unless bad weather forces the giant airship off its course. The decision also affects other German airships.
This step was taken following wide-spread alarms raised in the last two weeks over the fact the Hindenburg had been crossing repeatedly over sections of the country where naval bases, fortifications, and other important links in the government’s big rearmament program are located.—Tribune, Chicago. London, July 8.
In the interests of general European peace, Anthony Eden, Foreign Secretary, hinted today Great Britain is willing to let pass without comment “minor affronts” such as German remilitarization of the Rhineland.
The question arose in Commons incident to reports that Germany had refortified Helgoland, small German island in the North Sea, in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
Britain’s anxiety, Eden made plain in replying to a question by Sir William Davison, was to obtain a major peace instrument for all of Europe at the proposed 5-power Locarno conference.
Overlooking of Germany’s “minor affronts” will be part and parcel of the Anglo-French policy as agreed upon at the recent tri-power Locarno conversations here, it was authoritatively stated, while replies are awaited from Germany and Italy to the 5-power parley invitations in September.— Sun, Baltimore. London, July 29(AP).
The wide margin by which Great Britain remains the world’s greatest naval power—despite the naval building spurt by other sea powers —was shown tonight by an official table of comparative data on navies made by the Navy Department. The table follows:
[TABLE]
According to figures released by Naval Intelligence the British Navy has the greatest total tonnage of any, the largest tonnage of modern underage ships, and leads in the number of aircraft carriers and heavy and light cruisers.— Tribune, Chicago. Washington, D. C. July 23(JP).
FRANCE
Various Notes
Air Minister Pierre Cot, accused of delivering a secret airplane gun to Russia, denied the Rightist charge in the Chamber of Duputies today.
The Deputies responded with a vote of confidence on the government’s policy of “technical and industrial co-operation with Soviet Russia under the mutual assistance pact.”
The vote was 403 to 162.
Cot said he was ready to extend the policy to “all countries sharing in collective security, even to Germany.”
While denying he had delivered the gun to Russia, the Air Minister refused “to discuss if the gun will be delivered or not.”
Cot said the French government would differentiate between “indispensable secrets and necessary exchanges.”
Rightists charged Cot had given the Soviets a model of a new .23-mm. airplane gun.
Henry de Kerillis, Rightist Deputy, disclosed the gun, mounted in an airplane motor, fires 800 shots a minute. He said only 6 such guns exist and asked if they should not have been kept a secret for the French Army alone.
Cot, refusing Kerillis’ demand for an investigation, called for a vote of confidence against a Rightist motion for the inquiry.
The Rightist Deputy declared he had been accused of “revealing secret agreements between France and Russia” in disclosing a model of the gun was sent to the Soviet.
“None exists,” retorted the Air Minister.
Cot, recalling that France bought licenses for foreign guns, declared “it is impossible to get a treaty without reciprocity.”
“There is no one-way co-operation,” he added. “Exchanges are necessary between friendly nations.”—Star, Washington. Paris, July 10.
The general strike declared yesterday reached ominous proportions today as red flags fluttered over the battleship Strasbourg and two cruisers, the Georges Leygues and the Marseillaise, which were added to the list of vessels already occupied by strikers.
Although the flags were at half-mast in memory of two strikers killed in a card game dispute, the incident did not have any connection with the walkout, it was reported.—Japan Advertiser. St. Nazaire, June 27.
The new French battleship Dunkerque has undergone her preliminary sea trials, and is reported to have exceeded a speed of 29.5 knots. The building of her sister-ship, the Strasbourg, is well advanced at the Penhoët yard, and it is expected that she will be launched in the autumn. —The Engineer.
The French Naval Minister has decided that the second new 35,000-ton battleship is to be built at St. Nazaire, partly by Société des Chan- tiers et Ateliers de St.Nazaire-Penhoët, and partly by Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire. It has not yet been decided whether the keel will be laid in the Penhoët yard or in the new building dock under construction at the yard of Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire. The two new vessels are to be named Richelieu and Jean Bart, respectively. —The Engineer.
During maneuvers off the French coast the destroyer Foudroyant came into collision with the battleship Lorraine and her bows were badly damaged.—The Engineer.
The Chamber of Deputies July 17 approved the government’s bill providing for expropriation by decree of private armaments manufacturers and nationalization of the arms industry. The vote was 484 to 85.—Times, New York.
GERMANY
Various Notes
A new yachting Ensign was introduced quite recently. It is a modified mercantile Ensign (swastika flag), showing a white-edged black anchor as background to the white swastika shield. This flag may only be flown by sporting vessels which either belong to the Reichsbund für Leibestibüngen or are listed there as exclusive property of one of its members.
In addition to this a new postal flag for mail steamers was introduced. It is a triangular white and red-edged flag bearing the inscription: “Deutsche Post.”
Launchings: Destroyers W 899 at Bremen, Deschimag-Weser, on March 24, 1936, and G 535 at Kiel, Germania yard, on March 27, 1936. Of course, both numbers are only the building numbers applied by the shipbuilding yards. These vessels will either carry a number between “Z 1” and “Z 16” as indicated by the official list for 1936 or, more probably, a name that is to be given later. 750-ton submarines U 25 on February 14, and U 26 on March 14, 1936, both at Bremen, Deschimag-Weser yard. 250-ton submarines U 15 on February 15, and U 16 on April 28, 1936, both at Deutsche Werke, Kiel. Sail training vessel Horst Wessel laid down at Hamburg, Blohm & Voss shipbuilding yard, on June 13, 1936. She carries the name of a well-known Nazi Storm Trooper who was killed by Communists in 1931. Horst Wessel was the young poet who created the second German national hymn.
Commissioned: 750-ton submarines V 25 on April 6, and U 26 on May 11,1936. Mine sweepers F 4 on April 5, F 5 on May 1, F 6 on May 25, all of them at Kiel. Later, there were completed and commissioned the training yacht Orion, built at Travemünde, and a vessel named Duhnen of unknown type or character. The yacht commissioned on April 22, while the other unit passed into service at Kiel on June 14, 1936.
The tender M 113, attached to the E.A.U. (submarine testing committee) was renamed Acheron in memory of a similar vessel lost during the World War.
On May 30, the big Marine-Ehrenmal at Laboe was inaugurated in the presence of the Führer and the highest authorities of the navy, army, empire, and party. Prior to the main celebrations, great naval exercises combined with exercises of the fleet’s air arm, and finally a large naval review took place which the Führer attended in the admiralty yacht Grille.
On June 7, a “navy day” was held at Swinemünde, and various units—among them the latest cruiser Nürnberg and some “F” boats— were thrown open to public inspection.
The city of Kiel is now well prepared for the great sailing races to be held here during the Eleventh Olympiad. The careful buoying of the racing areas and the thorough survey as well as the starting, etc., during the races of the boats, are almost exclusively work of the Navy.— Courtesy of Ulrich Schreier, Berlin.
The “keel” of Germany’s new airship LZ130, sister to the Hindenburg, was “laid” on June 23 in the great hall at Friedrichshafen in which the Hindenburg was built. The main and subsidiary rings are already hanging from the roof and work is now proceeding on the horizontal braces. When these are completed the greater part of the duralumin frame will be ready. The LZ130 will take less time in building than her predecessor, but is not expected to be launched before the end of next year. She will have room for 50 passengers, like the Hindenburg, but the crew’s quarters will be larger.—Times, London. Berlin, June 26.
Special German representatives, reported negotiating a proposed trade pact between Germany and China, and national government authorities were uncommunicative today.
It is thought the pact will be a “barter agreement” for the exchange of goods with the understanding Germany will ship desired manufactured articles to China over a period of 5 years and that China will be allowed 15 years to pay.
It is expected a joint commission of the two governments will be established in Shanghai to supervise the execution of the pact when it is concluded. It was said in informed sources the agreement probably would be finished within two weeks. Neither the German embassy nor the national government foreign offices is participating in the conversations, which are believed to concern more than the peace-time development of materials.—Tribune, Chicago. Nanking, June 28(2P).
On her fourth return flight across the North Atlantic the Hindenburg set up a new record by landing at Frankfort 45 hours 39 minutes after leaving Lakehurst, New Jersey.—The Engineer.
A German company has ordered a new 29,000- ton floating factory and 8 chasers for the whaling industry. The new vessel, which will be one of the largest in service, will be in service next season.— The Engineer.
Reports have been current recently in various quarters that the German government have been disturbed by the course of the negotiations at Montreux for modification of the Straits Convention, which governs the passage of men-of-war through the Bosporus and Dardanelles. It has been suggested that Germany regards the proposal to accord free right of passage of the Straits to Russian war vessels in the Black Sea as threatening to upset the equilibrium of naval strength; and that the German government may make this the basis of a demand for increase in the 35 per cent ration accepted in the Anglo-German Naval Agreement last year.—Times, London, July 2.
ITALY
Various Notes
Amid a flag-waving burial for sanctions, Premier Mussolini moved July 15 into a period of close collaboration with an Adriatic neighbor, King Zog of Albania.
Taught by the Ethiopian war and its resultant sanctions the necessity of developing Albania’s oil resources to the utmost, Italy has given King Zog five loans totalling about 30,000,000 gold francs. The Albanian dictator has given his Italian colleague a big oil concession, various political promises, and a better port at Durazzo for future use. —Times, New York.
Since the formal announcement was made some months ago that detachments of parachutists were to be formed with the Italian Army an almost complete silence has been maintained as to the objects and progress of this new body. Now, however, a Roman newspaper, in referring to these parachute units, says they may be considered as the latest of the many specialized branches of the infantry.
By means first of the airplane and then of the parachute the infantryman will, in certain circumstances, be able to launch an offensive where hitherto he could never arrive, or where at least he could never make his first surprise attack, that is, “behind the lines of an enemy army and well inside his territory.” It is foreseen that experimental attacks will probably be limited to a force of one battalion, but the employment of larger forces is considered possible. Attacks by- parachute units, it is suggested, might very well be made for the purpose of destroying aerodromes, railways, or industrial establishments in the heart of an enemy country; making secure the head or flanks of an advancing force; or occupying strategic points, such as a pass or narrow valley, in order either to prevent re-enforcements or supplies from reaching the enemy front line or to annihilate a retreating enemy.—Times, London.
Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani ordered the installation or use of private radio stations halted in Addis Ababa. The viceregal order was issued on the grounds the Italian government station is capable of handling all government and private messages.
The United States legation in Addis Ababa is equipped with a wireless station. It was over this station that the beleaguered Minister-resident, Cornelius Van H. Engert, and his staff asked British military assistance when the legation was surrounded by a mob previous to the Italian occupation last spring.
The message was transmitted to Washington which, in turn, passed the request to London. The British government communicated, also by wireless, to the British legation, which maintains another radio station.—Star, Washington. Addis Ababa, July 10.
JAPAN
Japanese Naval Aviation
Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette, July 9.— Japanese naval aviation has always been under the control of the Admiralty, and is quite separate and distinct from the military or civil air services. It has its headquarters at Tokyo under an officer of flag rank. For the general examination of questions concerning air technicalities and policy, there is a Supreme War Council, with which co-operate a council of marshals and a grand air council. The following details of the present disposition of the service are published by La France Mililaire:
Yokosuka Station: 6 squadrons at Opama; 7 squadrons at Kasoumigoura; 4 squadrons at Tateyama; 1 squadron at Chichijima (Bonin Islands); 3 squadrons at Kure; 6 squadrons at Saeki.
Sasebo Station: 2 squadrons at Sasebo; 2 squadrons at Oumoura.
Ominato Station: 2 squadrons at Ominato; 2 naval aeronautical stations are being constructed at Mouzourou and Tchinhai (Korea).
Aircraft carriers in actual service are: Akagi, 26,900 tons,* with a speed of 28 ½ knots, and carrying 50 airplanes; Hosho, 7,470 tons, with a speed of 25 knots, and carrying 26 airplanes; Kaga, 26,900 tons, with a speed of 25 knots, and carrying 60 airplanes; Ruyjo, 7,100 tons, speed of 25 knots, and carrying 24 airplanes.
Another aircraft carrier, Soryu, of 10,050 tons, is now being built. Two other ships, Kama and Notoro, of 19,500 and 14,000 tons, respectively, carry 16 planes each.
In addition the following planes are carried on board other ships: 3 planes for each battleship and cruiser; 2 or 4 planes for each battle cruiser; 1 plane for each light cruiser. The Navy has an air force school at Kasoumigou, and one for observation at Yokosuka.
The details of Japanese naval planes are as follows:
Fighters: Nakajima 90: 450 to 500 hp., maximum speed at 6,500 ft. 200 m.p.h.; attains a height of 16,400 ft. in 7 ½ min.; ceiling 32,000 ft.; 2 fixed machine guns; radius of action 400 mi. Nakajima: 450 to 500 hp., maximum speed at 6,500 ft. 250 m.p.h.; attains a height of 16,400 ft. in 6 ½ min.; radius of action, 370 miles; 2 fixed machine guns.
Reconnaissance planes: Nakajima 90- 116: 450 to 500 hp.; radius of action, 435 mi.
Aichi 92: 600 hp.; 1 fixed machine gun, 2 mobile machine guns.
Mitsubishi 89: 650 hp.; ceiling 14,700 ft.; 1 fixed machine gun; 2 mobile machine guns; bomb load, 2,200 lb.; radius of action 682 mi.
General purpose airplanes: Mitsubishi 90: 450 hp.; attains a height of 13,100 ft. in 13 min.; ceiling, 19,700 ft.; 1 fixed machine gun, 2 mobile; radius of action 370 mi.
Kawanisi 94: 750 hp.; 1 fixed machine gun, 2 mobile; radius of action, 340 mi.
Long distance reconnaissance flying boats: Hiroshima 90-1, equipped with three 700-hp. engines; maximum speed 140 m.p.h.; attains a height of 6,500 ft. in 11 min.; ceiling 16,400 ft.; 4 mobile machine guns; carrying a bomb load of 1,980 lb.; radius of action 930 mi.
Kawanisi 90-11, equipped with three 850-hp. engines; ceiling 16,400 ft.; 4 mobile machine guns; carrying a bomb load of 1,980 lb.
Kawanisi 91, equipped with three 650-hp. engines; 4 mobile machine guns; carrying a bomb load of 1,980 lb.; radius of action 930 mi.
The total number of squadrons given in the foregoing summary shows an increase of 50 per cent on the total given in All the World’s Aircraft, viz., 33 instead of 22. There are increases at most of the stations, the largest being from one squadron to six squadrons at Saeki.
Civil Flying Encouraged
Japan Advertiser, June 16.—The army and naval authorities are negotiating for the establishment of either an air ministry or an air board to promote civil aviation, the Chugai Shogyo reports in an article that points with concern to the strides made by the Soviets and the comparative backwardness of Japan.
Initiative for the move comes from the War Office, it was stated. When agreement has been reached with the Navy, a plan will be submitted to the Cabinet or the new organ, to supervise air transportation and the aircraft industry and extend subsidies to civil aviation enterprises on a large scale. The army and naval air forces will not be controlled by the new unit, however, but naval and military experts will be appointed to membership on it.
The Navy is in full accord with the desire of the Army for the establishment of such an institution for controlling and promoting civil aviation, says Domei. Attributing Japan’s backwardness in air development to geographical conditions, the Navy believes that positive guidance and assistance should be given to aviation enterprises, and that private aeronautical institutes should be unified and placed under control and protection in order to improve aeronautical technique. In effecting the renovations, however, friction should be avoided between the air forces of the Army and Navy, according to the view of the latter.
Fuel Program
Japan Advertiser, June 17.—The navy authorities are pressing the government for the prompt establishment of a fuel policy, pointing out the importance of the problem not only to national defense but to the industry and finance of the nation, the Nichi Nichi reports.
The program being advocated by the Navy is said to include accumulation of oil reserves, development of resources within Japan proper with subsidies for prospecting, development of oil resources available to Japan abroad and scientific research in an effort to find substitutes.
In addition, naval officials are encouraging efforts to produce a motor car that will burn wood efficiently and the use of electric motor cars. They are advocating stricter control of the use of gasoline to prevent its waste and increased application of electric power to transportation.
Points in the Navy’s program for a national fuel policy as outlined by the Nichi Nichi are:
(1) Accumulation of certain quantities of fuel reserves during peace time for industrial and defense purposes, as provided for in the oil enterprise law.
(2) Development of resources within Japan proper. There is oil available in southern Saghalien, the Hokkaido and Aomori, Akita, Niigata, and Nagano Prefectures, as well as in Taiwan. Prospecting requires considerable effort and expense, however, and it will be necessary to extend grants-in-aid to increase the output.
(3) In seeking oil resources abroad, efforts are being directed mainly in prospecting in northern Saghalien. The Navy Office has extended aid in the promotion of the search of oil there, and the output has been increased as a result. Further encouragement will be given to the development of sources of oil supply abroad.
(4) The South Manchuria Railway Company will soon start the liquefaction of coal on an industrial scale, and the Japan Nitrates Fertilizer Company will start a similar enterprise, using a method which has been patented by the Navy. Oil liquefaction being important for national defense, the naval authorities are ready to extend aid to such enterprises.
To Avoid Naval Race
Tribune, Chicago, July 21.—Independent building which will not involve competition with the United States and strict secrecy are the governing principles of the new naval plans now before the Japanese Cabinet, the newspaper Jiji reported today.
The article sketched a new style Japanese fleet, which, it was asserted, need not start a naval race, as it avoids construction that could be regarded as endangering the United States.
In the treatyless period now near Japan will no longer have to disclose her armaments. She will, therefore, build up an “ideal economical fleet suited to her national problem and geographical requirements,” the newspaper declared.
The following characteristics of future building were outlined:
There will be no competition in capital ships. Japan will continue to build capital ships of the most modern and most powerful type, but will not seek the same numbers as the United States.
As submarines and destroyers are especially suited to Japan’s defensive requirements, the Japanese Navy will build and maintain the world’s largest destroyer and submarine fleet.
Aircraft will be developed to the highest possible point, qualitatively and quantitatively. As secrecy is essential, the navy’s plans will not be publicly announced in the future, and increased restrictions will be imposed on foreigners’ movements near naval ports.—Tokyo, July 20.
Building Plans
Japan Advertiser, June 30.—Minimum expansion of the Japanese Navy by 200,000 tons before the end of the 1941-42 fiscal year is believed inevitable in authoritative naval circles here to cope with the international situation, the Yomiuri says, although definite plans apparently have not yet been adopted by the government to meet the projected increases in American and British sea power. According to tentative proposals whose adoption is thought likely by the newspaper, the Japanese authorities may decide on) additional construction of 30,000 to 40,000 tons a year, starting immediately, at a cost of 160,000- 000 yen to 170,000,000 yen, which would boost the annual naval budget for the intervening period to approximately 650,000,000 yen.
At the Cabinet meeting on July 3, Navy Minister Osami Nagano is expected to announce the outlines of a counter-program to deal with the augmented naval establishments abroad. He will confine his statement to a review of American and British plans, together with a broad estimate of sequential Japanese needs, and thus the move will be important mainly as a Cabinet announcement of the Japanese Navy’s decision to build also.
Naval experts here meanwhile are said to be engaged in the formulation of two or three graduated building plans, whose adoption will be eventually decided by the Navy Ministry in accordance with more concrete decisions in Britain and the United States concerning the size of their navies. The Japanese plans, pending final adoption, will be kept strictly secret.
It was pointed out that the task of preparing the new programs is somewhat complicated and not without special difficulties, because the first and second naval replenishment plans are already in force and the third replenishment plan, which has been approved only in tentative form, is not scheduled to commence operation for several years to come. Meantime, the authorities concerned are pressed with the need of compiling the naval budget for next fiscal year.
Accused
Japan Advertiser, June 26.—Forty-five persons connected with the magazine Sea and Sky, devoted to naval and aviation subjects, who had been arrested by gendarmes on charges of publishing secrets of warships and airplanes, had their examination records turned over to procurators. They are charged with violating laws for the protection of military secrets and fortified zones.
The remainder of the more than 100 arrested in the investigation, young readers of the magazine, mostly students, were released with police reprimands.
The staff of the magazine, which is edited by Mr. Aizo Yokoseki, one of those detained, is alleged to have organized “secret reporting groups” of readers throughout the country. These groups had organs of their own, with such titles as Sea Gull, Black Current, Beacons, or Wings, in which they published “secret news,” according to Domei.
In Tokyo local groups met at the Meiji Confectionery Company’s tea room in Kyobashi and at the Y. W. C. A. in Kanda, it is alleged and held discussion sessions in which they exchanged information on airplanes and warships, some of which they divulged to foreigners. Some of their “documents” were also said to have been obtained by representatives in Japan of foreign offices.
Various Notes
The War Office announced July 12 the execution of 15 men concerned in the February military revolt in Tokyo. Thirteen were former officers of the Army who were concerned in the seizure of part of the downtown section. Two were civilians. They were sentenced by a special court-martial organized under a decree of the Emperor and the executions took place July 12.—Times, N. Y., July 13.
The keel of a 10,050-ton airplane carrier, the Hiryu, will be laid at Yokosuka tomorrow, naval authorities announced today. The Hiryu is the last airplane carrier included in the Japanese Navy’s present program and will complete the tonnage allotted Japan under the provisions of the Washington naval treaty. A sister-ship, the Soryu, is nearing completion at the Kure naval base.—Star, Washington, July 7.
Admiral Nagano, Navy Minister, will submit to the Cabinet today an outline of the navy’s ship-building proposals, from which figures will be omitted. The press anticipates that he will give the round figure of $587,000,000, spread over 5 years, as the approximate cost of the navy’s replenishment program.
The Minister’s statement will outline the international position, especially the American and British building plans and emphasize the urgency of increasing Japan’s naval air force and the necessity of replying to new American capital ships. Its most interesting section deals with Japan’s policy of creating an independent fleet suited to her special requirements.—Times, N. Y., July 17.
Purporting to represent the Cabinet’s views, the newspaper Asahi points out that Japan’s financial conditions do not permit her to carry out a vast plan covering both defense and social reform. If the defense plans are accepted the result will be abandonment of the social reform, it adds.—Times, N. Y., July, 16.
A plan to give the agrarian and fishing communities more of the benefits of huge naval budget expenditures by employing rural youth in the naval arsenals for periods of several years and then sending them back with their savings was disclosed by Navy Minister Osami Nagano at a luncheon here yesterday noon which closed a week’s conference of directors of arsenals.
He also urged that munitions authorities should strive to buy more supplies from the rural communities and give technical guidance to households capable of manufacturing munitions. —Japan Advertiser.
The Navy’s special service ship Takasaki will be launched at the naval dockyard at Yokosuka on Friday afternoon at 5:15 o’clock, Domei declares. The vessel has a length of 201.26 meters and a beam of 18.11 meters, displacing 12,000 tons. Developing a speed of 19 knots, the Takasaki will carry four 5-in. guns.—Japan Advertiser, June 7.
A 12-year army expansion plan was handed by Lieut. Gen. Count Juichi Terauchi, Secretary of War, to Premier Kohi Hirota, vernacular newspapers reported today.
In addition to the expansion, the program was said to deal with improvement of weapons and replenishment of munitions, at a total cost of 3,000,000,000 yen (approximately $875,000,000).
Authorities said any outline by the Secretary of War would be confined to generalities and would probably be greatly altered before reaching the accomplishment stage. The Cabinet has just started its preliminary deliberations on the budget for 1937-38.
Count Terauchi’s proposal, the newspapers said, contemplates spending the majority of the three billion yen during the first 6 years, concentrating on expansion of the air force, and re-enforcement of Japan’s Army in Manchuria.—Star, Washington. Tokyo, July 15.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Brazil
In July, 1936, the following was the distribution of the ships of the Brazilian Navy:
Fleet
Battleship São Paulo (flag of Rear Admiral Dario Paes Leme de Castro, Commander in Chief of the Fleet).
Cruiser Division: Cruisers Bahia (Flag of Rear Admiral Mario de Oliveira Sampaio, Commander of the Cruiser Division) and Rio Grande do Sul.
Destroyer Flotilla: Tender Belmonte and destroyers Maranhão, Santa Caterina, Rio Grande do Norte, Matto Grosso, Sergipe, Paraiba, Piaul, and Alagoas.
Auxiliaries: Fleet repair ship Cearã and tug Annibal de Mendonça.
The commander of the cruiser division is normally a captain. Rear Admiral Oliveira Sampaio was a captain when ordered to his present command. The commander of the destroyer flotilla is Captain Alvaro Nogueira da Gama. In port he flies his pennant on the repair ship Belmonte; while at sea he shifts to a destroyer, usually the Maranhdo.
The training ship Almirante Saldanha is now in Europe on an instructional cruise with midshipmen. She operates directly under the orders of the Chief of the Naval Staff.
Ships operating under the orders of the Directorate of Navigation: Hydrographic ships Vital de Oliveira, Calheiros da Graça, José Bonifacio, and Rio Branco; mine layer Tenente Maria do Couto; lighthouse tender Tenente Lahmeyer; and oil tanker Novaes de Abreu.
Matto Grosso Flotilla (under a captain with headquarters on shore) monitor Pernambuco, gunboat Oyapock, and tug Voluntario.
Amazon Flotilla (under a commander with headquarters on shore): lighthouse tender, Tenente Mario Alves and gunboat Amapã.
Undergoing modernization: Battleship Minas Geraes. Undergoing minor repairs: Destroyers Rio Grande do Norte and Matto Grosso of the destroyer flotilla of the fleet; tugs Heitor Perdigão, Muniz Freire (loaned to the Brazilian Lloyd Steamship Company), D.N.O.G. (meaning Divisão Naval em Operacão de Guerra) and Laurindo Pita, and the large submarine Humaytã.
In reserve: Old coast defense battleship Floriano and destroyer Parã. These ships will probably be scrapped soon.—Information compiled from reliable sources and contributed by Walton L. Robinson.
Chile
During 1936 the Chilean Active Fleet was organized as follows:
Escuadra Activa
1st Division: Dreadnought Almirante Latore (flagship of the rear admiral, commander in chief of the Active Fleet), armored cruiser General O'Higgins, protected cruiser Blanco Encalada.
2nd Division: Destroyers Serrano, Orella, Riquelme, Hyatt, A Idea, and Videla.
Submarine Division: Depot-ship Araucano, submarines Capitán O’Brien, Capitán Thompson, and Almirante Simpson.
Auxiliaries: Oil tanker Maipo, mine sweepers Elicura and Orompello, tugs Piloto Sibbald, Janequeo, and Artillero.
The cruiser Chacabuco is under refit; when she is ready for service she will replace the Blanco Encalada in the 1st Division; the Blanco will then be sent to the Straits of Magellan as station ship.
Ships in reserve: Old coast defense battleship Capitdn Prat; school-ship General Baquedano; destroyers Williams, Riveros, Uribe, Lynch, and Condell; submarines: all six of the H type. Other miscellaneous ships, mine sweepers, tugs, etc., are also in reserve.—Information compiled from reliable sources and contributed by Walton L. Robinson.
Estonia
The launch of two submarines for the Estonian Navy took place at the naval construction works of Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd., at Barrow- in-Furness, on July 7. The first ship to take the water was the Lembit, which was launched by the wife of Herr August Schmidt, the Estonian Minister in London. The second ship, the Kalev, was launched by the wife of Captain F. Strobel, chief of the Estonian Naval Commission in Barrow. Both vessels were released within 15 minutes.
The British Admiralty was represented at the launches by Admiral Sir A. Percy Addison, Director of Dockyards, and there were also on the launching platforms many British, Estonian, Argentine, Roumanian, and Portuguese officers at present stationed in Barrow in connection with contracts being carried out by Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd., for their respective governments.
The chairman of the company (Commander Sir Charles Craven) presided at the luncheon following the launches, and, in thanking the ladies for their kindness in launching the vessels, he handed to each of them a souvenir of the event. —Naval and Military Record.
Greece
An order for four destroyers has been placed with the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Ltd., by the Greek government. The vessels will each be of 1,450 tons.—The Engineer.
Peru
Aside from a few small marine railways capable of handling only the smallest of coasting boats, there is not a dry-docking facility on the west coast of South America. This condition will shortly be changed, however, in the completion of a concrete graving dock which will be located, at Callao, Peru, at the half-way point between the Panama Canal and Talcuahuano, Chile—a distance of almost 3,000 miles—capable of handling any vessel in regular service on the South American Pacific coast.
In 1935 the Peruvian government commissioned the Frederick Snare Corporation and F. R. Harris, Inc., both American engineering firms, to make the necessary studies, and draw plans and specifications. The consultants recommended a dry dock 550 ft. in length, 79 ft. inside width, and having a depth of 26 ft. over the sill at mean high water.
Bids from contracting firms in the United States, England, France, Holland, and Germany were received in February of this year. The most favorable offering was that of the Frederick Snare Corporation which was accordingly awarded a contract for the complete construction within 24 months at a total cost to the Peruvian government of approximately $1,365,000. F. R. Harris, Inc., continue as consulting engineers and will act as chief engineer and chief inspector for the Peruvian government.
The dock will be of re-enforced concrete construction throughout and will be provided with electric winches and other similar equipment for the handling of ships. All pumping equipment will be electrically operated and of such capacity that the dock when used at its largest capacity can be completely emptied in less than 3 hours. In addition to the dock there will be provided the other necessary plant and equipment for cleaning, painting, and such repairs as may be necessary.—Marine Progress, July.
Turkey
Immediate right to remilitarize the Dardanelles was granted to Turkey by 9 signatories to the Lausanne post-war treaty.
Delegates to the international conference here resulting from Turkey’s request for the right to rearm the Straits agreed to sign a convention. The decision was unanimous, only the Japanese making slight reservations, because of what a spokesman described as Japan’s “unfortunate departure from the League of Nations.”
The countries agreeing to the convention include Great Britain, France, Russia, Japan, Turkey, Greece, Rumania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria.
The convention would grant complete liberty of merchant marine passage through the Straits in peace and war, even if Turkey was a belligerent, provided the commercial vessels did not assist the fighting powers.
The Russian Navy would be granted complete freedom in peace time to leave and enter the Black Sea through the Straits, but nations outside would be subjected to limitations on the passage of fighting ships.
During war time belligerents would be prohibited from using the Straits unless acting for the League or under the obligations of a regional pact to which Turkey was a party.
The convention would continue for 20 years after signature unless denounced, and could be amended every S years.
The Japanese reservations specified the convention should not be considered to modify Japan’s position as a non-member of the League, as regards both the League Covenant and regional pacts concluded within that framework.
Japan reserved its complete liberty of action under regional treaties to which it might be a party now or in the future.
A Turkish pledge guaranteed that remilitarization of the Straits would not disturb the graves of the thousands of war dead buried in the Dardanelles zone.—Herald Tribune., N. Y. Montreux, Switzerland, July 18.
A Turkish battleship and 4 submarines completed reoccupation tonight of the Dardanelles, demilitarized 13 years ago by the Lausanne Treaty. The battleship Yayuz, with the quartet of undersea craft moving beside her, occupied a strategic position oil the islands of Embros and Tenedos.
On the banks of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, detachments of infantry and cavalry marched in patrol formation, their occupation approved by the international conference at Montreux, Switzerland. New Turkish guns were installed in old fortresses, barren of armament since the allied powers forced removal of war equipment from the Straits in 1923.
The new convention of Montreux, signed yesterday, granted a Turkish demand for remilitarization of the Straits—officially constituted as the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora, and the Bosporus. Of the 8 powers which signed the convention, only Japan reserved the freedom of interpreting clauses limiting passage of warships through the zone. The convention would continue for 20 years.
As the re-occupation progressed, representatives of armament firms began an intensive campaign to sell equipment to Turkish military and naval authorities. Among the salesmen were agents of the German Krupp interests, who hoped to gain concessions under a long-term credit arrangement.
Erection of a monument, estimated to cost $500,000, was planned by the Turkish government to commemorate the victory in gaining diplomatic permission to rearm the Straits.— Herald Tribune, N. Y. Istanbul, Turkey, July 21.
U.S.S.R.
An extensive salvage program entailing the raising of thousands of tons of shipping from the beds of many seas, rivers, and lakes of Russia in order to obtain scrap iron will be undertaken this year by the Soviet Ship Salvaging Trust (Epron), it was reported in advices from abroad.
The salvage operations will include work on the steamer Pategonia, sunk by a torpedo in the Black Sea about 12 miles from Odessa at the beginning of the World War and on the steamer Elbrus, which went to the bottom during the war near the port of Nicolaieff at the mouth of the Bug River. Black Sea salvage operations also will include the raising of the grain carrier Grinyan, which foundered near the Elbrus; the steamer Brosi, sunk during the Civil War and several dredges sunk in the Dneister River, near the Rumanian border.
The White Sea unit of the Epron recently resumed work on the raising of the steamer Burovestnik, sunk in Kola Bay in 1918. An expedition of the salvage group also are studying the possibility of bringing the dredge Chernishevsky, which foundered in the White Sea last year, to the surface.
In the Far Eastern area, the Epron, having found that the vessel is in no condition to be lifted, will remove only the armor and parts made of non-ferrous metals of the cruiser Izumrud, sunk in Vladimir Bay during the Russo-Japanese War.
Another group of the salvage trust is preparing to float the British steamer, Nancy Miller, ashore on Zhupanov Bay, on the coast of eastern Kamchatka and investigation also is proceeding to raise another British steamer, the Princess Louise, which foundered near Vladivostok in 1918.— Herald Tribune, N. Y.
MERCHANT MARINE
Merchant Marine Act, 1936 A Summary
Marine Progress, July. (/) Declaration of Policy. —It is necessary for the national defense and development of its foreign and domestic commerce that the United States have a merchant marine (a) sufficient to carry its domestic waterborne commerce and a substantial portion of the water-borne export and import foreign commerce of the United States and to provide shipping service on all routes essential for maintaining the flow of such domestic and foreign water-borne commerce at all times, (4) capable of serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency, (c) owned and operated under the United States flag by citizens of the United States insofar as may be practicable, and (d) composed of the best-equipped, safest, and most suitable types of vessels, constructed in the United States and manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to foster the development and encourage the maintenance of such a merchant marine.
(II) United States Maritime Commission. The law creates the U. S. Maritime Commission composed of 5 members appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The President will name the chairman and the commission appoint the vice-chairman. Terms of office 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 years for original appointments, subsequent appointments for 6 years except in cases where appointment is made to fill a vacancy. Salary, $12,000 annually.
No more than three members may be appointed from the same political party. No person is eligible to appointment to the commission who for 3 years prior to appointment has had any pecuniary interest in any carrier by water or substantial pecuniary interest in a business which derives a substantial portion of its revenues from any business associated with shipping.
The commission takes over the duties of the Shipping Board Bureau of the Department of Commerce and the Merchant Fleet Corporation.
The commission’s first duty is to make a survey of the merchant marine to determine what additions and replacements are required to carry forward the national policy, and is directed to study, perfect, and adopt a long-range program of ship construction.
The commission is also directed to investigate and determine:
(a) Ocean services to be essential for promotion and maintenance of the foreign commerce of the United States
(b) Type, size, speed, etc., of vessels necessary, including express liner or superliner vessels
(c) Relative cost of construction of comparable vessels in the United States and foreign countries
(d) Relative cost of marine insurance, maintenance, wages, repairs, subsistence of officers and crews, and other items of expense
(e) Extent and character of government aid and subsidies granted by foreign governments to their merchant marines
(f) Number, locality, and efficiency of shipyards in the United States
(g) Scrapping or removal from service of old or obsolete American tonnage
(h) Advisability of Americans participating in tramp shipping
(i) Relative cost of construction or reconditioning of vessels in the various coastal districts of the United States.
The Maritime Commission takes over the regulatory functions of the Shipping Board Bureau, but after 2 years the President is given authority to tranfer all regulatory duties and powers of the commission to the I. C. C.
(II) American Seaman.—The Maritime Commission is authorized and directed to investigate the employment and wage conditions in ocean-going shipping, and to incorporate in operating subsidy contracts minimum manning and wage scales. This title includes extensive regulations concerning officers’ living quarters, uniforms, place of eating, etc. All licensed officers of subsidized ships must be American citizens and at least 80 per cent of the crews must be citizens, the percentage increasing 5 per cent annually until 90 per cent of the entire crew are citizens. Aliens must at least have their first papers. These conditions may be suspended by the President in time of emergency.
(IV) Ocean Mail Contracts.—Present ocean mail contracts are to be terminated on or before June 30, 1937. Holder of present mail contract may, within 90 days of the passage of this act, file an application with the commission to adjust and settle all the rights of the parties under such contract and to substitute in whole or in part therefor a contract or contracts authorized in titles V and VI of this act. Any holder of a mail contract who does not enter into an agreement with the commission for the contract’s cancellation may sue the United States in the Court of Claims. Just compensation shall not include any allowances for prospective profits or speculative profits that might have been realized by the claimant if permitted further to carry out the contract.
All mails of the United States carried on vessels between ports between which it is lawful under the navigation laws for a vessel not documented under the laws of the United States to carry merchandise shall, insofar as practicable, be carried on vessels of United States registry.
(V) Construction-Differential Subsidy.— American companies engaged in foreign trade may apply for construction-differential subsidy to aid in constructing new tonnage. Commission is to submit plans and specifications to the Navy Department for approval, upon receipt of which the commission may secure bids in behalf of the applicant. The construction-differential subsidy is to be the difference between the bid of the lowest American bidder and the cost in a principal foreign shipyard in the vicinity of the service of the proposed route. Differential subsidy not to exceed 50 per cent of the total construction cost of the ship; national defense features incorporated into new ships are not to be borne by the owner.
At the same time the commission contracts with the builder for the construction of the ship, it contracts with the owner for the purchase of the vessel. The owner is to pay 25 per cent of the American cost in a cash payment and the balance within 20 years of the delivery of the vessel, in 20 annual installments. Interest at the rate of 3 ½ per cent to apply on all installments remaining unpaid.
Pacific coast shipbuilders are given a 6 per cent differential over Atlantic coast builders when bidding for construction of ships owned by Pacific coast owners. The commission may contract for the construction of vessels in navy yards if it considers private yards’ bids excessive or collusive. Vessels built under this subsidy shall remain documented under United States register for at least 20 years.
Construction material and supplies must be of United States manufacture, growth, or production insofar as possible.
The commission may approve applications for the construction of vessels to be operated in domestic trade (other than inland rivers and canals exclusively) and upon such approval may construct and sell to the applicant under the same terms and conditions as for foreign trade, except that no construction-differential subsidy will be granted. The owner is to pay 25 per cent cash, 75 per cent in 20 annual installments, with 3 ½ per cent interest on unpaid balance.
Shipbuilders constructing vessels receiving construction-differential subsidy must make sworn itemized reports to the commission upon completion of all contracts, showing net profit or loss. If profit, excess of 10 per cent to be refunded to the commission, and if loss, same to be credited to the shipbuilder. Sub-contracts of $10,000 or more to be on same basis. Salaries in excess of $25,000 not to be considered as an expense of ship construction.
If a contract is made by the commission for the construction and sale of a new vessel to replace a vessel exclusively operated in foreign trade which the commission determines should be replaced because of obsolescence, the commission is authorized to buy such replaced vessel at fair and reasonable valuation and apply the purchase price agreed upon to that portion of the construction cost of the new vessel which is to be borne by the purchaser. Such replaced vessel must have been documented under United States laws for at least 10 years prior to the date of its purchase by the commission.
(VI) Operating-Differential Subsidy.— Operating differential subsidies are applicable to ships required to meet foreign flag competition, built in the United States or documented before February 1, 1928. The subsidy requires a performance bond, and is not to exceed cost of insurance, maintenance, wages, subsistence, etc., between American cost and that of competing foreign vessels. Upon the full affirmative vote of the commission, additional subsidy may be granted to offset the effect of governmental aid paid to foreign competitors.
An accounting is to be made at the end of each year, and adjustments up or downward may be agreed upon. Great Lakes vessels are not eligible to operating subsidy, nor are vessels more than 20 years old eligible unless the commission finds it in the public interest to grant such financial aid for their operation.
Whenever practicable, operators are to use only material and supplies of United States manufacture and growth. Repairs must be made in American shipyards except in cases of emergency.
Operating-differential subsidy contract shall provide that the contractor shall be entitled to annually withdraw from net earnings of subsidized vessels as profit or dividends a sum not in excess of 10 per cent on the contractor’s capital necessarily employed in his business. The contractor is also required to create and maintain out of gross earnings a capital reserve fund to equal annual depreciation charges, computed on 20-year life expectancy of subsidized vessels, if earned; also earnings over 10 per cent are to be deposited in capital reserve fund. Out of this fund, the contractor may make annual payments on subsidized vessels and also to offset losses. The reserve fund is not subject to taxation, but the 10 per cent withdrawn is subject.
(VII) Private Charter Operation.—Whenever the commission shall determine, and such determination shall be approved by the President of the United States, that the national policy and objectives set forth in the act cannot be fully realized within a reasonable time, the commission is authorized and directed to complete the long-range building program by contracting for the construction of vessels. The commission is empowered to charter such vessels to the highest bidders and on the same conditions as contained in bare-boat charters for terms of 3 years or less. Operators of chartered ships are to be eligible to operating-differential subsidy.
(VIII) Contract Provisions.—It is declared unlawful under the operating-differential contract for the contractor to employ any person or concern performing or supplying stevedoring, ship repair, ship chandlery, towboat, or kindred services to subsidized or chartered vessels if the contractor has any pecuniary interest in the concern supplying the services; provided, however, that with the express approval of the commission such contractor or subsidiary company wholly owned by such contractor may be engaged, but profits must be considered as earnings of the contractor.
Contractors or charterers may not own or operate vessels engaged in domestic intercoastal or coastwise service without the express permission of the commission. Except in special circumstances and with the affirmative vote of 4 members of the commission, no contractor or charterer may operate or represent foreign flag vessels running in competition with any American flag service determined by the commission to be essential as provided in this act.
The act limits total compensation to officers and employees of contractors or charterers to $25,000 annually for personal services.
The act requires that persons retained for the purpose of representing shipbuilders or ship operators holding or applying for contracts for subsidy before Congress or any member or committee thereof, or before the commission or any other governmental agency, must register with the commission and render a monthly accounting of expenses incurred. Violation of this provision is declared a misdemeanor.
Contracts under the act shall be entered into so as to equitably serve the foreign trade requirements of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific ports of the United States. In awarding contracts under this act, preference shall be given to persons who are citizens of the United States and who have the support, financial and otherwise, of the domestic communities primarily interested.
(IX) Miscellaneous Provisions.—Officers and employees of the United States traveling on official business overseas shall travel on American ships where such ships are available unless necessity requires the use of foreign flag ships.
The commission is authorized to requisition any vessel documented under the laws of the United States during any national emergency declared by proclamation of the President, and when so taken or used, the owner shall be paid the fair actual value of the vessel at the time of taking, less fair actual value of any construction-differential subsidy allowed under this act. In no case shall such fair actual value be enhanced by the causes necessitating the taking. •
Bills Passed
Marine Progress, July.—Bills passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President included the following:
The Ice Patrol Bill (S. 4648) to promote safety at sea in the neighborhood of ice and derelicts.
The Coastwise Load Line Bill (H. R. 11915) amending the Coastwise Load Line Act of 1935, so as to provide for assignment of load lines to passenger ships on the basis of age and condition and probable stability when damaged as well as upon structural strength and buoyancy.
H. R. 12257, which extends the jurisdiction of the United States Court for China to cover offenses committed on the high seas.
H. R. 12419, which applies the laws covering steam vessels to seagoing vessels of 300 gross tons and over propelled by internal-combustion engines. This measure removes an anomalous situation which has long existed as between steam and motor propelled craft.
The Treasury-Post Office Appropriation Act for the fiscal year 1937, carrying an appropriation of $22,000,000 for subsidies under ocean mail contracts in addition to $4,500,000 to be paid under those contracts as an expense for transportation of ocean mails. These funds, under the terms of the new ship subsidy act, will be transferred to the U. S. Maritime Commission when the powers and duties of the Postmaster General in connection with ocean mail contracts are taken over by the Commission.
The Inflammable Cargo Bill (S. 4780) which extends the laws governing the inspection of vessels so as to cover ships transporting inflammable or combustible liquid cargo. Pursuant to the signing of this bill by the President, the Bureau of Marine Inspection held a hearing on June 29 on proposed rules and regulations applying to tank vessels. The Bureau of Marine Inspection had anticipated the President’s signature and drafted these proposed rules and regulations, making copies available to interested parties. The hearings brought out little in the way of necessary alterations; the rules go now to the Board of Supervising Inspectors, thence to the Secretary of Commerce for his approval.
S. 2127, which amends Section 4471 of the revised statutes, so as to require that passenger vessels with berth or state-room accommodations for 50 or more passengers be equipped with automatic sprinkler systems.
One bill, passed by both House and Senate, the so-called Hurricane Patrol Bill, was vetoed by President Roosevelt. It would have provided for hurricane patrol by the Coast Guard in the Gulf of Mexico and environs during the hurricane season. The expense of the proposed patrol, the strain on the Coast Guard facilities and the fact that Coast Guard vessels in the vicinity already are co-operating to the fullest extent were assigned as reasons for the veto. This measure, S. 4734, had the backing not only of maritime interests in coast seaports, but in all parts of the country, inland as well as coastal.
Standard Shipping to Build Eight Tankers
Nautical Gazette, July 18.—The Standard Shipping Company, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, has announced through its president, Robert L. Hague, the awarding of a contract for the construction of 8 tankers totaling 100,000 deadweight tons. This is the largest private shipbuilding contract ever placed in this country. The cost of the vessels will approximate $13,000,000.
Four of the vessels of 12,800 tons each are to be built by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N. J., and two of 13,000 each will be built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation at Sparrows Point, Md. The remaining two of 12,900 tons each are to be built by the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pa.
The 4 vessels to be built at the Federal yard will be of the Isherwood arcform design of hull with longitudinal framing. The yard has recently delivered two sister- ships of this design and size, the R. P. Resor and T. C. McCobb. The 2 vessels to be built at the Bethlehem plant will be of the Frear-Bethlehem type hull with special fluting plated bulkheads. The vessels built at the Sun yard will be of Isherwood arcform design and Isherwood bracketless hull construction.
All will be driven by single screws, power being supplied by high-pressure steam turbines through double reduction gears. The boilers will be of the water tube type. The design calls for entirely fireproof vessels, including all furniture and fittings. They will be the most economical tankers ever built, as well as the safest.
Each of the vessels will have a speed of 12 knots. They are to displace vessels in the coastwise trade now approaching obsolescence. Construction is to begin immediately so that delivery may be made as quickly as possible. The vessels will have thoroughly modern equipment.
Contract for the oil-fired boilers with which the ships will be equipped was awarded to the Foster-Wheeler Corporation.
Various Notes
The upward trend in the production of merchant vessels of 100 gross tons and over continues, with a gain of 130,000 tons shown for the quarter ended June 30 last, says a statement just issued by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. Lloyd’s figures cover all maritime countries except Russia, for which authentic returns have not been available for some time past.
In all, 1,951,005 gross tons of merchant ships are now under way. Gains during the June quarter were reported for all the leading shipbuilding nations, except France and Italy. For Great Britain and Ireland the increase was small, only about 6,000 tons, as compared with 40,000 tons for the United States, and 84,000 tons for all other countries, taken as a group.
The comparison in production during the last two quarters in the countries mentioned is shown by Lloyd’s Register in the following table, the figures representing gross tons:
| June 30, 1936 | Mar. 31, 1936 |
Great Britain and Ireland. . | 848,732 90,275 1,011,998 | 842,361 49,760 927,993 |
United States | ||
Other Countries | ||
World total | 1,951,005 | 1,820,114 |
|
Shipyards of the United States are now building 4.7 per cent of the entire world output, as compared with only 2.7 per cent in the March quarter; while the proportion for Great Britain and Ireland is 43.S per cent, as against 46.3. The other countries are producing 51.8 of the total production, compared to 51 per cent in the previous quarter.—Marine Progress.
According to the report of the Japanese Chamber of Shipping, there are 50 ships of 301,000 tons to be completed in the fiscal year of 1936 (up to the end of May, 1937), and 40 of 263,000 tons d.w.c. to be completed in the fiscal year of 1937, in addition to one ship of 20,000 tons d.w.c. in 1938.
The vessels for which orders have already been placed with different builders are shown in the table below:
Name of Shipyard | No. of Ships | Deadweight tons |
Mitsui Tama.................. | 16 | 116,000 |
Kawasaki Dockyard....... | 13 | 121,700 |
Mitsubishi Nagasaki...... | 12 | 91,050 |
Mitsubishi Kobe............ | 9 | 34,400 |
Mitsubishi Yokohama Dock. .. | 12 | 51,400 |
Osaka Iron Works......... | 5 | 58,000 |
Uraga Dock................... | 8 | 47,550 |
Harima Dock................. | 7 | 45,700 |
Asano Shipyard............. | 4 | 8,500 |
Namura Shipyard.......... | 2 | 2,700 |
Hakodate Dock............. | 1 | 2,000 |
Kasato Dock................. | 1 | 2,000 |
Tochigi Shipyard........... | 1 | 2,000 |
Total....................... | 91 | 583,000 |
This is correct up to April 10,1936, for all ships over 1,000 tons d.w.c., and adding the vessels ordered since that date, the total becomes 95 ships of 600,000 tons d.w.c., or approximately 400,000 tons gross.—Marine Journal.
In January, 1936, the seagoing world fleet consisted of 35,924,000 gross tons. Eight of the principal maritime nations owned 29,508,000 gross tons of this total for the carriage of goods and passengers in the international sea-borne trade. In tonnage, Great Britain owned 13,067,000 gross tons and the United States owned 3,037,000; Japan, 2,971,000; Germany, 2,687,000; Italy, 2,318,000; France, 2,225,001; the Netherlands, 1,688,000; Norway, 1,515,000 tons.—Marine Journal.
Upon representations by the United States Lines Company that more than one shipyard will, on September 15, be ready to quote a firm price on a new vessel for that company, Secretary Roper, on June 15, announced that action on the construction loan application for the building of a transatlantic liner similar to the Manhattan and Washington will be deferred until next September 30.
The United States Lines originally agreed, in return for permission to lay up the Leviathan, to build the new ship, but thus far the company has been unable to obtain a bid from more than one builder. The company now has reported to the Secretary that it has “reason to believe that at least three yards are now in a position to quote a firm price on our new vessel, as several of the causes that contributed to the uncertainty of securing a price heretofore no longer exist.” The yards have said, according to the company, that they will be able to furnish bids by September 15. Accordingly, Secretary Roper, through Assistant Secretary J. M. Johnson, has issued an order permitting the company to submit an amended or substitute construction contract on September 30, 1936, with all the requirements and restrictions of the original agreement in full force and effect.—Marine Progress, July.
Lloyd's register for 1936-37, index of seagoing merchant vessels of 100 tons and upward, today reported the United States and Great Britain and Ireland as the countries showing the largest decreases in tonnage among the principal maritime countries between June, 1935, and June, 1936.
The tables listed the decrease of this country at 293,862 tons, and that of Great Britain and Ireland at 114,950 tons. Panama and Italy showed the largest increase, with 292,491 tons, 213,753 tons, respectively.—Sun, Baltimore. New York, July 31 (AP).
Replying to a question in the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that he had received an application from the Cunard White Star Company for authority to use the sum available under the North Atlantic Shipping Act for the construction of a sister-ship to the Queen Mary. After a careful examination of the company’s reasons, he had agreed to this in principle, but had reserved the right of further consultation before any contract is signed. The company has obtained preliminary tenders from various yards.—The Engineer.
According to Lloyd’s Register Wreck Returns for the last quarter in 1935, which have recently been issued, there were 211 vessels, totaling 360,- 326 gross tons, either wrecked or broken up throughout the world. Of these, 79, of 94,052 tons, were lost in consequence of casualty, and 132 ships, of 266,274 tons, were broken up or condemned.—The Engineer.
The research vessel Discovery is to be sold. This vessel is a wooden auxiliary bark of 736 tons gross. She was built in 1901 and is specially strengthened for antarctic exploration work.— The Engineer.
Encouraged and endorsed by shipping interests, and with their active co-operation, the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has added a fifth year to its course in marine transportation, of which the entire fourth year will hereafter be spent at sea. This added year, now made an integral part of the course, will give to all members of the fourth-year class direct practical experience in the work they will later be called upon to supervise and will give to each member the opportunity to choose which of the main branches of a steamship company he prefers to enter. The fifth year will be spent in intensive study at the Institute. The course will lead to the new degree of bachelor of science in marine transportation.—Nautical Gazette.
AVIATION
Douglas Expands Plant
U. S. Air Services.—Erection of the sixth and final bay of what is said to be the largest single-arch structure built this century has been completed for the Douglas Aircraft Company at Santa Monica, Calif. The structure, which will be used for final assembly work, will be ready for occupancy by the middle of June. The first arch was raised March 27. With a clear span of 250 ft., the new Douglas building is exceeded in its single-arch dimensions only by a train shed which was erected in Pittsburgh before the turn of the century, according to H. H. Wetzel, senior vice- president and general manager of the Douglas Aircraft Company.
Many unusual details feature this new Douglas unit. Incorporated in the arched roof construction is a saw tooth window design that admits the maximum of light. In addition, two walls of the building and the entire sliding door arrangement adjoining the airport are glazed. The unobstructed height from floor to rafters is 30 ft.
The new building has a floor space of 85,500 square ft. This area, together with two other new units which have a combined area of 285,000 square ft., will more than double the size of the present factory, making it the largest manufacturing unit of its kind in the world.
As part of this expansion program, the Douglas engineering department is now housed in the entire upper floor of one of these new units in a soundproof room 125 ft. wide by 250 ft. long. To facilitate communication in so huge a room, radio broadcasting apparatus has been installed.
Transatlantic Preparations
Tribune, Chicago, July 6.—A new British air hub was in the making tonight while mechanics tuned up the first flying boat of a promised Atlantic fleet.
The giant 4-motored plane, prototype of the airliner with which Britain is to face the Atlantic voyage, made its first appearance on the slipway at Rochester this week. Others are nearing completion.
The actual work of making Langstone Harbor a combined land and marine base for empire and transatlantic routes is expected to begin in another month.
By this step the United Kingdom expects to advance a program of civil aviation aimed at putting the empire on top of the flying world.
Early next year, it is being predicted here, a service to America will be under way, with two American and two British flying boats arriving and departing weekly.
The Portsmouth town council has already approved the project of the airport, to be the largest of its kind in the world and to cost close to $6,000,000.
Government financial assistance is practically assured, some of it at least from the proposed new air navigation bill with its provision for a 50 per cent increase in air subsidies to $7,500,000 yearly.
For Portsmouth the new airport would mean distinction as the air hub of the world. Langstone Harbor, which has Portsmouth Harbor to the west and Chichester Harbor to the east, would become a large inland lake. Several hundred acres of ground would be prepared for the handling of land planes.
As far as Britain’s contribution to transatlantic air travel is concerned, the chief interest now centers in the flying boats which, stripped to bare essentials, are to make reconnoitering flights before long. Orders to proceed with the flights are expected soon.
Progress on the pick-a-back airplane, a combination in which a “mother” plane will carry on its back a smaller long-range seaplane for “launching” at high altitude, is more secret.
Britain’s first efforts toward transatlantic service are expected to be directed at Bermuda via the Canary Islands, with the North Atlantic crossing to be attempted later.—Portsmouth, England, July 5.
Fastest Fighter
Times, London, June 19.—The fastest military airplane in the world was flown for 3 minutes here this afternoon as one of six types of military aircraft produced by the firm of Vickers (Aviation), Ltd., lately for the R.A.F. It had been intended to show all the paces of this remarkable fighter but a leaking joint in the oil system of the engine caused the oil pressure to fall when the machine had made only a half-circuit of the aerodrome, and the pilot wisely throttled back and brought it in to land.
This fighter, named the Spitfire, has been built by the Supermarine works at Southampton to the design of Mr. R. J. Mitchell, who was responsible for the Schneider Trophy seaplanes of 1931. The influence of those craft in the lines of the Spitfire is evident at a glance. So are the advantages of the Spitfire. There are no bracing wires above or below the wing. There are no corrugations on the smooth surface of the fuselage. There is a clean, unbroken cowling over the upper part of the engine. The undercarriage, retracted by swinging the legs outwards, is wholly contained in recesses in the wing during flight.
Aerodynamically the Spitfire is obviously superior to the seaplane from which it derives. The power at its disposal from the new Rolls-Royce Merlin engine is probably less than half that used in the last Schneider Trophy winner. Yet it is acknowledged that the fighter has a top speed of more than 300 miles an hour; how much more may not be revealed for some months. It may also be as surprising in construction as in design, for it has a comparatively small wing area, and, though it carries a big military load, is not heavily loaded, as its easy maneuvers today showed. It took off and climbed admirably, and when it had to land it came in with flaps down at so low a speed that it seemed not to belong to the fighter class.—Eastleigh, June 18.
Royal Air Force
Army, Navy and Air Force Gazette, July 16.— The R.A.F. estimate is to implement the policy laid down in the White Paper on March 3 last. The scheme outlined therein is to increase the R.A.F. strength at home to about 1,750 first-line aircraft, excluding the Fleet Air Arm, the strength of which will also be substantially increased. The present number of units overseas (25 squadrons with about 270 first-line aircraft) will be increased by 12 squadrons by 1939.
With the supplementary estimate, the total air force expenditure is increased to £50,700,000, which compares with £25,985,000 in 1935, and £17,670,893 in 1934. Nearly all the votes are increased. The largest increase is £8,055,000 for Vote 3, Technical and Warlike Stores, for such cash payments as are likely to mature before March 31 next as a result of the placing of long-term orders for air frames and engines and ancillary equipment. Much heavier provision for the bulk of the cost of the program will fall to be made in later years.
The vote for personnel is raised from 50,000 to 55,000. This compares with 45,000 in 1935, and 28,780 in 1934.
The estimate includes provision for the first steps to extend the field of supply by the erection of factories which will be used for the manufacture of aircraft during the period of expansion (in supplement to the output of the aircraft industry) and which will be available thereafter as a reserve source of supply in time of war. A new subhead of the estimates, Vote 4H, has been opened to cover the cost of these factories, and the amount now set down is £530,000.
Heresy at Halton
The Aeroplane.—Since the Royal Air Force came into being it has set many fashions which have caused revolutions in daily life. For example, no gentleman ever thought of smoking common Virginia cigarettes, such as came to be called “gaspers” during the War 1914-18, until Army aviators discovered that no matter how cultivated one’s taste might be one could not go on chain-smoking Turkish cigarettes while hanging about an aerodrome waiting for flying weather. An officer who has won great fame in the Air Force used to shock senior officers terribly before the war by offering them Virginia cigarettes. Actually the name “gasper” started in aviation in 1910.
Now No. 1 School of Technical Training at Halton, where the apprentices come from has taken to playing baseball.
The brave men who have officially approved the playing of baseball at Halton will be open to quite a lot of unkind criticism. They will be accused of undermining the basis of the British constitution. They will be charged with lack of patriotism, in that cricket, according to tradition, is the game which won Waterloo on the playing fields of Eton, regardless of the fact that cricket was not a national game till considerably after Waterloo.
They will also be reproached with the jeer that baseball is only a glorified form of rounders, forgetting that cricket started as a game which was played by Kentish dairymaids with milking- stools. And the answer is that rounders is one of the healthiest and most strenuous games that one can play.
In any case a quick in-and-out game such as baseball is better than standing for half the day on a cricket-field getting sunstroke, and the other half soaking beer or whisky in the pavilion. And if people do object that baseball is an American game, then let us abolish all the cinemas and dance bands, not to mention American automobiles and airplanes. If we are too proud to learn from a younger nation then the time has come for us to shut up shop.
Apart from all that, Halton is adopting baseball as an organized game, not as a compulsory game as some of the newspapers have suggested, for the welfare of the apprentices at Halton. Every growing lad who is under intensive mental training needs at least two periods, each of an hour or so a week, when he can play some healthy competitive game in the open air. This leads to the problem, assuming that the time is available, of how it is to be done.
In winter the answer is comparatively simple, provided one has enough grounds on which to play rugger, soccer, hockey, etc. But in summer there is a different problem, for hitherto the only established English summer game has been cricket, and obviously even if such a station as Halton has enough football grounds for its requirements it must be hopelessly short of space in which to occupy the same number of persons at cricket. We have not here the calculations for the number of acres of cricket fields required per 1,000 head of personnel. Some of our slide-rule merchants can work it out.
Anyhow one can get at least two full-sized football fields into any cricket field. And 30 or 22 men can play themselves to a blind standstill in an hour and half at football or hockey, whereas after three days at cricket they are still in the semi- somnolent mental and physical state in which they were when they started.
Anyway there is nothing like enough room at Halton for a cricket area commensurate with the number of apprentices, and, furthermore, although one can and they often do play football in the middle of an aerodrome, one cannot maintain a cricket pitch on a landing ground, at any rate so long as tail-skids exist.
That being so, some more suitable game than cricket had to be discovered. Halton tried every sort of game, including pushball, netball, pass- ball, etc. Either they were too strenuous or not strenuous enough or they lasted too long or they did not last long enough. And eventually Halton came to the conclusion that baseball was the proper solution.
With this conclusion most intelligent people will heartily concur. Baseball is a fast game and it is a hard game and it calls for quickness and concentration of precisely the sort which is most valuable in war flying. Even when fielding at short leg or point to a real batsman who is playing to a fast bowler, cricket does not call for the persistent speed and accuracy which is needed for every phase of baseball.
We wish Halton every success with its daring venture, and we hope that the game will spread all over the country and help to speed up the mental processes of young England.
Various Notes
A $1,259,235 contract was awarded by the War Department today to the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor company, Inc., of Buffalo, N. Y., for construction of “a sufficient number of 2-engine attack airplanes and spare parts to provide for a thorough service test.”
The attack planes are believed to be the best of their class in the world. The type is known as the YA-18 and is the result of two years’ development by the Curtiss Company and army engineers.
“The plane,” the War Department said, “combines very high performance with long range and improved safety characteristics, and is particularly designed for high performance at the lower altitudes. It is believed that it is the only 2-engine attack plane in the world.”—Washington, D. C., July 23 [Special].
Aircraft production in the United States for the first quarter of 1936 increased 33J per cent over that for the same period in 1935, continuing the upward trend which commenced in 1934. Total of all aircraft manufactured in the United States during this period was 456, while that for the same period last year was 349.
Most noticeable increase was a 28 per cent rise in the manufacture of light airplanes. The major increase in this classification occurred in the number of 2-place cabin land monoplanes; 45 were manufactured during January-March, 1935, and 100 in January-March, 1936.
Of the total aircraft produced, 216 were for domestic civil use, 173 for military delivery and 67 were exported. The industry manufactured 190 monoplanes and 26 biplanes for domestic civil use. The 190 monoplanes included 15 of the open cockpit type and 175 cabin craft. Of the biplanes 2 were open cockpit and 24 were cabin planes.
There were 36 companies or individuals producing airplanes for domestic civil use during the first quarter of 1936, and of these, 8 manufactured approximately 74 per cent of the total airplanes designed for civil use.—Aero Digest.
The actual sound characteristics of the exhaust noise of an airplane are, says the Bristol Review, the products of the acoustical properties of the cylinder and the exhaust ports from which the gases emanate; this condition gives rise to a band of low frequencies whose maximum is in the region of 200 per second. A second group of high frequencies, ranging from 3,000 to 8,000 per second, have their origin in the turbulent flow of the gases through the exhaust port. A silencing device must therefore be capable of dealing effectively with both high and low frequencies of varying amplitudes. Various tests on different types of silencers show that each is efficient within narrow frequency bands, but practically none is efficient over the whole frequency range to be covered. For instance, an absorption silencer of the straight-through type gives satisfactory silencing for frequencies above 1,000 per second, while a simple perforated tube type is efficient for eliminating low frequencies. One of the chief difficulties to be met in the efficient silencing of the exhaust noise, therefore, is the evolution of a device that will be capable of absorbing all frequencies over the range in question. After much experience with and research into the problems relating to the silencing of radial aero engines, the Bristol Company holds the opinion that the forward type of exhaust collector ring offers the most satisfactory solution from all points of view. Instead of increasing drag it can, in its most suitable form, be blended with the fuselage or nacelle in which it is incorporated to form an efficient aero-dynamical entry.—The Engineer.
Holyman’s Airways Pty. Ltd. have ordered a Douglas 14-seater with new-series Wright Cyclone F.52 motors. It will be erected at Essendon Airport, Melbourne, and a “factory-approved” pilot will stay with it until the Holyman crews are used to it. It is to have maximum-range tanks, although the crossing between Tasmania and Melbourne by either route is only a hop for a Douglas.
Air lines of Australia Ltd., who have used Avro X (three 215 hp. Lynxes) and Monospar S.T. 12 (two Gipsy Majors) machines in their daily unsubsidized service between Sydney and Brisbane, are said to have ordered 3 Stinson trimotors with seats for 8 passengers. They are expected to cut the scheduled time for the 500 miles to 3 ½ hours, including stops at Newcastle and Lismore.—The Aeroplane.
The Army Air Corps was described today by the National Aeronautic Association as “particularly active behind the scenes” in an effort to “merge PWA expenditures with a sound and logical plan of airport construction.”
The National Aeronautic magazine, official NAA organ, said a WPA survey had shown that 120 millions were needed to bring the nation’s airport facilities to a par with today’s swift flying airplanes.
Besides the Army, the Navy, Post-Office and Commerce Departments have been aiding in shaping an airport construction program, the NAA said.
Another government agency mapped out a program to give safety and speed to flyers. The Weather Bureau began work on a system to give more accurate and timely warnings of sudden changes in the weather along the nation’s commercial airways through the establishment of 115 new “off airways” reporting stations.—Washington, D. C., July 12(AP).
Extensive improvements to the Choushui Airport at Dairen have been planned by the authorities concerned. A wireless station and weather observatory are to be built, and three concrete runways, 600 m. long by 60 m. wide, laid down.—The Engineer.
It is reported that Harland and Wolff, Ltd., are making arrangements for the construction of an aircraft factory adjoining the Queen’s Island works at Belfast. The new factory will be close to the aerodrome and seaplane base, being constructed on reclaimed land at Sydenham, Belfast, by the Belfast Harbor Board.—The Engineer.