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United States................................................................................................................................ 465
New Naval Era Opens—World’s Largest Tanker Launched at Quincy—U. S. to Have 30 Bases in Britain and Spain—Sperry’s New and Different Kind of Gyroscope—Tides of Mediocrity—Prospective Medical Legislation—Radford Sees Menace in Soviet Submarines
U.S.S.R............................................................................................................................................. 472
Soviet Naval Potential—Russian Intercontinental Bomber—Russia Tests Atom Guns of Various Calibers—Soviet Says Power Policy Could Hurt U. S. Mainland
Other Countries........................................................................................................................... 476
Chinese Reds List Islands Taken in Costal Activities During 1953— British Naval Strength—French Guided Missiles in Sahara—Canadians Build Speedier Warships
UNITED STATES New Naval Era Opens
New York Times, Jan. 21, 1954.—A new era in naval propulsion may commence today when the atomic-powered submarine Nautilus is launched at Groton, Conn.
The Nautilus, to be christened by Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower, is the first of two atomic-powered submarines—the second, the Sea Wolf, still is on the ways—designed as prototypes of what may be developed in the era of atomic propulsion.
Even before their launching, these vessels have produced superlatives and controversy. Both are justified, but it would be premature to generalize on the basis of facts now known and to expect overnight the age of atomic ship propulsion.
Present developments do not justify wholesale and full conversion of the world’s naval and merchant fleets to atomic propulsion; indeed, costs and other limitations indicate that for some time to come atomic propulsion will be utilized chiefly for a few specialized naval types.
Atomic power cannot compete costwisc today with oil-fueled engines, and new gas turbine designs and high-pressure, high- temperature steam installations promise greater economy, with none of the specialized problems that will complicate the operation of the Nautilus.
It is true that the Walther hydrogen- peroxide type of submarine engine, first tested by the Germans during World War II, has proved somewhat disappointing under examination in this country. The Navy
also has been having some major difficulties and engineering failures with turbines and other engineering equipment of the new Mitscher-class destroyer leaders, designed for high-pressure, high-temperature, oilburning operation.
Pioneering Problems Faced
Nevertheless, the same or even greater problems may be faced by the new atomic- powered submarines, for they are the first of their line and their construction and operation have presented and will present formidable pioneering difficulties. We are, in other words, leaping off “into the blue,” and there may be disappointments in the operation of the Nautilus as there will surely be rewards.
Some of the superlatives that have been linked to the Nautilus and the Sea Wolf are, nevertheless, justified. Each vessel will displace, contrary to prior reports, considerably more than 3,000 tons standard, which will make them among the world’s largest submarines.
Only the French Surcouf and three of the giant Japanese 1-400 class, all lost or destroyed during or after World War II, displaced more than the Nautilus. In length and size the Nautilus is larger than many destroyers.
The speed of the atomic submarine will be greater than that of any other United States submarine, probably between twenty and twenty-eight knots, not thirty-five knots as has been reported. The atomic fuel of the Nautilus will take her around the world without refueling, and her underwater cruising endurance will be limited chiefly by the endurance of her crew of about ninety officers and men.
These characteristics are the greatest potential military advantages of the atomic- powered submarine. The normal submarine has underwater speeds considerably slower than faster surface ships. It can overtake fast convoys only by surfacing where it is exposed to radar detection and attack. The speed of the Nautilus, underwater or surfaced, should be ample to enable it to keep pace with all except the world’s fastest vessels.
The normal submarine, powered by diesels for surface or snorkel-depth cruising, and by electric batteries for submerged cruising, has a limited underwater endurance, generally of about an hour or so full speed when driven by its batteries. It must then surface to charge batteries.
Unlimited Endurance Cited
The atomic engine of the Nautilus does not, however, require the air of the diesels and it has almost unlimited endurance compared to electric batteries, with the result that the Nautilus will be able to travel submerged at high speed. The crew’s air supply will be freshened by air-purifying apparatus, by oxygen bottles, and by special devices, still under development, that will manufacture oxygen from sea water.
But these assets are qualified by some major limitations. Since the Nautilus is the first vessel to be driven by atomic power, it was felt advisable, as a safety factor, to parallel her atomic power plant with a conventional diesel and electric battery installation, thus complicating operation and increasing costs.
Her initial construction cost, $45,000,000 to $55,000,000, including the engine, is about triple the initial cost of a conventional submarine. Her operating cost will be considerably higher, since her crew is about 10 per cent larger than that of the fleet-type submarine and since she utilizes expensive atomic fuel. Her great size and width will make her considerably less maneuverable than the ordinary submarine, Her turning circle, for instance, will be greater.
She will be just as noisy at high speeds (though less so at low speeds) as the conventional submarine. Her big bulk will offer a good radar target surfaced and a good sonar (sound ranging) target submerged.
Whether or not the Nautilus can be considered a combat submarine depends on events. If general war came tomorrow she would probably be used in combat operations. But her real value is as an expensive experimental prototype of possible fleets of the future.
The World’s Largest Tanker to be Launched at Quincy
Marine News, Feb. 1954.—The world’s largest tanker now under construction at Bethlehem Steel Company’s Quincy, Mass.,
shipyard will be launched February 9.
Built for Stavros Niarchos, operator of one of the world’s largest independent tanker fleets, the Quincy-built vessel will exceed by some 12,000 tons another huge tanker scheduled to be launched for the same owner in England a week later, February 16. The latter vessel, rated at 33,000 tons, will be the largest tanker ever built in a British shipyard.
The name for the Quincy tanker will not be revealed until the launching, according to the owner. The sponsor has not yet been announced.
The Bethlehem-built tanker has an overall length of 737 feet, beam of 102 feet, depth of 50 feet and a capacity of 16,500,000 gallons or 750,000 gallons more than its nearest rival, the 45,000-ton S.S. Tina Onassis, recently constructed in a German yard. Only five merchantmen, the big passenger liners United Stales, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, Liberie, and the lie de France will exceed the Niarchos tanker in size.
The record-sized tanker is scheduled to be delivered in April and will enter service under charter to a major oil company on the run from the Persian Gulf to the United States.
The hull of the huge vessel is divided into 33 cargo tanks. The amount of oil which can be carried in these spaces, it is estimated, would fill a caravan of trucks more than 30 miles long.
Speculation centers on the possibility that the name of the new vessel will carry the prefix “World.” The English-built vessel will be named World Harmony. Other vessels in the Niarchos fleet carrying the World prefix are: World Peace and World Liberty, built in the United States by Bethlehem in 1948 and 1949 and World Concord, World Unity and World Enterprise launched in England in 1952 and 1953.
U. S. to Have 30 Bases in Britain and Spain
New York Herald Tribune, Feb. 7, 1954.— Washington.—The veil of censorship surrounding the multi-million-dollar American defense base program in Great Britain and Spain has now been partially lifted in testimony before the House Appropiations Committee.
Reports on that program obviously blue- penciled, show that thirty bases in all are involved—nineteen air bases in England and four in Spain, plus seven naval bases on Spanish territory. Only one of the naval bases is a major installation.
Admiral Testifies
All base construction is in charge of Adm. J. R. Perry, head of the Navy’s Bureau of Yards and Docks, who testified before the committee. He said construction in Spain will begin about May 1, or maybe a month later, and that some of the bases will not be ready for two years. Work in Spain will be farmed out to a number of construction firms.
Six of the seven naval sites planned for Spain “are rather small,” Adm. Perry said, and costs will run between $50,000,000 and $60,000,000. He added that Air Force bases there will probably take 80 per cent of all the funds to be expended in Spain.
Adm. Perry’s testimony, as published, gave no locations. But Maj. Gen. Lee B. Washbourne, director of installations for the Air Force, was somewhat more frank.
He said that two of the Air Force’s four Spanish bases will be in the vicinity of Sevilla—-one near Madrid and the other at Zaragoza, northwest of Madrid. Sevilla, a look at the map shows, is just slightly northwest of the port of Cadiz, and almost due north of the Straits of Gibraltar.
So, although Adm. Perry gave no locations, betting here is that the Navy’s major base installation will be in Cadiz, on the Atlantic side of the straits. Thus it can be covered by air not only from Sevilla, but if necessary, by the American fleet in the Mediterranean and from the African shore.
A 570-mile fuel pipe line will link all the Navy and Air Force installations in Spain. Another important item is that under unification, Navy aircraft can use Air Force installations in that country.
Gen. Washbourne said the air base near Madrid is now in use by the Spanish Air Force. He estimated eventual costs there at $43,000,000, with $8,897,000 sought in the 1954 program to start new construction.
At Zaragoza, the Spaniards already have built a substantial civil airport, he dis-
closed. Part of this can be made operational immediately for Air Force planes. The ultimate cost of planned construction there will be about $13,500,000.
The nineteen-base project for the United Kingdom, Brig, Gen. Stanley T. Wray, Deputy Air Force Director of Installations, testified, “provides not quite the minimal operational facilities,” although its projected cost “is something on the order of $33,000000.” No United States base is complete yet, although some are “substantially” complete in the Midlands area, he said in the published testimony.
Part of Field Ready
But he and an aide conceded, under questioning, that the following British bases could be considered as “substantially” completed with funds which the Air Force is requesting for the fiscal year opening July 1:
Alconbury, Brize Norton, Brunting- thorpe, Chelveston, Greenham Common, Fairford, Lakenheath, Mildenhall, Moles- worth, Spilsby, Stanstead, Mount Fitchet, Upper Heyford, Wethersfield, Woodbridge and Sculthorpe.
Elvington and Sturgate he said, might require “substantial” funding in the future.
All but a few of these bases, he said, if needed, could be made operational “now.”
Sperry’s New and Different Kind of Gyroscope
U. S. Air Services, Jan. 1954.-—A new and different kind of gyroscope has been privately disclosed by the Navy to gyro experts of the military and industry, in a closed conference at the Sperry Gyroscope Company, Great Neck, N. Y. The group discussed future applications and witnessed demonstrations of a new “vibratory gyroscope” which resembles a small tuning fork in contrast to the spinning wheel of the conventional gyro.
The new instrument, according to Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, is analogous to the “halteres” or gyratory sense organs found on the common house fly. These are clubshaped vibrating rods behind the fly’s wings which give the fly his sense of balance. They have functioned as “gyro flight instruments” on certain insects for more than 200 million years. In reducing this principle to practice, Sperry engineers studied slow- motion pictures of insects in flight.
The fundamental principle of the vibratory gyroscope, discovered at Sperry, indicates a promising range of applications. Its development, however, is still in the experimental stage and it may be some time before it is ready for production. Recent formal disclosure to industry and military researchers will permit a broader basis for furthei development and application of the new discovery, particularly in important military equipment.
Experimental vibratory gyroscopes, until now a classified project at Sperry for the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics, consist of small electrically-driven tuning forks which are sensitive to extremely small as well as large turning motions. The experimental units can measure rates as slow as the earth’s rotation, to more than 100 revolutions a minute.
A new automatic pilot based on experimental vibratory gyroscopes is currently undergoing flight experiments in a Navy airplane at the Sperry flight research center, MacArthur Field, L. I. This represents one military application of the new gyroscope in operational equipment, which was described at the closed technical conference.
The new gyroscope is the result of longterm research and study to discover better ways of providing more accurate and rugged gyroscopic references for precise navigation systems. It represents one of many avenues explored to avoid the effects of friction in bearings and gimbals of conventional gyros. Different scientific approaches to this problem have occupied researchers for many years including, at one stage, development of air bearings and, more recently employment of liquid bouyancy for anti-friction and other effects. Added interest in the new vibratory gyro therefore results from its remarkable freedom from friction effects.
The Navy points out that to date the Sperry laboratory has built about a dozen of these experimental components for further research and development.
Basic theory and some of the aspects of the new gyroscope are partially disclosed in two scientific papers recently published in the
Engineering Review of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences. These introductory papers reveal that Sperry has applied the trade-mark “Gyrotron” to its experimental instruments employing the vibratory principle.
Tides of Mediocrity
New York Times, Jan. 18, 1954.—A letter from a junior naval officer criticizing the “tides of mediocrity and negativism” that beset leadership in the Navy epitomizes one of the fundamental causes for poor morale in the armed services.
Poor or mediocre leadership is one of the basic reasons for lack of psychic incentive and positive morale, as the Naval correspondent emphasizes.
“ . . . present low morale,” he writes, “is due to a lack of inspired leadership from above. I have found little of which to be proud in my contact with the more senior officers I have met. Not that many of them are completely incompetent but just that the real leaders are so few as to stand out like isolated landmarks.
“And these few seem to fight an ever losing battle against the tides of mediocrity and negativism. But the truly disheartening thing is that the mediocre continues to flourish, seemingly never detected by their own superiors, and thus giving the impression that the higher echelons are also composed of mediocre nonenities.
Incompetents Are Promoted
“In particular, the processes of selection do not appear to be weeding out the incompetent. It is the impression of most of the young regular officers with whom I have discussed this matter, Academy [United States Naval Academy] men for the most part, that the good men are being passed over while demonstrated incompetents are being promoted. . . .
“Another source of discontent is the lack of responsibility in so many junior billets. This is undoubtedly the result of the wartime inflation in rank, and is especially prevelant in the ED [Engineering Duty] group. The choice billets are monopolized by officers one or two grades senior to the billets, while many juniors are filling unnecessary supernumerary jobs. . . .
“Stangely enough, as an ED officer I feel that the straight line officer is now being discriminated against much too strongly. ED officers as a body care little for the needs of the fleet, seldom even giving lip service to the maxim that the shore establishment exists to serve operating forces. . . .
“This sort of thing gripes me as an exline officer. How much more must it gall the career line officer. I would gladly take the star off my own arm (and replace it with special insignia for special duty) as well as that of the rest of the shore-based specialists and women officers (Waves) if it would thereby help to restore some of the prestige and authority of the line. . . .”
Pendulum Swung Too Far
This officer who, of course, sees only one aspect of the services’ morale problem, nevertheless is sound in the points he makes —though they are not inclusive and one or two are too generalized.
The pendulum in the Navy—like that in the Army—-swung too far after World War II, and the authority and prestige of the seagoing line officer has been too much diminished. Keeping the balance true between the shore specialist and the men who run the fleets is a perennial problem of all navies; Nelson and his officers faced it.
Today, the staff expert and the specialist have too many prerogatives and too much authority at the expense of those for whom he exists—the seagoing branch. There should be a clear differentiation in insignia between women officers and shore specialists—and the fighting, seagoing command or line branch.
The specialists and the support group exist for only one purpose—the fighting fleets, and the men who handle the ships in action must have the authority and the prestige.
The correspondent is correct, too, in noting the mediocrity of leadership and the inadequate results of selection for promotion in junior ranks. The leadership weaknesses are the most serious but this problem is part of a vicious circle.
Good leaders are leaving the services because of the decreased psychic and tangible incentives to a service career; the mediocre who lack the ambition, the courage and the
intellectual qualifications to carve out a civilian career remain in the services and thus create greater discontent among the good officers under them.
Selection failures have some—but by no means the major—influence in this trend. There is no foolproof promotion system. The Navy’s system probably makes its maximum errors in selecting junior grade officers, for the numbers to be considered are so great that no selection board, no matter how conscientious, can do full justice to each individual.
What is most lacking in all services is a sure and definite and relatively rapid— though fair—means of getting rid of the borderline incompetent, as well as the obvious incompetent, for the greater good of the whole.
Prospective Medical Legislation
Military Surgeon, Feb. 1954.—At a recent press conference held at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Wilson and Assistant Secretary Casberg disclosed their tentative plans for prospective legislation relating to medical affairs in the Armed Forces.
The discussion covered the details of two pieces of legislation that were being prepared for the attention of the Congress when it convened in January.
The first legislation discussed was that relating to dependent medical care. While in the preparation of this legislation, the findings and recommendations of the Moulton Commission have been kept in mind, the approved plans differ from them in many respects.
While the inequities in the present program of dependent medical care are easily recognized, it is not being found an easy matter to formulate plans for their abatement. ft is evident that a certain employment of civilian physicians and dentists and of civilian hospitals and clinics will be necessary. The procedures by which this civilian service will be made available were still under study at the time of this press conference.
There was under study a plan for what Dr. Casberg called a “deductible clause” in the contract for civilian medical service. By this plan the patient would be committed to the payment of the initial charges of this service, up to a fixed moderate amount. The need for this provision is obvious in order to prevent abuses of the privilege that would certainly ensue.
Dr. Casberg stated that this program would have to be “compulsory” and added that the American Medical Association was concerned that this would be a beginning of socialized medicine. It is not at present clear to what scope this compulsion would extend. It is felt that any concern over the operations of a program such as that proposed is quite unwarranted. And the concept of giving the dependent military patient an awareness of charges is a prudent measure.
While the details of this measure of legislation were still largely in the planning stage, the second was getting a final checking before being submitted to the Budget Bureau for approval. This is legislation to provide medical and other Federal scholarships. To qualify as an administration measure, it must have Budget Bureau approval, but otherwise it could be offered by any member of the House or Senate.
By the provisions of this legislation, scholarships would be offered to medical, dental, veterinary, and nurse students. These would be picked from first-year classes, selections to be proposed by the school Deans and final choices made by the Defense Department. Any student accepting a scholarship would be obligated for one year of Federal service for each year of his scholarship. Tuition and other school expenses would be paid directly to the school, and living expenses to the student during the school year. Selectees must be enrolled in the schools, thus obviating any choice of the student’s career.
The Navy has already a limited program of this kind in operation. The purposes of this extended and perfected program are first to prepare for the expiration of the “doctor draft” law in 1955, and thereafter to provide a steady flow of new young officers into the Armed Forces medical services.
While the commitment for military service of the recipient of such a scholarship is limited to but a few years, it is the hope and belief of those who prepare this legislation that it will have much more beneficial effect. It is hoped that a good number of those taking this limited service will find it of suffi-
cient attraction to warrant making a career of Federal service, and thereby assure a sufficient constant inflow to these services of physicians, dentists, veterinarians, and nurses to maintain adequate numbers.
The measures discussed at this press conference have every appearance of being highly useful legislation. There is everywhere sensed the needs of increasing the attractiveness of the military services for career personnel. The enactment of these two pieces of legislation will be firm steps in that direction.
Radford Sees Menace in Soviet Submarines
New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 21, 1954. —Washington, Jan. 20.—Passage of the St. Lawrence Seaway bill by the Senate tonight followed by a few hours a warning by the nation’s top military officer that the threat of Russian submarines is greater than that of Nazi undersea boats at the beginning of World War II, and that therefore the seaway is a military necessity.
Adm. Arthur W. Radford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking for the group backed President Eisenhower’s plea for the seaway as a vital defense measure, in a letter read to the Senate today by Sen. Homer Ferguson, R., Mich.
Prime sources of rich iron ore in this hemisphere are only two—Venezuela and the Quebec-Labrador area—Adm. Radford said adding: “In view of the potential threat of Russian submarines, it would be an unacceptable military risk to rely solely on our ability to safely supply our tremendous steel mills with iron ore from Venezuela.”
He noted the “difficulty” experienced by the United States Navy in protecting oil and bauxite ships en route from Gulf and South American ports during World War II and said: “Should war ever be forced upon us again, our estimate is that the submarine threat will not be any less, but on the contrary, present indications are that it will be greater. This is more clearly illustrated by the fact that Germany entered World War II with a total of only about fifty submarines, and at the present time Russia possesses over 300 submarines.”
While it is hardly conceivable that Canada could be neutral if the United States were involved in war with Russia, Adm. Radford warned that this possibility must be considered if the United States should permit Canada to proceed alone in the development of the St. Lawrence. Canada thus would be in the position of possibly denying, as a neutral, use of the waterway to the United States, a belligerent, he added.
“The concept of unilateral control by a foreign government, however cordial our relations may be with it, of an inland waterway touching the borders of the United States, is inconceivable to the Joint Chiefs of Staff from a defense standpoint,” Adm. Radford said.
Other complications in strictly Canadian development and control of the waterway include, he said, making Canada solely responsible for its defense, allowing Canada to dictate the priorities of shipping passing through it, and admitting—should Canada permit such use—of possibly undesirable foreign shipping to Great Lakes inland waters of the United States.
On the other hand, in addition to more obvious advantages, joint control of the waterway by the United States and Canada, Adm. Radford said, would relieve shipping traffic pressure on the Sault Ste. Marie locks, a bottleneck which worried defense officials during World War II, and also make available additional shipbuilding and repair facilites on the Great Lakes.
Yards in this area built naval craft during the war, but larger vessels had to be floated the long way down the Mississippi to the Gulf. The seaway would enable large ships to be built or repaired there.
Before his letter was read on the Senate floor, Adm. Radford, with Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, completed a secret briefing of members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the global military situation.
“We believe our defense is in competent hands,” Sen. Leverett Saltonstall, R., Mass., committee chairman, said after the session. The two defense officials gave out a “frank” statement on “highly sensitive stuff,” he said, about which he had asked other members to be very careful about what they saw and heard.
“I believe that every member of the committee will agree with me that, with the planning that we’re doing and the buildup that we’re giving these plans, we can look forward with confidence on our security,” Sen. Saltonstall said.
He added that he and other committee members came away with “a feeling of confidence” in the nation’s military leadership.
Mr. Wilson discussed cutbacks in military planning under the “new look,” which will be spelled out in greater detail when President Eisenhower sends his budget message to Congress tomorrow noon.
U.S.S.R.
USSR: Soviet Naval Potential
Rivisla Marittima, November, 1953.—The history of the second World War does not furnish proof that the Soviet Navy of today differs substantially from that of Imperial Russia. A naval review held in 1913 would have shown in the same waters as the scene of a recent display the new Russian destroyer Novik, at that time probably the fastest warship of its day and one of the best armed of its type. But during the 3 years of the war in the Baltic, the Novik did practically nothing more than lay a few mines, and rarely ventured away from the flank of the Russian army. It survived, to come into the post-revolutionary fleet under the name Sverdlov. ■
Now a new unit of this name has appeared in English waters and impressed all observers with her speed, powerful armament, and fine manoeuverability. But any serious student of naval history will put a question mark on the probable wartime value of this fine new class of Russian cruiser.
The fundamental elements of naval warfare change but little, and in the application of the principles of naval power the Soviet fleet still suffers from serious difficulties presented by the Russian climate and geography. The acquisition of an advanced base at Pillau, now renamed Baltiisk, with the yards at Kaliningrad, has not changed the fact that the Gulf of Finland is blocked by ice 5 months of the year. The construction of the Stalin Canal from the White Sea to the Baltic has only eliminated in part the obstacle of the Danish straits which block the access of the Baltic fleet to the oceans of the world. Petsamo does not give much support to the northern bases of Poli- arnoi, Vaenga, and Murmansk within the ice-free Kola Gulf. And the great yards of Molotovsk are icebound for 6 months of the year.
Soviet Strategy
Soviet naval strategy in the Black Sea has not been much simplified by the acquisition of the Danube delta. And the construction of the Volga-Don Canal is a grandiose attempt, even if not effective from the naval point of view, to correct the isolation of the Black Sea from the system of Russian rivers and canals which connect the Baltic, Caspian, and Arctic seas. Only the opening of the northern sea route, realization of an English dream of the sixteenth century, has facilitated in a significant measure the Russian strategic problem.
All these considerations are reflected in the unusual structure of the Soviet fleet in 1953. The Russians possess no great ships worthy of the name, neither aircraft carriers nor modern battleships, and there is no indication that they intend to construct units of these types.
There are, however, reasons to suppose that the Soviet fleet has initiated an important program of cruiser construction, inasmuch as the Svsrdlov represents a type having great radius, among Russian-built units which have not left the Baltic since Rojhde- stvensky left with his fleet for the ill-fated meeting at Tsushima in 1904. Up to now the Soviet cruisers have been based on the Italian concept of fast units, capable of dealing heavy blows but not of taking them, equipped with 180 mm. pieces. Shortly before the war, the Chapayev class was laid down as an improved Kirov class. It will be recalled that there are now in existence 8 units of this type larger than the 8,500-ton Kirov, planned to carry 4 triple turrets, and to present greater strength and nautical qualities than the older Soviet cruisers. The completion of this class was seriously interrupted by the war, when at least 2 hulls were destroyed on the ways at Nikolaev. 4 of these did survive, and were equipped with
twelve 6-inch guns of post war type, which have undoubtedly surpassed the 5 shots per minute possible with the earlier 180 mm. pieces.
Radius of Action
In 1940, during the uncertain German- Russian honeymoon, a cruiser of the Hipper class was assigned to the Soviet Navy, and with it undoubtedly construction plans plus many structural designs. It seems probable that this design had some influence on the Sverdlov class, whose units are about 10 meters longer than the Hipper class, with about the same displacement but with an armament no greater than that of the smaller Chapaev class. It will be understood that the difference consists in a considerably greater radius of action. This renders the Sverdlov class less adapted to Baltic or Black Sea operations, but much more suited to combat in the northern or Pacific fleets, in locations now attainable via the northern sea route during some six weeks in the late summer of each year.
The Soviet Navy has more than 100 destroyers, including a number of over-age units, plus those acquired from the Rumanian, Italian, German, and Japanese fleets. The basic type of Soviet-built destroyer is the Gordy class, with the two improved and somewhat larger versions, the Storojhevoy and the Ognevoy. These are fast, hard-hitting units with limited resistance, essentially Italian in conception. They are lacking in the qualities necessary for northern operations. The basic armament consists of 4 to 6 pieces of 130 mm. and 6 to 9 torpedo tube mounts. In the field of corvettes, the Soviets have adopted a type developed from the coast guard cutters in which durability has been sacrificed for high speed.
The Submarine Fleet
The Russian total of more than 350 submarines of all classes seems like a formidable fleet at first glance. Analysis of this figure furnishes a less favorable impression when one considers the natural difficulties of Russia and the zones in which these subs must operate. It is probable that about 100 of these units are of Russian type; the others represent a collection of heterogeneous submarines acquired in various foreign navies.
The backbone of the Russian submarine fleet consists of 100 Shchukas and Linz known collectively under the name of Shcha. It is a 600- to 700-ton pre-war type somewhat less serviceable than the German VII.
Alongside these units there is a similar number of Maliutka (Baby) type submarines of 200-500 tons. It is significant that the development of this type goes back to 1933. None of these can be considered a threat to vital maritime communications, since they are forced to operate from bases now controlled by the Soviets.
Only when we consider the 50 or 60 Soviet subs having a great radius of over 10,000 miles at economical speed, the K and S classes, for example, can we find a submarine threat to the oceanic communications of the traditional type.
To these 2 classes must be added all the post-war types now in production and which are probably the result of knowledge acquired by the Soviet naval general staff from German material and personnel taken over after the war. It is probable that the Soviet proponents of submarines have interested themselves seriously in the possibilities of atomic propulsion.
Fire Power
There is no proof that the Russian Navy has shown any originality in the development of weapons. Fire power on Soviet ships is probably still ineffective because of lack of fire control equipment and the complex electronic systems for modern central fire control stations.
In the field of mine warfare, the Soviet Union has undoubtedly at its disposal all types of contact and influences mines in use by 1945. However, it is probably a bad interpretation of history to assume, as is often done, that the Russians are absolutely superior to other navies in the use of mine warfare. A navy which, when faced by a superior enemy force, has frequently been immobilized within its coastal defenses, is obliged to lay mine fields and to flee, but this fact in itself is no ground for believing that the Soviet Navy has developed a particular capacity for laying offensive mines at a distance from the Russian coast.
Naval Material
In the matter of naval material, Admiral Isakov probably has as great difficulty as his tsarist predecessors in making the political and military leaders loosen up the purse strings for a well-balanced navy. He must understand that a shore-based aviation, dominated by the army, cannot take the place of carrier-based aviation, if the Soviet fleet is to navigate the oceans of the world.
Moreover, the officers of the Soviet Navy have yet to learn the hard lessons that come from an excessively rigid system of combat training. It is not to be expected that initiative at sea will be developed under a system of political commissars, however well the latter may be camouflaged as vice-commanders.
When Catherine the Great died, the Russian Navy was the second in the world. At the beginning of this century it had fallen to third place. Today the entire Soviet fleet is in service and is numerically superior to the active forces of the British Navy, not counting the latter’s reserve. But it is doubtful that the Soviet fleet will be more successful than its tsarist predecessors in overcoming the traditional obstacles which still bar the way to an effective use of the potential of the Russian Navy.
Russian Intercontinental Bomber
Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 16, 1954.— Washington.—The nation now knows at least something of what President Eisenhower had in mind when he said the Soviet Union possessed the “capability” to deliver atomic bombs upon continental United States.
Disclosure by the Magazine Aviation Week that the Soviets have two new heavy bombers seems to have come as some surprise to Americans deluged with propaganda about their own strategic Air Force. Americans have heard very little until now about what the Soviet Union is doing.
Speculation about Soviet activities is not encouraged by the Pentagon, the White House, or by members of Congress. It is now the official policy, for example, not to tell Americans when the Soviet holds atomic weapons tests or how many bombs it explodes.
But now the specific information is published, which seems substantial, that the Soviet Union has bombers similar to the intercontinental B-36 propeller bomber and the B-52 all-jet aircraft. A hint of this was published months ago by the magazine published by Boeing Aircraft Company, builder of the B-52. Its article described one of the new Soviet bombers and Boeing engineers declared it was, aerodynamically a machine that deserved respect.
Capable Engineers
Once again, therefore, Americans are learning that the Soviet Union has capable engineers and builders in the same fields as Americans. The Soviet Union built the atomic bomb long before most specialists in the United States expected it to do so, and it tested its hydrogen bomb on an even faster schedule.
Atomic bombs are no use to the Soviet Union without its own bombers—it needed a vehicle for delivery as much as it needed the bomb. Doubtless these new aircraft, the Ilyushin-38 and the Tupolev-200, have had every bit as high a priority as the atomic weapons.
The question which the appearance of these bombers presents is whether or not the event proves that the Soviet Union is making offensive preparations and intends at some point to strike at the United States which, today, is admittedly defenseless against a massive atomic-bomber attack.
Russia Tests Atom Guns of Various Calibers
New York Herald Tribune, Feb. 10, 1954. —Moscow, Feb. 9.—Well informed quarters reported today that the Soviet Army tested atomic artillery on recent maneuvers.
Informants said the atomic guns were of various calibers.
The Army tried out their effectiveness during maneuvers in the European part of the Soviet Union, they reported.
Washington Unsurprised
Washington, Feb. 9.—A report that Russia has tested atomic cannon stirred little official surprise here today, but brought renewed warnings that the United States must “keep ahead” in atomic arms developments.
Rep. W. Sterling Cole, R., N. Y., chairman of the Joint Congressional Atomic Energy Committee, said he would “not be surprised” if Russia has developed an atomic artillery shell in view of previous reports on Soviet atomic progress.
Other official sources pointed out that the atomic shell involves fewer technical problems than the more efficient tactical atomic bombs which both Russia and this country have tested in the past.
Following its normal practice, the Atomic Energy Commission declined to comment on the Moscow report or to say whether any Soviet atomic explosion had been detected recently. The report from Moscow today did not indicate whether the Soviet tests included an atomic explosion.
The last Soviet atomic explosions officially reported in this country were set off last August. One of these, on Aug. 12, was described as a hydrogen bomb test. It was followed by a series of atom-bomb tests. The A. E. C. said then it would not report any further Soviet tests unless they were especially significant.
Some officials noted that the Defense Department recently announced a second battalion of American atomic cannon will be sent to Europe to augment the first battalion which arrived in Germany last October to bolster North Atlantic Treaty organization defense forces.
They speculated that the Soviet report might have been timed to counteract this announcement and for whatever effect it might have on the Big Four negotiations now under way in Berlin.
Soviet Says Power Policy Could Hurt U. S. Mainland
Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 20, 1954.— London.—Izvestia, Soviet Government newspaper, says that a western “policy of strength” would lead inevitably to a third world war and warned that in that event the American mainland would be under attack.
Moscow radio broadcast in full an article in Izvestia of Jan. 19, which it said was written by an unnamed “general in reserve.”
The article noted that the United States is
pledged to a “policy of strength.”
It said flatly: “The policy of strength leads to war—and war under modern conditions means colossal destruction.”
The account stressed Soviet development of “jet-propelled weapons” and submarines capable of carrying the war to the American mainland.
Izvestia argued that a “policy of strength” cannot be one-sided, but “must result in resistance on the part of those against whom this policy is directed.”
The paper added: “It happens frequently that the force of this resistance turns out to be more powerful, with all the consequences which it produces.”
Izvestia said that Hitler relied on a “policy of strength” but was defeated in World War II.
The Soviet newspaper said World War II clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of the British Isles to air attack. It added:
“The United States was in a more favorable position in World War II. Hitlerite Germany possessed practically no means with which to span the ocean. Only United States outposts could be subjected to attack.”
But, Izvestia added, “the postwar development of technical devices for use as weapons of war has made such strides that the ocean is no longer a reliable protection from the shock of war.
“Modern developments in aviation, jet- propelled weapons and the submarine fleet have made possible crushing blows over a distance of many thousands of kilometers.
“Elementary knowledge of modern military science confirms this convincingly enough.”
The article argued that various United States military blocs in Europe and Asia would produce “coalition armies” and coalition armies are “never of good fighting quality.”
“Thus,” said Izvestia, “the American policy of strength is nothing but a policy of preparing and unleashing aggression. It leads to the outbreak of a new world war. However it is camouflaged as one of peace.
“The only way is the way of negotiation, based on a sober calculation of the rights and interests of the big and small countries.”
OTHER COUNTRIES
Peiping’s Report on Capture of 11 Points off Chekiang and Fukien Bears Out Sign of Build-Up Since Korean Halt
New York Times, Feb. 8, 1954.—Hongkong, Feb. 7—-The Chinese Communists say eleven islands formerly held by the Nationalists off the Southeast China coast have fallen into Communist hands during the past year. The Reds published last night a list of seven islands they say they have seized off Chekiang Province and four off Fukien.
Before the period covered by these claims the Nationalists held the chain of islands, the main ones of which number thirty-five or so, strung almost 500 miles along the line extending northeastward from Nanpeng- chun off northern Kwangtung to Peiyushan northeast of Taichow Bay off Chekiang. The Nationalists have used these islands as bases for small-scale coastal raids, for naval blockade activities and for gathering intelligence.
Now, according to the Communists’ New China News Agency, Red Army units operating along the Chekiang coast have seized Towmen, Tienshan, Changerhshan, Chikowshan, Yangyu, Chikwanshan and Talushan islands. The seized Fukien islands were listed as Hsiyang, Machick, Fuying and Peishuang.
Nationalists’ Holdings
None of the islands claimed by the Communists was a major Nationalist base. Key bases still held by the Nationalists off Fukien include Quemoy opposite Amoy and the Paichuan Islands, Matsu and Peikan, to the north. Major Chekiang bases of Nationalist China include the Tachen Islands as well as Penshan to the southwest, Ichang to the northwest and Yushan to the northeast.
Nevertheless, the Communist claims fit in with other indications that the Nationalist raiders off the southeast coast have lost some of the initiative they enjoyed while the fighting was in progress in the Korean war.
Commando raids formerly staged by Nationalist units from their island bases have virtually stopped since a costly attack last July against Tungshan, about fifty miles northeast of Swatow.
The raiders at Tungshan included paratroopers and marines from Formosa and commandos from the coastal islands. Although they exacted a substantial toll among the Communist defenders, they encountered strong resistance and suffered a high proportion of casualties among the paratroopers.
Four kinds of troops, regular army units, marines, organized commandos and guerrillas, are stationed on the Nationalist-held offshore islands. Some of the units have received United States support in the past, but the islands lie outside the framework of basic military assistance going to the Nationalists in the Formosa-Pescadores zone under the supervision of the United States Military Advisory Group.
Chinese Reds List Islands Taken In Coastal Activities During 1953
The New China News Agency reported the seizure of the eleven Chekiang and Fukien islands in a dispatch praising the frontier defense work of the Red Army during 1953. It credited Communist coastal units with “smashing the harassing and predatory activities of American imperialists and their lackeys, the Chiang Kai-shek brigands.”
The agency said the Chinese Red Army had “annihilated” about 13,000 “remnant brigands and bandits” between January and September of last year. Among these it included a group that had been operating as far inland as the Kansu-Chinghai border area in Northwest China. It said 1,300 of this group, including the guerrilla leader Ma Yuan-hsiang had been killed between last March and June.
British Naval Strength
London Times, Jan. 5, 1954.—Admiral Sir Michael Denny, who will take up his appointment as Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet, to-day, when he hoists his flag in the battleship Vanguard, is likely to preside over a strengthening of his forces during the next year or so.
The modernization of a fleet is inevitably a slow affair in time of peace, and the first effects of the rearmament programme upon the Home Fleet have been felt only comparatively recently. While commanded by Admiral Sir George Cresy, the fleet was strengthened by the advent of the fleet aircraft carrier Eagle, the excellent Daring class ships, which are possibly the most versatile warships ever devised, and the antisubmarine frigates, which were, before conversion, fleet destroyers.
This year, the main armament of the fleet, modern ship-borne aircraft and their carriers, will be coming into service in useful numbers. The Sea Hawk will become the standard frontline fighter with the fleet, the Wyvern strike aircraft will probably be embarked in numbers, and improved antisubmarine aircraft will become available. During the next two years a carrier of 36,800 tons, the Ark Royal, and the smaller carriers Hermes, Albion, Bulwark, and Centaur will be completed, and the modernization of older carriers will have made good progress. Much of this newly acquired strength will surely go to Admiral Denny.
Need for Carriers
Although the present size of the Home Fleet bears no relation to the probable wartime shape of that force—further warships could be brought forward from reserve and from training and other duties with rapidity —it is important that, at all times a carrier striking force, well equipped and fully worked-up, should be available. At present the major operational surface forces in being in home waters amount to the Eagle, the light fleet carrier Theseus, the Vanguard, the
cruiser Superb, the minelayer Apollo, three Daring class ships, two destroyer squadrons, and one frigate squadron. The obvious deficiency is in carrier strength.
A striking fleet may be of almost any size, including anything from two to 20 aircraft carriers, but during large scale ocean exercises by North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces, it has usually consisted of two task groups. Each group would consist of two fleet carriers, one light fleet carrier, one battleship, a cruiser squadron, and a screen of destroyers and frigates. It is to be hoped that, during the next two years, the Home Fleet will be suitably reinforced until it possesses the ingredients of at least one full task group. This would not only furnish the national armoury with a strong naval weapon but would be of great assistance to the training and working-up of the fleet and a stimulus to morale.
The appointment of Admiral Denny at such an important time in the development of the Home Fleet is generally welcomed in the Navy. He has had a distinguished career both at sea and in staff appointments.
French Guided Missiles in Sahara
New York Herald Tribune, Feb. 14, 1954. —Bou Saada, Algeria.—French guided missiles intended for tactical defense in Europe are being tested today behind the Atlas Mountains of North Africa.
The missiles, some designed to carry atomic warheads, which presumably would be supplied by the United States, reach supersonic speeds over testing grounds laid out over The Sahara, largest desert on earth. It stretches southward from the Atlas foothills in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco to cover an area about one-fifth the size of the continental United States.
Model in Production
One French missile has been named, appropriately, “La Matraque,” after a bludgeon used by the war-like desert tribes. According to Louis Christiaens, the French Air Minister, who recently became the world’s first supersonic Cabinet minister by flying in a new atom-bomb-carrying Vantour bomber, one of the French missiles for antitank use already has been put into mass production “after brilliantly passing all acceptance tests.”
French Communists take a dim view of these developments; by strikes and sabotage they have attempted to disrupt the flow of “special devices” shipped to Algiers and Oran for trans-shipment into the desert. In France on at least one occasion, members of the Communist-led General Labor Confederation dumped guided-missile sections into the Mediterranean after refusing to load them for passage to North Africa. In North Africa itself there have been few difficulties because the Communists have little numerical strength or power.
Most of the missile testing is now done in the vicinity of Colomb-Bechar, a rapidly expanding desert town 300 miles southwest of Oran and present terminus of the partially completed trans-Sahara railroad, of which French military strategists have dreamed for more than 100 years. The initial 318-mile- long stretch of the trans-Sahara line links Colomb-Bechar with the Mediterranean port of Nemours; there also is a rambling narrow- gauge line some 468 miles long linking it with Oran to the east. Both ports once were well known to the crews of Yankee clipper ships which in the words of sailor chanteys of the nineteenth century went “sailing along the coast of High Barbary.”
Deposits of iron and coal in some quantity have been discovered in the vicinity of Colomb-Bechar; there are optimists who believe that the region can be developed into a sort of North African Ruhr, manufacturing munitions such as rocket projectiles and industrial products on a large scale.
Production Speeded
Considerable energy certainly is being directed presently into an attempt to create a North African industry and source of strategic raw materials which .could supplement French military production in the same manner that production of the Commonwealth members supplements Britain in time of emergency.
Air transport is being called upon increasingly to link up important centers such as Colomb-Bechar—whose tenuous rail connection with the coast might become a bottle neck—with even tiny oases such as this one to the east, where prospectors frequently base themselves while looking for oil and minerals.
Twenty-four glider-like Hurel DuBois cargo planes with long tapering wings, which are capable of landing and taking off with heavy loads almost anywhere there is a flat open space, have been ordered by Air France especially for this type of work in North Africa. Their delivery should help solve the communications problem.
Canadians Build Speedier Warship
New York Times, Jan. 23, 1954.—Mon treal.—The corvettes and frigates, Canada’s naval work-horses of World War II, are virtually on their way out.
They are being replaced by a new type of warship, described as an anti-submarine destroyer escort.
Four of these ships have been built. Ten more are to follow.
Canada is proceeding with these in the belief that her most important role in any future war will be to keep the sea lanes open.
She did this in the Battle of the Atlantic, which not only created Canada’s naval power but also left her with a veteran’s experience of the fundamentals of modern naval warfare, particularly as it concerns the submarine.
The theme of the present planning is that in another war there will be no time for reorganization and evolvement of tactics as there was in World War II.
Soviet Strength Estimated
The Soviet Union is believed to have 370 submarines, all of them of advanced design. The key thought, therefore, is that Canada’s Navy must be ready for instant action should a war with Russia eventuate and Moscow rush the submarines into the Atlantic.
The destroyer escort vessels are regarded as the best answer to this possible threat. They were designed by Canadians and are being built and completely equipped at
Canadian yards with Canadian-built machinery.
The new ships have been designed so that they may be produced rapidly and in numbers. Since they represent one of Canada’s most highly secret defense projects, comparatively little is known about them.
H. M. C. S. Ottawa, built last year at the Canadian Vickers yards in Montreal, is typical of the class. She has an all-welded hull.
Metals Carefully Selected
The superstructure, furniture and interior construction is of aluminum, to insure stability and allow more weight for armament.
Particular attention was paid to the composition of the steel used so that the best performance could be assured in bad weather at sea. The ship is insulated with fiberglas.
The lines are sleek, though not altogether graceful. The ships have a distinct flare to the bow and a main deck that runs aft without a break.
The joint between the ship’s side and deck plates is rounded so that the foredeck seems to arch. These lines are expected to reduce silhouette, keep spray and icing at a minimum and allow good speed in the worst weather.
Almost nothing is known of the armament, except that the new United States Navy three inch 50 cal. gun will be a major item.
Canadian researchers have delved extensively into electronics to give the ships new devices in radar and echo detection.
Two twenty-inch and two ten-inch signal projectors are fitted to the superstructure. A novel system of control rooms allows navigation and fighting without the use of visual lookouts, although these are provided. The ships will have a speed of 30 knots or more.
Canada has been converting many of her old type of destroyers and frigates along the same lines as the new escorts.
The aim of the Canadian Navy is to have at least 100 ships in action by the end of this year if possible. The manpower goal is set at 21,000 men.