$640,000,000 FOR BATTLE SHIPS
$640,000,000 for Battle Ships Senator W. E. Borah Shows That Sixteen Have Been Ordered at a Cost of $40,000,000 Each TUESDAY, January 25th, the Senate passed a resolution introduced by Senator...
...In that country, a country which for 200 years has dominated the sea, it is deemed wise to make haste slowly, not only in the interest of the taxpayers, but in the interest of an efficient navy, and, above all, in the interest of that continued control of the sea so vital to her existence...
...He declares that the dreadnaught must hide in hermetically sealed harbors to avoid submarines, and that the harbors must be roofed over as a protection from bombing planes.' * * * "MR...
...Chamberlain, speaking in the House of Commons a few days ago with reference to cabinet decisions, said that the Government is determined to maintain the Navy at a standard of strength which will adequately secure the safety of the Empire and its maritime communications...
...Presi-* dent, that if there is any way under our bureaucratic system of government to release the members of the Navy to an expression of their real views on this subject I should like to have it done...
...The idea which I had in mind when I introduced the resolution was that we should know, as definitely as it can be known before We continue this program, that it will bring us an efficient navy...
...He believes only in reducing our Navy, provided our rival naval powers, England and Japan, can be induced to enter into an agreement to disarm also, and yet he has no question as to the desire on the part of all the people in these countries for naval disarmament...
...The Senator knows I am in Very hearty sympathy with his disarmament suggestion...
...Admiral Sir Percy Scott agrees with Lord Fisher...
...We certainly do not desire to build to the extent of $640,000,000 and then find ourselves in 1925 with an obsolete navy...
...So you are driven to the Internal combustion engine and oil...
...MR...
...In a lecture at the Army General Staff College more than a year ago, Captain Hart, United States Navy, estimated that 10,000 officers and men constituted the maximum force employed by the Germans in their submarine campaign...
...In England they still have freedom of speech in the navy, and many of the best men in their navy contend that the navy as it is now proposed, or has heretofore been proposed, is an obsolete navy...
...I only know that the information with reference to the subject in this country is very meager...
...I understand a submarine costs about a million dollars...
...That means an expenditure of $640,000,-000...
...It may be that they will control the situation...
...Of course, I do not assume to pass an opinion on any such question, but it does seem to me that a layman may feel keenly interested in knowing what the ultimate judgment of the experts is to be upon this subject...
...McKellar...
...I know there are men high in the service of this country who have long been connected with the American Navy who feel that the expenditure of money upon these battleships is a waste of money, and if we could have the same freedom of discussion that is taking place in England upon this subject I think we would be able to arrive, possibly, at a sound conclusion, and I doubt if we shall eve* arrive at a sound conclusion in any other .way...
...There is no doubt that the masses of Japan, the same as the masses of this country, desire an understanding by which the two nations shall not enter into a competitive building naval program...
...That to me is a very startling proposition...
...Senator Borah-is quite conservative in his view...
...We are now engaged in building some If capital ships...
...In the course of the debate Senator Borah said: "I have no doubt at all that an agreement could be reached if the people of the respective countries could have their voices heeded...
...I am informed that the Agricultural appropriation bill carries altogether $33,000,000...
...They have decided—with the hearty concurrence of the admiralty—that the committee of imperial defense shall Institute at once an exhaustive investigation into the whole question of naval strength as affected by the latest developments of naval warfare.' "The Government will therefore present no program to Parliament for capital-ship construction until the results of this inquiry have been considered...
...I WOULD like to say here, too, Mr...
...He said: " 'We are face to face with a knotty problem: What constitutes an up-to-date fighting navy — a navy with the weapons and organization best designed to meet the conditions of the present and the near future in naval warfare...
...It is now contended by some of the great naval experts of the world that what is known as the capital ship, or the battleship, will be practically useless in future naval warfare...
...Mr...
...I have not been informed as to What is the attitude of those who direct our affairs here on that question...
...As I have understood it, all of them have been contracted for and a number of them have 'been began and a great deal of work has been done to many of them...
...What would be the cost to the country...
...It is bad enough to have to spend this money at all, but it is indefensible to spend it unless we know it gives us the most modern of navies...
...Can this fact be ignored?' "Again: " 'Reviewing briefly, we see that the dread-taught fleet is terribly menaced...
...I was going to say, however, that there was a statement made by the writer in the New York Tribune that there is not now with the American Navy a single modern, up-to-date submarine...
...They must be permitted to say what they think without being brought to task for doing it...
...I read from an article in the New York Tribune, and I happen to know the party who wrote this article...
...That, however, is merely a suggestion...
...They have, therefore, deferred all building foT six months and set their experts to work and asked for the fullest and freest expressions from all students of the subject...
...We can take the cost of two battleships and expend the money for submarines and we would have 40 submarines upon the Atlantic coast and 40 submarines upon the Pacific coast...
...Could the Senator give us any information as to how many of the capital ships have already been contracted for and begun...
...It is equally true, in my judgment, in England...
...I do not know what information the committee has had before it with reference to this subject...
...As a layman I might have my view about it, but we must have the unbiased and uncontrolled view of those who have made a life study of it...
...and it was with a view of ascertaining the best thought and the best judgment upon this question that I introduced this resolution...
...That is $7,000,000 less than one of these possibly obsolete battleships costs...
...PRBSIDENT, as I understand, we 1V1 have initiated the building of some 16 battleships, which cost about $40,000,000 apiece now...
...That is information which I have asked for from the committee, as to the practical result of suspending building operations at this time...
...It must be protected at all times—at anchor or at sea—by destroyers, submarines, mine layers, and a strong air force...
...The present cost of these ships is about $40,000,000 apiece...
...I shall discuss that question later...
...Despite the Grand Fleet and allied navies, despite the millions of land force3 on all fronts, the submarine dominated the situation at the most critical stage of the war...
...Whether or not the militaristic forces, the armament forces, the armament trust, and the men who represent them both in this country and elsewhere are sufficiently strong to prevent the people from having their way, I do not yet know...
...It is not my business to discuss the land, but by sea the only way to avoid the war is to get under the water...
...And yet this small force came within an ace of starving England and winning the war...
...I understand that that is now the settled policy of the English Government — to know thoroughly, and as conclusively as it can be known, what the revealments of the war are with reference to what constitutes an efficient navy...
...Our readers will find the following extracts from Senator Borah's remarks illuminating as to the naval situation...
...but if it is to be delayed, then it seems to me extremely important that we know something of the condition of our building program and as to whether or not it is along the lines which will make for efficiency in case we should ever be called upon to make use of the Navy...
...SOME time ago I offered a resolution which had for its purpose the bringing together of the three great naval-building nations, with a view of securing, if possible, an understanding by which the building programs might be reduced...
...There are distinguished authorities who declare that the dreadnaught is useless today...
...1...
...They give some indication of activity...
...Just as a layman, not as an expert, but exercising that common sense which is the great reserve power of the American people and without which we would soon pass into mental bankruptcy, it seems to me that I would rather have 40 submarines strung up and down the Pacific coast, so far as any neighbor interfering with our affairs is concerned, than to have 8 or 10 battleships...
...If it should transpire that they are inefficient or obsolete for modern warfare, it would be a tremendous blunder to go ahead and complete them...
...I presume we will likely arrive at some compromise, such as finishing the ships practically completed and suspending with reference to those which may not be very far along...
...640,000,000 for Battle Ships Senator W. E. Borah Shows That Sixteen Have Been Ordered at a Cost of $40,000,000 Each TUESDAY, January 25th, the Senate passed a resolution introduced by Senator Borah which asked the Committee on Naval Affairs to make a report concerning the condition of the Navy and as to the wisdom of suspend-ing the building program of the Navy for the next six months...
...It can not exist, still less can it attack, without auxiliary flotillas above and below...
...Of course, if we should come to the conclusion that the surface ship is obsolete, there is no need of going ahead, no difference how far the contract is completed...
...I think it is, but I want full information...
...I was wondering what effect it would have if we stopped the work now...
...I do not know what the real program will be...
...In September, 1919, Admiral Lord Fisher wrote: "Air fighting dominates future war, both by land and sea...
...BORAH...
...That's why I keep on emphasizing that the whole Navy has to be scrapped...
...There seems to be an opinion in some quarters that that matter ought to be delayed for a time, and I am not about to discuss whether or not it should be delayed...
...We are responsible foe the expenditure of these vast sums of money, and we should have the best information possible as to whether they are being wisely expended...
...I feel perfectly safe in asking the Senate to give particular attention to it, and if we have an investigation the party will be perfectly willing to state his views in a more extended way...
...I do not know whether it is practical or not...
...The English cabinet have taken up this ques* tion, and they are dealing with it with their usual foresight and vigilance...
...I happen to know that there are men In the Navy who believe that the capital ship will no longer be serviceable in modern naval warfare, but they do not feel exactly free to give that information under present conditions, unless they are called upon to do so...
...The submarine...
Vol. 13 • February 1921 • No. 2
