Referring to the battleship con. troversy, Lord Stanley declared thut the question was" whether aircraft could prevent battleships from. ful-Alling their functions, "and whether they could be replaced by cruisers and alreratt or a combination of ulrraft and smaller warships.
Ho assured the House that, as a result of large-scale experiments ascertain damage by bombs above and below the waterline, this danger would be met by new "construction fand reconstruction. Counter-attack by ships" anti-aircraft batteries. added, had developed out of all Knowledge and the Admiralty would always be ready to Increase lis knowledge by new experiments.
Therefore, he stated the conclusion of British naval experts was that Battleships: would not be made impotent by alr attacks and that they would remain supreme at sea.
Continuing, he stated it was the unanimous opinion of naval experts in Britain and abroad that battleships Were an essential part of a fleet. '*Baltleships need not be very large The British view has always favoured craft of 25,000 tons, but there must bbe suMlelent disparity between battle-hips and cruisers to prevent successful concentration of the latter. While other Powers have battleships, ours Must be powerful enough to engage them on equal term:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.