Washington, Dec. 22.
The advisability of build", 65,000. ton battleships is being explored by the House of Representatives' Naval Sub-Committee.
Mr. James C. Scrugham, Democratic representative of Reno, Nevada, who is Chairman of the Sub-Committee, said today that the question is decidedly in its exploratory stage at present, Congress has voted funds for two 40,000-ton battleships to be built early in the present year and these are still in the planning stage.
Members of the Committee pointed out that the new lock of the Panama Canal could accommodate larger ships than these.
A Republican representative, Mr. Melvin J. Maas, of St. Paul, Minne-Sofa, declared: "Forget 60000 tons and go to 80000. Forget the Canal Have two fleets of super-ships. No nation could afford to follow. A
80,000-ton battleship could have seven or eight turrets and mount 20-inch guns."—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.