The Archive · 1940

Congress Urged to Increase US. Naval Power

Fortification of Guam Urged; Admiral Stark Wants Two Capital Ships Built Each Year Washington, Jan. 9.

HE United States Navy is not satisfied with its present naval strength ratio to the Japanese Navy and favours the fortification of Guam Island, only 1,300 miles south of Yokohama, Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, told the House Naval Affairs Committee here yesterday.

The head of the American naval forces said that an American Navy divided between the Atlantic and the Pacific could not meet a Japanese attack against the United States. The American Navy is happy that it is now free from the limitations of the Washington and London naval treaties, he said.

He warned the Committee that other nations, including Japan, are building warships rapidly and therefore the United States "will become a relatively weak naval power" unless Congress authorizes further naval construction.

In his testimony before the Committee, Admiral Stark supported plans Illegal Entry Into for a 25 per cent. increase in the strength of the American Navy and appropriations for 6,000 new naval

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