New Germnay's Air Power Countered by Treniendous Increase in Strength of Royal Fleet London, Dee. 26. G.REAT Britain today is hastening forward the most formidable naval building programme since the great warship race with Jimperial Germany just before the World War.
At present more than 135 ships, aggregating 612,000 tons displacement, either are under construction or are projected. At a rough estimate their total cost probably will exceed £4,000,000,000 which represents an expenditure of about £85 for every man, woman and child in Great Britain. It may well be even higher ultimately, owing to the soaring price of armaments.
Britain's gigantic rearmament is proceeding quietly, with little lof the limelight playing on its efforts to match Germany in the jzir, That probably is because the great European crisis in Septem~ ber brought home to Britons at large for the first time the full realization of the danger of lightening attack from the air.
Even Iso, today as in the past and for decades to come, Great Britain will rely upon the navy to shoulder the major burden of the Erapire's Following are the warsitips being constructed under" the © 1996-37-38 Programmes: five battleships of 35, 000" tons displacement; six. aircraft carriers of 25,000 tons; four 10,000- ton cruisers; five 8,000-ton cruisers; ten 5,450-ton cruisers; nineteen submarines:
thirty-five "destroyers. (of icon will be "completed escort vessel three patrol two depot ships; ten miscellaneous craft (lugs, tenders, gunboats, ete) eighteen motor torpedo-boats or "mos-quite craft" of 25 tons each.
addition two 40,000-ton battle ships, four 8000-ton cruisers and a number of smaller vessels have been authorized. Their construction will begin soon, The frst two of the now battleships, the Xing George Vand the Prince of Wales, probably will be launched carly next spring. They. are expected to go into service by 1040. Their three sister ships, th Anson, Beatty and Jellicoe, are scheduled for completion the follow= ing year. All are of 35,000 tons with a speed expected to touch 30] knots and each will mount 14-inch guns. With their huge armaments! itis said they will be the most, strongly protected warships ever built.
Two 40,000-ton Battleships The two 40,000-ion battleships, Lion and Temeraire, will be laid down shortly under the 1938 bulld-ing ' programme. They are due to be completed during 1942. They will mount 1G-inch guns and will be the largest vessels in the British Navy, except for the 42,000-ton _battie cruiser Hood. It is estimated they will cost at least £250,000,000 each, Britain's six new aircraft carriers, each of 23,000-tons displacement, also are being rushed to completion: The first of them the Ark. Royal Jaid down under the 1935 programme, already is finished and will be. put into commission soon. They Illu-serious, Victorious and Formidable fare scheduled for service next year, and the Formidable are scheduled. for service next year, and the Indomitable and Implacable will be completed in 1940 and 1941 respec-lively. This means that three yern rence the British fleet will have a total of twelve aircraft carriers and {wo seaplane carriers, 'The new cruiser programme already is well under way to comple-jon. It provides for ton 10,000-ton vessels of the Southampton' class, mounting O-inch guns. Six of these already vare in service. The Liverpool ix completed and will join the ect in the near future and throe others, the Belfast, Gloucester and Edinburgh, are scheduled for commission early next year. Five of! the 8000-ton Fiji class are nearing completion and are expected to be ready in 1940, Four others have been authorized but not yet laid down. Finally, ten small cruisers of} the Dido class with a displacement of $450 tons, are being built now, 'At Toast seven of them should be ready in eighteen months' time.
Within two or three months cist teen new destroyers are scheduled to leave the shipyards. They will be he first installment in a programme of 25 of this type craft due to be carried out before 1940. This pro-Framme was held up for a time Owing to the tremendous strain Suddenly thrown on the British] armaments industry by the simultaneous speed up in rearmament of all three fighting services. To equip the destroyers alone it was necessary to deliver nearly 300 new! model 47-inch guns, including re-Servers. These guns have a. high angle mounting never previously. lised in the British navy.
"Additional destroyers probably will be tala down under the 1859 programme, since it is on. these] Small, high speed craft that Great] Britain would depend largely in war time for convoying vital food and raw materials along the Empire trade lifeline—United Press.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.