Stockholm, June 8.
Sweden is now free to develop her naval construction as she deems fit, Admiral de Champs, former head of the Navy, declared today in the course of an article in the "Aftonbladet".
Admiral de Champs urges the Diet to reach an early decision regarding additional naval construction projects, pointing out that Sweden today requires six warships of at least 12,000 tons displacement, with a speed of 30 knots, and armed with six 28- centimetre guns, eight 15-centimetre guns and good anti-aircraft pieces.
Estimating that the construction of these ships will run to 65 million crowns, Admiral de Champs points out that the 8,000-ton armoured cruisers provided for in the Anglo-Swedish naval agreement cost 37 million crowns. Now, however, larger ships with more powerful armament are essential for securing Swedish neutrality, he contends.—Trans-Ocean.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.