ARMY & NAVY: Comparisons

Colonel Leopold Amery, First Lord of the British Admiralty, compared the English and American navies before the House of Commons and declared America superior in many respects.

He pointed out that England has only one capital ship built since Jutland—the Hood; that America has three such; that England has no 30,000-ton battleships, that America has eight and will shortly have ten; that the British naval personnel is 99,500; that the American is 116,400; that British naval expenditures are lower than American.

Colonel Amery's statement is correct. But he did not point out that, although Great Britain has one new capital ship and the United States has three, only one of these (the Maryland] is in commission; that of America's eight 30,000-ton ships, all but one (again the Maryland) are outranged by Great Britain's five "Queen Elizabeth's" and five "Royal Sovereigns"; that America's superiority in personnel would be transferred to Great Britain if 20,000 marines were not added to our total; that it is possible for the British to spend less on their navy because labor and materials are cheaper in England.