National Affairs: Upset Policy

The Defense Department has upset Navy policy by ordering a year's delay in the construction of a second nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (the first is due for launching in 1961). The Navy will still get funds for beginning design and construction of the second carrier's power plant, but there is no guarantee that it will be able to go on with its carrier-a-year-for-ten-years program. One reason for the switch: the Defense Department is coming to the conclusion that Navy money could be better spent for missile-launching atomic submarines.