Warships at Spithead
By A NAVALCORRESPONDENT THERE are few spectacles more satisfying to the great majority of Englishmen than a Review of Her Majesty's Fleet in the historic anchorage at Spithead. Apart from pride in what many of us consider to be the finest Service in the world, it is reassuring to be able actually to look at a major part of the weapon which has served the nation well for many centuries in the exercise of British sea-power. And an occasion such as the Coronation Review gives a rare oppor- tunity for a kind of naval strategical stocktaking in the special economic and political circumstance's of the moment.
For the first time in its long history the Royal Navy in commission has sunk to third place, in matter 'of numbers, among the navies of the world, and the responsibility for an important part of the immemorial task of the Fleet has been entrusted to an international organisation in which Great Britain is a senior, but by no means the controlling, partner. This is a sobering thought, and might be an alarming one if considered in nineteenth-century terms, outside the context of the great changes in the balance of the world's sea forces brought about by the Second World War, and disregarding certain important developments which are taking place in the sphere of naval weapons. Economically speaking, it is perhaps the inevitable consequence of a fundamental change in British strtoi-gical thinking, implicit in the decision to commit powertit military forces, in advance, to the Continent of Europe.
It is an intriguing thought that there is only one major fleet in the world today which is not in some sort of formal alliance with the ships of the Royal Navy : it is the fleet of a Power which is confined geographically, and restricted tactically, by the land-locked waters of the Baltic—the Royal Swedish Navy. The Japanese Navy, now re-established under American tutelage, can hardly become of significance for some years to come, while the nucleus of the future Kriegsmarine exists as yet only on paper as a local force to be formed within the European Defence Community, a subject of much heartburning within the " Blue Circle " of Hamburg and in the lobbies at Bonn. Apart from these three, only the Soviet-Navy, with nine years of the Anglo-Soviet Treaty yet to run, must be considered seriously, and it is in a special position, both from the aspect of the immemorial Russian geographical and climatic disadvantages to which it is exposed, and due to the fact that Russia as yet possesses no capital ships—neither aircraft- carriers nor modern battleships.
It is against this background that we should view the war- ships at Spithead. With the experience of Korea in mind, furthermore, it is evident that for some years to come the aircraft-carriers, battleships and cruisers of the Royal Navy will be more concerned with the provision of seaborne support by gunfire and carrier-borne aircraft for amphibious or purely military operations than with their traditional role of seeking out and destroying the core of hostile sea-power—the enemy battle fleet, which does not at present exist. It is mainly for this reason that the attention of many will be turned more towards the smaller types of ship, where many of the new trends of thought of the Naval Staff can best be seen. The advent of submarines with a high underwater speed of over 20 knots has radically altered the staff requirements of the forces required to hunt and kill them, and the first Admiralty reaction to this threat can be seen in the converted " R " class of fast A/S frigates, of which three will be in line E at the Review. It is probable that the same problem has had much to do with the design of the " Weapon " class of post-war destroyer, of which three, Battleaxe," Crossbow and ' Scorpion ' will be present at Spithead. The appearance of these ships is almost as revolutionary as was that of the " Nelson ' class battleships of twenty-five years ago. Their somewhat insect-like appearance is the logical outcome of a technique evolved in the hard school of the Western Approaches, whereby submarines are killed by ahead-throwing weapons which have superseded the depth-charge throwers and traps of the past. Similar considerations have clearly influ- enced the design of the later " Daring " class ships, no longer styled " destroyers " and equivalent to the light cruisers of former days, with a complement of 300 and a mass of complex equipment, dedicated to the location and destruction of an underwater enemy, which supplements their powerful surface armament.
The minesweepers at the Review reflect the harsh lessons of the war years and the anticipated pattern of the future. These ships are now sub-divided into three classes—Ocean, Coastal and Inshore. Ocean minesweepers have an alternative use as convoy escorts, an important consideration when the outline of the future is as dim as it is at present, but all three types must be prepared to sweep, not only " contact " mines of orthodox type but also to counter all the devilish refinements of the " influence " or non-contact mine produced by German technical ingenuity in the last war. Another notable advance in meeting our more conventional naval problems is the deve- lopment of the latest class of Fast Patrol Boat, the successor to the MTB and MGB, several of which will be on view, two of them being equipped with a new and revolutionary type of gas-turbine which gives a better performance than the orthodox types of engine previously in service. Apart from these individual developments, the Coronation Review of 1953 will differ from that of 1937 in three major respects. Firstly, there is a great increase in Commonwealth representation, which reflects the rapid development of the Dominion navies due to the war. The personnel strength of the Royal Canadian Navy alone is more than three times what it was in 1939. Secondly, the profusion of radio and radar aerials in all classes of ship illustrates the importance of elec- tronic equipment in modern sea-warfare. The Fleet has not stood still since this truth was so brilliantly demonstrated at Matapan. And, finally, there is the great increase of anti- aircraft armament made vitally necessary by the experience of the war.
There are other and more fundamental developments in the technique pf sea-warfare which will not be seen at the Review, and which may well transform the Fleets and tactics of the future. It has been stated that atomic propulsion units for submarines are under development. Moreover, the adaptation of the guided missile for naval purposes may change the whole basis of the striking-power of future battlefleets, perhaps bringing the interim period of the aircraft-carrier, in its present form, to an end. All these matters must be considered in their relation to the basic tasks of the Royal Navy, the physical security of these islands and the preservation of our com- munications with overseas, and in the great concourse of war- ships now gathering at Spithead lies reassurance that for the immediate future these tasks can be fulfilled.
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