The Committee dealt at street length and in much detail
with the Forces of the Crown, basing its recommendations on the theory that there would be no great war for the next ten years, and on the belief that improved weapons could replace men, and that aeroplanes could do the work of light cruisers and cavalry. The three arms should, it said, " be brought together by the creation of a Co-ordinating Authority or a Ministry of Defence." The economic arguments for the absorption of the Air Force into the Navy and Army applied also " to the fusion of all three services under one Minister," with complete co- ordination in supply, transport, education, medical and other services. The Navy was over-manned by 35,000 men, the shore establishments were unduly large, far too much was being spent on education and research and on the Dockyards. The Navy Estimates should be reduced from £81,000,000 to £60,000,000, apart altogether from the question whether £11,800,000 should be spent in laying down four new capital ships, now that the Washington Conference had proved suc- cessful.
