The French memorandum. shows that the tonnage of the French
Navy to-day is 681,808, which is 457,000 tons less than before the War. She asks that her total tonnage by 1936 should be 724,479. She points out that she has not availed herself of the permission given at Washington to build a tonnage of 70,000 in capital ships. She says that she must now make use of the whole or part of the permission owing to the appearance of " a new type of battleship." This is a plain reference to the German " pocket battleship " ' Ersatz Preussen.' Apparently' the guarantee which France already has from both Great Britain and Italy against an unprovoked German attack makes no difference. As regards submarines, France claims a tonnage of 126,000 by 1948. She has thus exceeded the demand which she put forward at the Washington Conference. -
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