S 2 THE WORLD'S NAVIES 



The British View 0/ the Balance of Power. 



Under " Canada " in Part II of the YEAR-BOOK, the proposed addition to the British 

 Navy of three Canadian "Dreadnoughts " is fully dealt with, but it will be useful to 

 give here the important Admiralty Memorandum of December 5, 1912, which explains 

 why, in the opinion of the British Government, the international naval position has 

 become a menace to the Empire: 



1. The Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada has invited His Majesty's Govern- 

 ment through the Board of Admiralty to prepare a statement of the present and immediately 

 prospective requirements of the naval defence of the Empire for presentation to the Canadian 

 Parliament if the Dominion Cabinet deem it necessary. 



The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are prepared to comply and to supplement, 

 in a form which can be made public, the confidential communications and conversations 

 which have passed between the Admiralty and Ministers of the Dominion Parliament during 

 the recent visit to the United Kingdom. 



The Admiralty set the greatest store by the important material, and still more important 

 moral, assistance which it is within the power of Canada to give to maintaining British 

 naval supremacy upon the high seas, but they think it necessary to disclaim any intention, 

 however indirect, of putting pressure upon Canadian public opinion, or of seeking to influence 

 the Dominion Parliament in a decision which clearly belongs solely to Canada. 



The Admiralty therefore confine themselves in this statement exclusively to facts, and 

 it is for the Dominion Government and Parliament to draw their own conclusions therefrom. 



2. The power of the British Empire to maintain the superiority on the sea, which is 

 essential to its security, must obviously be measured from time to time by reference to the 

 other naval forces of the world, and such a comparison does not imply anything unfriendly in 

 intention or in spirit to any other Power or group of Powers. From this point of view the 

 development of the German Fleet during the last fifteen years is the most striking feature of 

 the naval situation to-day. That development has been authorised by five successive 

 legislative enactments, viz., the Fleet Laws of 1898, 1900, 1906, 1908 and 1912. These 

 laws cover the period up to 1920. 



Whereas in 1898 the German Fleet consisted of 9 battleships (excluding coast 'defence 

 vessels), 3 large cruisers, 28 small cruisers, 113 torpedo-boats and 25,000 men, maintained 

 at an annual cost pf 6,000,000, the full Fleet of 1920 will consist of 41 battleships, 20 large 

 cruisers, 40 small cruisers, 144 torpedo-boats, 72 submarines and 101,500 men, estimated 

 to be maintained at an annual cost of 23,000,000. These figures, however, give no real 

 idea of the advance, for the size and cost of ships have risen continually during the period, 

 and, apart from increasing their total numbers, Germany has systematically replaced old 

 and small ships, which counted as units in her earlier Fleet, by the most powerful and costly 

 modern vessels. Neither does the money provided by the Estimates for the completed law 

 represent the increase in cost properly attributable to the German Navy, for many charges 

 borne on British naval funds are otherwise defrayed in Germany; and the German Navy 

 comprises such a large proportion of new ships that the cost of maintenance and repair is 

 considerably less than in navies which have been longer established. 



3. The naval expansion of Germany has not been provoked by British naval increases. 

 The German Government have repeatedly declared that their naval policy has not been 

 influenced by British action, and the following figures speak for themselves: In 1905 Great 

 Britain was building 4 capital ships, and Germany 2. In 1906 Great Britain reduced to 3 

 capital ships, and Germany increased to 3. In 1907 Great Britain built 3 capital ships, and 

 Germany built 3. In 1908 Great Britain further reduced to 2 capital ships, and Germany 

 further increased to 4. 



It was not until the efforts of Great Britain to procure the abatement or retardation of 

 naval rivalry had failed for 3 successive years that the Admiralty were forced in 1909, upon 

 a general review of the naval situation, to ask Parliament to take exceptional measures to 

 secure against all possible hazards the safety of the Empire. In that year, 8 capital ships 

 were laid down in Great Britain, and 2 others were provided by the Commonwealth of 

 Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand respectively a total of 10. 



4. In the spring of the present year the fifth German Navy Law was assented by to the 

 Reichstag. The main feature of that law is not the increase in the new construction of capital 

 ships, though that is important, but rather the increase in the striking force of ships of all 

 classes which will be immediately available at all seasons of the year. 



A third squadron of 8 battleships will be created and maintained in full commission as 

 part of the active battle fleet. Whereas, according to the unamended law, the active battle 

 fleet consisted of 17 battleships, 4 battle or large armoured cruisers, and 12 small cruisers, 

 it will in the near future consist of 25 battleships, 8 battle or large cruisers, and 1 8 small 

 cruisers; and whereas at present, owing to the system of recruitment which prevails in 

 Germany, the German Fleet is less fully mobile during the winter than during the summer 

 months, it will, through the operation of this law, not only be increased in strength, but 

 rendered much more readily available. Ninety-nine torpedo-boat destroyers, instead of 



