Britannia Waives the Rule

When Britain first, at Heaven's command,

Arose from out the azure main,

This was the charter of her land,

And guardian angels sung the strain:

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the

waves!

Britons never shall be slaves!

Her Majesty's First Lord of the Admiralty, the Right Hon. J.P.L. Thomas, shattered the decorous precincts of the House of Commons last week with a depth charge that rattled the windows of history. Confessed Thomas ruefully: "Russia has today the second largest navy in commission in the world." He added: "The first is, of course, the navy of our American ally."

The news that Britain--for 200 years "ruler of the waves"--was now a third-rate naval power sent M.P.s racing to the downstairs bar for a bracer. The Daily Express said it was "chilled and startled," but the facts were plain:

P: Battleships--U.S. 4; Russia 1-3; Britain 1.

P: Aircraft Carriers--U.S. 29; Russia 0; Britain 5.

P: Cruisers--U.S. 19; Russia 20; Britain 31.

P: Destroyers--U.S. 248; Russia 100; Britain 31.

P: Submarines--U.S. 149; Russia 350; Britain 37.

Britain and the U.S. have a large reserve in mothballs, but the Soviet ships are all manned and ready for action, with, said Thomas, "by far the greatest part of their strength . . . concentrated in the Baltic and Northern Seas." Work in Soviet shipyards has been speeded up, and "more cruisers are now being built annually than by all the NATO forces combined." By virtue of Allied help during World War II, and the advice of German experts afterwards, "the most up-to-date technical equipment has been developed in their latest ships." Though without aircraft carriers, Russia has a powerful land-based naval air force "which could be used either for bombing or torpedo attacks or for minelaying." The most alarming figure was Russia's submarine force, which should not have come as a surprise to any well-informed Briton. Nonetheless, talk of 350 Russian subs recalls to Britons Admiral Doenitz's boast that with 300 U-boats he could have bottled up the British Isles.

After a brief shudder, British naval pride quickly resumed its steady course. "Morale, training, and a mighty tradition of seamanship, these still matter much more than numbers," gruffed London's Evening News. And Lord Beaverbrook's Daily Express regarded the Soviet navy with a condescending eye: "This fleet is not manned by a race of seamen."

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