I HAD THOUGHT that the elevation of Mr. J. P.
L. Thomas to the Westminster Upper Deck might reduce the flow of bromides about the Navy. But no : 'The principal striking power of the Navy today,' the Commons were informed last week by his Parliamentary Secretary, 'is provided by a balanced force of aircraft operating from floating bases.' Balanced' the force may be. in the sense that a junkyard may contain a balanced selection of old iron. The aircraft in use are all obsolete, and none of them was of much military value even in its prime. This sort of pretence, as Mr. Callaghan rightly said, makes a mockery of defence; it would be far better to admit that the whole conception of a carrier Navy has broken down, because aircraft suitable for carrier use are • unsuitable for military operations, and vice versa. The 'fighters' in present-day carrier use are slower than the bombers they would be pursuing; and as carriers are highly vulnerable, the chances of using them as floating bases from which to launch bombing attacks are negligible. The fact is that the carrier has gone the way of the battleship: its usefulness is limited to peripheral campaigns
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