No tears need be shed, except in so far as
the growing dis- regard of international obligations is to be depored, over the abrogation of the Anglo-German Naval Treaty by Herr Hitler. No new building programme on which Germany may enter can affect us for years, and in one respect the dis- appearance of the treaty may be a considerable advantage. Under the arrangement by which Germany observed a ratio of 35 to too in relation to us in total tonnage, no distinction being drawn between old and new ships, every 30,000 tons of obsolescent tonnage which we retained entitled her to 10,000 tons of new construction. That seems to have been the reason for the decision to scrap the five ' Royal Sovereigns ' —battleships of 29,000 tons with 15-inch guns. They were completed in 1916 and 1917, but they are useful still for very many purposes ; one of them, the Ramillies,' is at present cruising in the Mediterranean. They are not yet scrapped and there is now no reason why they should be.
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