Red Sea Power

Russian naval strength is growing. Western military men have known for some time that Russian shipyards were busily building a big fleet of German-designed "Schnorkel" submarines--fast, long-range craft which are almost proof against currently known detection devices. This week, in its newly published 1949-50 edition, Britain's authoritative Jane's Fighting Ships reported that Russia already has at least 360, and possibly 460, of such submarines in service. Originally Russia expected to have 1,000 Schnorkels in operation at the end of 1951. Jane's doubts Russia's capacity to build fast enough to hit that target, estimates that 750 by end of 1951 is a likelier figure.

Jane's also reported that the Russians are at work on three 35,000-ton battleships, each "equipped with two catapult towers for firing radio-controlled aerial torpedoes." Two of them, reputedly laid down at Archangel in 1942, may already be in commission; the other is reported to have been delayed by German bombing at Leningrad during the war.

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