A friend and confidant of Big-Navy men in Washington is the New York Times's Correspondent Leland C. ("Lem") Speers. One morning last week the Times headlined a dispatch from Mr. Speers: VAST SECRET FLEET IN JA PAN REPORTED. The story reported what has long been on public record: that Japan is building three to four big battleships, somewhere between 7,000 and 12,000 tons heavier than the biggest (33,400 tons) in the U. S. Navy. The news in Lem Speers's yarn was that Japan had speeded up construction of its giants, that "the Japanese battleship program may include eight and...
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