Last week Congressman Melvin J. Maas, of St. Paul, Minn., proposed that the U. S. Navy build 80,000-ton battleships nearly twice the size of two mighty monsters now on the way. Horrified admirals paid attention to Mr. Maas only because: 1) he is the ranking Republican on the House Naval Affairs Committee; and 2) his remarks were symptomatic of a tendency on the part of Navy-minded Congressmen to dream for themselves.
Dreamy members of the House subcommittee which handles Naval appropriations asked the Navy Department to draw up estimates for 65,000-ton leviathans. Even these would be 30,000 tons bigger than...