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s HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES NAVY SUPPLY BILL WASHINGTON, D. C, May 9.— An American navy second to none, goal of "big navy" leaders for years, will be realized by 1942, Chairman Carl Vinson, of the House naval affairs committee, predicted today after House passage of the record-breaking peacetime navy supply bill, totaling 73,000,000. The measure, which provides funds to lay down twenty-three new warships in the fiscal year starting July 1, was passed by an overwhelming vote, although fifty-eight members voted "no." The "vote was announced as 297 to 58. "With replacements provided for by 1942, we will have a navy second to none in the world," said Vinson. "It will be able to stand against the navy of any one nation in the entire world and in naval aviation it now is unsurpassed by any nation. The personnel of the navy never has been at a higher standard." Vinson, who has piloted all of the naval expansion bills through Congress in the last eight years, approved provisions which authorize funds to lay down two 45,000-ton battleships. He forecast gradual transformation of the entire fleet of eighteen battleships from their present 35,000 tonnage to 45,000 tons. While it is reported that Japan is building 46,000-ton ships, none now exist in the world approaching the size of the two huge warships which the United States will begin to build.
