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Italian
Warships
For Soviet
Australian Associated Press
NEW YORK, Jan. 17
Quoting an "unimpeach-
able source," Hanson Bald-
win says in the "New York
Times" that the Soviet
Government is scheduied to
receive from Italy one battle
ship, one cruiser, three destroy
ers, two torpedo boats, two sub-:
marines, and about 30 miscei-.
laneous naval auxiliary craft:,
under the terms of a hithertoj
secret annex and protocol to
the Italian peace treaty.
The projected transfer is,
however, linked with and ap- *
parently dependent upon, re- *
turn by the Russians of war- '
ships which the TJnKed States
and Britain lent them during'
the war. ;
The Italian peace treaty pro
vided for Italy-; retention of '
about 114,744 tons of war ves-'
eels, Including two obsolete bat- I
tleships for training purposes *
only, four cruisers, tour de- '
stroye—>, 16 torpedo boats, 20
corvettes and various auxl-i
li_ties .
Special Commission ]
The rest of the Italian Navy— "
about 152,000 tons of principal
types of ngfating ships, puts
3fv_aed among the victor States, j
or be sunk or scrapped I
The separate protocol and!
annex to the treaty, signed at ?
tbe Foreign Ministers' CouncU!'
meeting in Paris last February,
provided for tbe lestebiisbment ?
of a special Big Four naval'
commission to sit in Rome and;
arrange details of the disposi-i
tion oi excess Italian shins. ,
The annex specifically as
signed excess stops to various .
Powers but was never pre
viously published.
Italian ships which, under .
the protocol and annex, are
assigned to the Soviet, include
the Gi—U Cesare (23,000 tons),
an obsolete battleship built in
1911 but modernised just be
fore the war. The Soviet has
thus failed in her bid to obtain
ber first fairly -modern battle
shin.
France is to receive three
cruise-—, four destroyers, one
torpedo boat, two submarines
and 32 auxiliaries. Yugoslavia
will receive three ton-redo boats,
two motor barges and six mine
sweepers, but her demands for
a cruiser have not been
(—anted Greece wiU receive a
cruiser
The terms of the protocol and
annex, savs Baldwin, seem to
mean that the Soviet must
choose between tbe acquisition
of Italian warships and thr
retention of the Royal
Sovereign ("loaned" by Britain)'
ind the old American cruiser
Milwaukee and smaller shins
*-he received from the United
Stater and Britain during the
war
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