DRASTIC CHANGES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 114, 16 May 1942, Page 5

DRASTIC CHANGES

U.S. WAR PRODUCTION

SPEEDING UP PROGRAMME

(By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.)

NEW YORK, May 14,

The Washington correspondent of the New York* "Herald Tribune" says that the American war leaders have decided to make immediate and very dras•tic changes in the war production programme, with a view to a speed-up of the already tremendous output of weapons.

It is expected that these changes will supply the United Nations so fully with armament that victory may be achieved within six months or a year from now.

The changes include three major points: First, the abandonment of the construction of new plants, because all metals and materials must be used directly for weapons; secondly, a drive for maximum exploitation of all existing plants; and. thirdly, reconsideration of the entire plane-building programme with a view to the construction, besides bombers and fighters, of a huge fleet of giant transport planes to replace the cargo capacity of ships that have been sunk.

The military correspondent of the "New York Times," Mr. Hanson Baldwin, says that changes in the organisation of the American Navy Department and commands afloat are taking place which will result1 in greater emphasis on naval aviation. He explains that the experiences in the Coral Sea have outlined the imminent importance of the aircraft-carrier. While the battleship has in no wise been abandoned, the carrier is definitely in the spotlight, and the American production and conversion of carriers, which is already unmatched anywhere else, will soon bo considerably increased, following the predicted organisational changes.