LOSSES AT SEA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 153, 10 April 1941, Page 5

LOSSES AT SEA.

BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC.

NO SERIOUS CAUSE FOR ALARM

LONDON, April 8

Merchant .ships lost by enemy action during the week ended at midnight on March 30,',the eighty-second week of tho war, wore 20 vessels of a total of 77,575 tons, comprising 13 British vessels of 58,879 tons, live Allied ships of 14,975 tons, and two neutral ships of 3721 tons.

Tho German claims for this week total 187,'0G0 tons, and the Italians claimed 12,000 tons. »It is l notified that some ships which were overdue in the eightieth week, ended March 16, must now be regarded as lost. British losses have increased in this period, therefore, from 20 vessels of 76,89-1 tons to 27 vessels of 107,794 tons, and Allied losses from six vessels of 16,821 .tons to nine of 37,617 tons. The total losses for the week are now 146,098 tons instead of 9-1,402 tons, but even then only about half the total claimed by the enemy has been sunk during that period. It is felt in naval circles that, although the latest figures show no great increase, the corrections in the eightieth week add a considerable figure to the total losses. They demonstrate the vital importance of the great, “Battle of the Atlantic,” which is being waged every minute of the night and day. On this battle may very well depend the result of tho war, but it is not regarded as a cause for serious alarm. It should he realised that, although great land and sea battles may seem of greater immediate interest than the long-drawn battle in the Atlantic, which may last for months, great sacrifices and endurance are being continually demanded of the merchant service and the Navy staff.

The work of organising convoys must not be under-rated,- as R is a task of extraordinary complexity. Convoys cannot run with the regularity, of suburban trains. Fogs, gales, and last-minute diversions may delay the start, and sudden information of fresh minefields often means the strengthening of escorting ships in view of new dangers., Again, in an Atlantic chase, it .seems impossible not to. get within range ol the enemy before dusk, and yet visibility may suddenly decrease from 10 to two or three miles, and nothing can bo seen. The rendezvous, too, of convoys is not a landmark like a church tower m cross roads, hut a spot where there is nothing to distinguish it from the rest of tlio ocean, and the assembly of individual ships may mean hours lost in the progress of a convoy/ The heavy figures' now announced which may. make a. weekly average .of 98,000' tons, do not affect the conviction in informed naval circles that Britain will eventually win tho battle of the Atlantic.

A special correspondent who has arrived in England in a Canadian destroyer, said that the ships of tho convoy it was protecting had been strung out to the farthest horizon. 11 was one of tho most important and valuable, convoys of the war. The correspondent said the crow had been disappointed at (he absence of the enemy, although- the convoy passed through the heart of the U-boat zone. “This is supposed to be the Battle ■of the Atlantic,” the destroyer commander said to the correspondent. “Hitler tells his Germans that British ships are being swept off the sea. Well, look at them.”