U.S. ACTION WILL GIVE VALUABLE AID

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 272, 17 November 1941, Page 7

U.S. ACTION WILL GIVE VALUABLE AID

ARMIK SHIPS

British Warships Relieved For Far East United Press Association.—Copyrig-ht. Rec. 1 p.m. WASHINGTON, Nov. 16. United States Navy officials said that it is proposed to immediately arm 200 merchantmen, all of which were built since 1927, with special decks for gun mountings. Eventually the United States will be able to arm 1600 ships for duty in the Atlantic. Each ship will have a specially trained gun-crew of 20 men from the navy. The New York Herald-Tribune says that Administration circles view the decision to arm merchant ships and allow them to go to belligerent ports as serving notice on Japan that the United States is determined to resist the Axis and is in no mood for compromise. Apart from the moral aspect, observers see a practical effect in freeing important units of the British Fleet for service in the Far East. They point out that the average American warship can effectively serve as convoys in combat zones, automatically releasing modern British craft which can reinforce the squadron at Singapore.

It is learned from a high naval source that the expansion of convoy operations presage extension of naval and air patrols ana escorts all the way across the Atlantic with the establishment of United States bases in the British Isles or the joint use with Britain of t>ases already established.

Other steps contemplated involve American convoys through the Straits of Gibraltar to Britain's Mediterranean ports, thus reducing the time for the delivery of material to Egypt.