NEW COMMANDER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 302, 22 December 1941, Page 5

NEW COMMANDER

AMERICAN FLEET

Admiral King Promoted To

Highest Post

Unrfte<l Press Association.—Copyright

Rec. 2 p.m. WASHINGTON, Dec. 21

s £P retar y of the Navy, Colonel rrank Knox, has announced that Admiral Ernest King has been elevated to the command of th° United States Fleet. Rear-Admiral * Ingersoll becomes commander of the Atlantic Fleet.

, Admiral King, as commander-in-chief of the United States Naw will nave supreme direction of' the operating forces in the Atlantic. Facific and Asiatic waters, and all other naval operations. He will be responsible only to Col. Frank Knox Secretary of the Navy, and President Roosevelt.

Authoritative commentators see tne appointment as a recognition of tne importance of combined air and naval action. Admiral King is an experienced naval aviator, and he frequently stressed the use of the navy's air force as a powerful offensive, rather than defensive weapon.

The deputy chief of the materials division of the Office of Production management, Dr. N. Elliott, has issued a warning that only if the Allies hold Singapore would the war be relatively short, and that, conversely, its loss would cut off America's vital supply line and prolong the struggle.

The announcement by the Secretary of War. Mr. H. L. Stimson. of the resumntion of lend-lease aid, indicates recognition of this fact. It is now generally known that immediately after the Honolulu attack the United States suspended all supplies. Arthur Krock. chief Washington correspondent of the New York Times, states: "Very naturally, when Japan struck in the Pacific, lend-lease supplies were cut off from the Allies, and tanks, armour piercing bullets, and certain types of aircraft are still under embargo."

It may now be expected that there will be a resumption of all possible supplies to Singapore.