CONVOYS' VALUE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 36, 12 February 1943, Page 3

CONVOYS' VALUE

DEFEATING U-BOATS

Mr. Churchill G.ives House Convincing Figures Rec. 1.30 p.m. RUGBY, Feb. 11. He could not give precise figures of shipping losses or building, said Mr. Churchill, addressing the House of Commons, because it was desirable to leave the enemy guessing and let him be the victim of his own lies. It was, however, a horrible thing to plan ahead in cold blood on the basis of losing hundreds of thousands of tons of shipping a month, even if we could show a favourable balance at the end of the year. The waste of precious cargoes, the destruction of so many noble ships, and the loss of heroic crews all combined to constitute a repulsive and sombre panorama. Emphasising the value of convoying, Mr. Churchill said that the chance of . being drowned while travelling in a British convoj' was only one in 2200. The enemy was building more U-boats, but he believed that the answer was more convoy vessels, although their provision meant some impingement on the building of merchant tonnage. Everyone could see how much better it was to have fast ships than slow. Supplying Fast Ships

In the sphere of fast ships competition in engines entered a new phase, as also aid the supply of materials for high-speed engines. He could assure the House that very competent men were working day and night on these aspects ana they would be delighted to supply fast ships even at some loss to the aggregate tonnage, provided that the supply of engines would not clash witn some of the other urgent needs. The destructive power of U-boats had steadily diminished since the beginning of the war. The first year each new U-boat accounted for an average of 19 ships, the second year 12 and the third year seven and a half. These figures were a tribute to the Admiralty and all others concerned. ■

"Let everyone engaged in this sphere of operations bend to his or her task in trying to cut down losses and bring launchmgs up," urged Mr. Churchill, "and let them do this, not unuer the spur of fear, gloom or patriotic jitters, but in sure exhilaration and the consciousness that a gigantic task is forging steadily forward to its successful accomplishment."

Before the United States came into the war calculations had been made on the basis of British shipbuilding and guaranteed lease-lend aid, and there had. never been a moment when they had not seen their way through. Since the United States had entered the war, shipbuilding had been stepped up to a prodigious extent. It was inevitable that the combined • losses of Britain and America in the past few months would exceed what Britain had budgeted for alone, but new building in the last six months exceeded all losses. • •

Shipbuilding was leaping up month by month and losses in the last two months were the lowest for over a year. The U-boats were increasing, but so were their losses. Nothing was more clearly proved than that every well-escorted convoy, protected by aircraft, could beat the U-boat. There had been hardly any losses with heavily escorted convoys. Ratio Steadily Improves Mr. Churchill said that, for this reason, emphasis had been placed on the provision of escort vessels in the last six months, and the rate of killing U-boats had steadily improved. From January to October, 1942, sinkings, certain and probable, were best so far for this war. From November to the present date, the rate had increased by more than half again and, provided the present intense efforts are kept up, we will be better off for shipping at the end of 1943 than now. "Unless something entirely unexpected happens," he said, "we will be still better off at the end of 1944, assuming that the war continues so long. The more sinkings are reduced the more vehement our war effort can be, and the margin of new building, forging ahead wer losses, means the power to strike heavier blows. Let the enemy nurse vain hopes of averting his doom by the U-boat. He cannot avert his doom, but he may delay it and it is for us to shorten delay by every conceivable effort." Mr. Churchill referred to the heavy losses in the western Atlantic after America's entry into the war, the heavy drain on the Russian Arctic route- and the losses caused through the Japanese entry into the war.