BRITISH NAVY NOW STRONGER THAN EVER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 57, 8 March 1944, Page 5

BRITISH NAVY NOW STRONGER THAN EVER

FIRST LORD SPEAKS U-Boats' Toll Below Most Optimistic Hopes British Official Wireless Rec. 12.30 p.m. RUGBY, Mar. 7. "The total sinkings of merchant ships in 1943 were below our most optimistic hopes at the beginning of the year, and indeed little more than half of the estimate we then thought prudent to adopt," said the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. A. V. Alexander, introducing the Navy Estimates in the House of Commons. He said that in 1941 one ship was lost of every 181 sailing, in 1942 one in every 233. The losses in convoys in the second half of 1943 were less than one per 1000. The losses in the Royal Navy and European and Allied Navies in the Mediterranean since the start of the Sicilian campaign were two cruisers, one minelayer, 10 destroyers, two submarines and 10 minor war vessels. Of eleven enemy blockade runners which set out in 1943 on the long and furtive voyage to Europe, only two reached port, and they were damaged. Dates That Stand Out Naval war in 1043 was marked by three dates which stand out like great peaks along the road to victory The first was the last 10 days of 'March, when the trend of merchant shipping losses changed with a suddenness that it was hardly possible to exaggerate. The second was September 11, when major units ot the Italian Fleet anchored under the guns of the fortress of Malta, and the third was December 26, when the ships of the Home Fleet destroyed Scharnhorst. For three months before March 20, merchant shipping losses had shown a welcome reduction aftei the peak they reached in November 1942 In the first twenty days of March the losses leapt up and reached a new high level. It seemed that after all the U-boats, with thenpack tactics, might defeat the convoy system, but all the time our maritime forces had constantly expanded. • and with the growing strength we were able to make new d spof itions, including the formation of the special reinforcements by groups of ships which could be sent to aid a threatened convoy. t Mr Alexander paid a tribute to the efficiencv of Coastal Command and its excellent co-operation with the Navv and American forces. We wei e much indebted to America not only for many very long-range aircraft, but also for a considerable proportion of escorts now manned Koyai Na in y 'l943 the number of Merchant Navy officers and men lost was roughly half of 1942. We able to increase substantially the number of special rescue ships which sailed with convoys for the sole purpose of rescuing survivors and giving medical attention.

Eliminate Funnel Smoke

Indicating that a special scheme had been in force for some time with the object of enabling merchant ships to eliminate funnel smoke and thus reduce the chances of being detected, Mr. Alexander also said that we had been successful in cutting down losses from ordinary marine risks by 25 per cent as a result of improved navigation aids added to the growing experience of navigational hazards peculiar to wartime. Since July, 1942. the saving in merchant ships as the result of various devices had been at the rate of roughly 100 per year . The Germans probably had at least as many U-boats now as at the beginning of 1943. In the early months of last year the production of U-boats exceeded killings, and in recent months U-boats had often sought to avoid destruction by evasive action. The bombing of U-boat building centres certainly had reduced the rate of output, but there was not the slightest evidence that the enemy in any way had abandoned the intention to cripple our sea communications. On the contrary the Germans were still making every endeavour to improve the performance and equipment of U-boats. It was to be expected that U-boats would seek to extend their activities further afield to such distant waters as the Indian Ocean. It was true that we were better off than we expected. Reopening of Mediterranean The reopening of the Mediterranean through route was worth about 1.000,000 gross tons, and the liberation of North Africa and Italy brought in half as much again in ships. It was the policy of the United nations to use these extra resources to accelerate the pace 01 i the war.

"To-day the Fleet is stronger in relation to enemy nayal strength than it has ever been since the fall of France brought us to the brink of disaster, and the United Nations have regained much of the general freedom of movement throughout the seas of the world which was so drastically restricted in 1940, and so seriously threatened in 1941-42.

"The Mediterranean has been opened. The Battle of the Atlantic has taken a favourable turn. In the Pacific the United States forces, aided by the Dominions, are sweeping forward througri ine outer bulwarks of Japan with a speed that would have seemed beyond expectation a year ago. They are not only winning one brilliant victory after another, but also waging a successful war of attrition against the Japanese Navy and mercantile marine.

"In Far Northern waters the naval situation has improved, and we have continued to deliver quantities of war materials to norm Russian ports. Thirteen British warsnips nave been sunk on this duty. Over all 88 per cent of the cargoes have got through. Those cargoes have been magnificently turned to account in the hands of the Red Army.

Beachhead Losses "There is every evidence that the 716 naval bombardments carried out in support of the Army in the Sicilian and Italian campaigns have rendered most effective assistance to the land operations. Such undertakings have not been carried out without loss, and already the Navy's share of the struggle on the Nettuno beachhead alone has cost the cruisers Spartan and Penelope, the destroyers Janus and Inglewood, and five major assault vessels.

"The organisation of hundreds of diverse landing craft into flotillas and larger units has been formidable, and the administration has produced a whole crop of new and complex problems. The number of officers and men engaged in duties connected with the combined operations is large indeed, and a charge upon our naval manpower far greater than ever experienced.

"While devoting our immediate endeavours to preparing for further operations in Europe, we have to look forward to the time when we shall descend with our full might upon the Japanese. We are not idle in that quarter. Even now our submarines are taking increasing toll of Japanese shipping. Distances In The Far East "The Far East theatre presents certain important and special problems which all spring from the fact that thousands of miles separate the theatre from all the chief bases of British power, and even within the theatre itself very long distances have to be covered between one assault and another.

"Most if not all steps in the great campaigns in the Far East will be fundamentally maritime operations at least in the initial stages, and the Fleet Air Arm will be called upon to play a peculiarly vital part. The Fleet Air Arm is expanding, equipping and preparing itself for these greater duties.

"The Navy thus stands to-day in a more commanding position than it has held since 1940."

Mr. Alexander concluded by stating that skilled men available for building and repairs must progressively decline since wastage, natural causes and indispensable recruitment of tradesmen for the Services can no longer be entirely replaced now that the manpower of the country is fully mobilised. Women workers had increased about GO per cent in 1943. . t, •♦ •„ The output of warships in Britain to the end of January was only very slightly less than in the last war if one makes allowance for the difference in the number of capital ships in hand at the outset. The output of merchant ships to the end of the year appreciably exceeds the total "of the last war.

[Such of the cable news on this page as Is so desisnated has appeared In The Times and is sent to this paper by special permission. It should ■be • understood that the opinions are not those of The Times unless stated to be so.]