NAVY’S RECORD WEEK

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 138, 6 March 1940, Page 9

NAVY’S RECORD WEEK

Small Commerce Loss

ONE-TENTH OF NAZI SCUTTLINGS

Germans’ Dismal Failure To Break Blockade (By Telegraph.—Press Assn—Copyright.) (Received March 5, 9.20 p.m.) LONDON, March 5. The Admiralty states that the week' ended on Sunday was an exceptional one for the Navy. The British steamers Albano and “Cato (which were believed to have been mined) were the only losses, namely, a total of ISB6 tons. On the other hand four German ships were scuttled—the Wblfsburg, Heidelberg, Troja and Arucas—totalling 18,490 tons. Out of six German ships attempting to run the blockade in the last fortnight only one has got home. The Admiralty announces that the Arucas was carrying a valuable cargo of mercury. She was the last of six German ships to break out of Vigo (Spain) a fortnight ago. Of these the British and French Navies captured three ships and another was wrecked north of the Norwegian territorial corridor. The Wolfsburg radioed an SOS from the north-west of Iceland. The message then blurred and faded out. The Arucas radioed that she was sinking rapidly south-west of Hornafjord (Norway), and then said she no longer needed help. Britain lost from the enormous totai of her sea-going ships barely one-tenth of the loss inflicted, or rather self-in-flicted, on the few fugitive Germans venturing to ply the seas. Moreover, of 10,782 British, Allied, and neutral vessels which were safely escorted to their destinations by convoy in the six months of the war, only 25* have been lost, and among the 1075 neutral ships convoyed only two have been lost. The current rate, therefore, is 430 to one against a British ship being sunk, and 537 to one against a neutral vessel being sunk. It is no wonder neutrals increasingly desire to join the British convoys. They are at present welcomed even when they are not trading to the United Kingdom.

U-BOAT BOMBED BY R.A.F.

British Steamer Sinks Another (Received March 5. 7.5 p.m.) LONDON, March 4. The Air Ministry announced that a Royal Air Force plane on reconnaissance duty is believed to’ have destroyed a U-boat at the mouth of tiie Ellie River. The plane sighted a U-boat on the surface in shallow water. Four bombs were dropped, and one registered a direct hit between the conning, tower and the stern. After the attack the submarine was seen to be enveloped in a cloud of greyish-black smoke, with only the upper part of its conning tower visible above the water. The submarine was sighted in the Schilling Roads, near the German naval base at Wilhelmshaven. A message from Rio de Janeiro says that stowaways from the British steamer St. Lindsay report that the ship scored a direct hit and sank an attacking submarine six days out from Cape Verde.

MR. WELLES NOW IN SWITZERLAND

Expected To Write Report On Berlin Visit LAUSANNE, March 4. President Roosevelt’s economic envoy, Mr. Sumner Welles, has arrive.'!. He is expected to spend the greater part, of his time in Switzerland in writing a report on his talks in Berlin to be transmitted immediately to Washington. The Berlin correspondent of lhe Basle newspaper “National Zeitung” says that Mr. Welles met Dr. Schack:, the German economist, yesterday and discussed trade between Germany and America. It is believed that Dr. Schacht was invited to go to America. Swiss Press reports confirm lire general impression that the Nazi leaders used Mr. Welles’s visit to Berlin for a great display of German optimism and determination. Germany appeared to have one solution to she problems of peace and trade —the destruction of Britain.

INFLOW OF GOLD TO UNITED STATES

Plan For Redistribution (Received March 5, 7.40 p.m.) WASHINGTON, March 4. Senator Thomas, who initiated the devaluation of the gold dollar, today introduced a Bill to redistribute through the Export and Import Bank. 15,000,000,000 dollars of gold stocks, held in the United States, among the world’s “solvent nations.” Senator Thomas proposed a distribution in loans, for which the United States would accept foreign Governments’ securities, or through largescale purchases of exchange by foreign Governments. The Bill requires countries to “peg” their currencies at a fixed price for gold. The current American price, 35 dollars an ounce, is suggested. Senator Thomas said that at the present rate of inflow, the United States would control the entire gold supply of the world within three years and other countries would be forced off metallic currencies. The Bill is expected to provoke considerable discussion.