U.S. WARSHIPS ON MOVE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 59, 3 December 1941, Page 7

U.S. WARSHIPS ON MOVE

Asiatic Fleet At Sea OTHER FORCES READY FOR ACTION (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) ’■ LONDON, December 1. A message from Manila says that the whole United States Asiatic Fleet left Manila Bay yesterday on reconnaissance patrol. Unconfirmed reports reaching Manila says that the United States Pacific Fleet is now one day’s sail from the Hawaiian Islands, heading south. Army officials disclosed that the garrison at Corregidor. the island fortress in Manila Bay, and the United States air force in the Far East, are standing by for any emergency, and that all army heads have been told to see that their commands were ready for instant action. American preparedness is emphasized by Colonel Knox, Secretary of the Navy, in a magazine article in which he says that the United States has 17 battleships and 15 more building; seven air-craft-carriers and 11 building; 37 cruisers and 54 building; 172 destroyers and 192 building; 113 submarines and 73 building; and also had SSOO planes. In calling this force “the greatest navy in the world,” Colonel Knox says: “We are ready to handle all immediate and possible threads in the Atlantic and the Pacific. In the Pacific the situation always trembles on the verge of a crisis.”