SEABORNE TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 132, 1 December 1938, Page 24

SEABORNE TRADE

SAFEGUARDS SOUOiT

NEW BUIIISH HhVkL PLANS

MORE ESCORT SHIPS

While all the Defence Departments are reviewing their state of preparedness for war in the light of recent events, the Admiralty is engaged on a survey of what is probably the most important factor in the defence of these islands and the Empire, -writes Lieut-Commander Kenneth Edwards, 8.N., in the ".Sunday Times" j This is the safeguarding of seaborne trade, which forms the means by which essential foodstuffs and raw materials can be brought to Great .Britain and which forms a vital link, jbetween the scattered territories of the Empire. . Already certain ;far-:neacMng 4eei-j sions for the defence of seaborne trade in time of war have been taken. These include:— ; , Increased armament of many existing escort vessels: conversion ©f more than thirty obsolete destroyers feto a new type of escort vessels-and conver-. sion of certain obsolete cruisers into' * anti-aircraft vessels for escorting convoys through the "air zone." t The whole question ©f tiae defence, of seaborne trade in the event ©f.waris now regarded as of; primary im-; portance. During the Great Was: ftfierei grew up in the Admiralty a very largel Division'of the Naval Staff concerned1 solely with it. In the years of disarmament this Department was greatly ©alt d©wn in the interests of economy. For many! years its .activities could go little beyond keeping statistical records of the movement of .seaborne trade. Recently, however, the Trade .Diyj-j sion, part of the Plans Division, "has1 been largely increased. It works in close conjunction with the Board of Trade and the shipping interests, the' Jink being thmugfi the Shipping Be- i fence Advisory Committee set up some eighteen months ago. FIFTY THOUSAND TONS DAILY. Some idea of the importance of seaborne trade to this country may be gained from ihe fact that the mainfen-1 ance of the population of these islands' requires the daily importation of more than 50,000 tons of foodstuffs. It has been calculated that this importation requires an average of 150' ships to arrive in our ports every day 'of the year. These arrivals are concerned only with food for the population, I There is also the importation of oil; and war materials to be iconsidered,, apart from exports even in time of war. It is not surprising that there are at sea all over the world at any time about 1500 British merchant ships of more than 3GOQ tons, and & very large number of smaller vessels. This number of merchant vessels is! not considered sufficient today to al-> low any large margin for losses in war. Nothing approaching Hie sinking of the early months of the German1 unrestricted submarine campaign of 1917 could rbe contemplated with equanimity. r As a result the problems of trade defence are today more important than ever. Other factors which make the defence of seaborne trade a far larger problem than ever are:— The enormous increase in the numbers of submarines; the existence of! surface vessels peculiarly suited to' .commerce raiding; the possibility of, air attack on convoys in narrow' waters. THE CONVOY'SYSTEM. Experience has shown that the ef-' ■fects of submarine warfare on" trade can fee greatly -reduced by safEaag merchant ships in convoys. The establishment of convojs, however, must always play.into Ike bauds of air at-1 tack. Moreover, a convoy will be an! •easy, and valuable prey to a surface Taider capable of sinking the convoy escort. As exclusively reported in the "Sunday Times" a..fortnight before thei .European crisis, Germany has at her ■disposal a large number of submarines. She also has the three "pocket battleships" and a number of cruisers. The former have a gunpower superior to any vessels capable of catching them except the three! British battle-cruisers. i The immediate necessity, therefore, is to "produce a large number of con- • voy escort vessels with the latest antisubmarine fittings, and as large a gun armament as possible capable of enjgaging both surface and air raiders. The. building of large numbers of! new ships at the present time would, take too long, and would be likely to interfere with otfeer . re-armament plans. The., Admiralty is producing' the same effect by the conversion of a large aapmber of warships which could so longer keep their place in the fleet against modern vessels, although i&ey will be, after conversion,! excellent convoy escort ships. The IMriy-osM old destroyers to foel converted into escort vessels were saved from the scrap heap by the invocation of the ""escalator clause" o£ the 1930 London .Naval Treaty. Plans1 for the rapid conversion of more than half iiyzse ships are already far ad-, vanced, while work iaas already started on some. Conversion of these destroyers will bring them under a different category in the existing naval treaties. This means that their torpedo tubes must! be removed and their speed reduced to below twenty toots. *+ POWERFUL ARMAMENTS. These limitations are not considered to reduce their usefulness as escort vessels in any way. Their speed can be reduced by the removal of one boiler. i The weight so saved, and that saved by the removal of the torpedo tubes, will be devoted to giving them a larger radius of action, a more effect-1 ive armament, both from the anti-air-craft and low-angle point of view, and a greater effectiveness as anti-sub-marine vessels. It is considered that these ships will! will carry ten 4in guns in twin-mount-ings, capable of anti-aircraft and lowangle fire, and at least forty large depth charges, besides being fitted with the latest submarine detecting arrangements. Five cruisers are at present earmarifced for conversion into anti-air-craft vessels. Work has already started on one of these. Two similarly converted ships are now in service. They carry ten 4in anti-aircraft guns, two of the new multi-barrelled pom-j poms, and several smaller guns. j The re-armament of existing escort; vessels is proceeding apace. The total gun armament of escort vessels completed up to 1933 consisted of a single 4in low-angle gun and one 4in antiaircraft gun. The modern escort yes-1 sel of the "Egret" type carries eight 4in 'guns capable of both high-angle and low-angle fire. Another factor of, trade defence which is -being rapidly pursued is the; training of merchant ship officers in the defence of their ships and means of minimising the likelihood of attack. More than 4000 officers the Mercantile Marine have passed through these defence courses, which have recently been increased in scope.