Evening Post. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1941. THE NAVY'S TASK

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 40, 17 February 1941, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1941. THE NAVY'S TASK

Though unconfirmed by the Admiralty, the report today' from Washington that, according to U.S. naval circles there, the British Navy has been strengthened by twenty new warships, including two battleships, Jtwo aircraft-carriers, and five cruisers, may be regarded as reasonably accurate. Such additions to British sea-power are welcome indeed. The task of the Navy in this war has been far heavier than in the j last. Then Britain had the help of the French, the Italian, and the Japanese fleets in the earlier stages, and after 1917 of the American i nayy —five navies in all to do the I work the British Navy has now to do alone. Moreover, the arch-enemy today, Germany, has the command of the western coasts of Europe from the North Cape in the Arctic to the Spanish frontier on the Bay of Biscay. Italy, her Axis ally, entered the war with naval superiority in the Mediterranean, which she claimed to consider her sea. The claim was not vindicated in action, and Italy has lost important units of her fleet, but the existence of the rest cannot be completely ignored. The French fleet, still powerful in numbers, holds aloof in terms of the armisI tice with Germany, but Hitler is doing his utmost to get possession of it by pressure on the Vichy Govi eminent, and its ultimate role is uncertain. Its existence and possible I use against us cannot be disregarded by Britain as an unknown factor in the problem of command of the sea. In the Pacific Ocean the attitude of Japan causes, to say the least of it, grave misgivings. / Thus the British Navy has to face a difficult and complicated situation, with the added embarrassments of air attack, shown under certain conditions to be formidable, from a multitude of bases. Finally, Germany's shipbuilding capacity has been greatly enhanced by the control of numerous yards in occupied territory. There is no need to emphasise the vital importance to Britain and the British Empire of command of the sea. On the maintenance of ocean transport Britain depends for essential supplies of every kind, from food to the stream of munitions the United States and Canada are pouring across the Atlantic, and also for the upkeep and reinforcement, with men and material, of British armies overseas. The enemy is well aware of all these facts and is making desperate efforts to cripple Britain's sea transport by attacks from the air, :from under the water, and from raiders on the surface. Losses have been inflicted on British and neutral shipping engaged in trade with the Empire by all these methods of attack. Mr. Ronald Cross, British Minister of Shipping, a fortnight ago said, in a speech, that he would not disguise the fact that our losses had

been in excess of our requirements, but, he added, we could "look forward with confidence, as our air and naval strength grew, to an increasing volume of protection for the ships which carried cargoes to these islands." • The Navy has done a magnificent job in the face of almost overwhelming burdens, but it needs all the help it can get. The First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr. ; A. V. Alexander) supplemented Mr. Cross's appeal for more ships in a speech at Bath on Friday, when he said:

Let us take the case of the Royal Navy. Surely you all agree that they are worthy of your support, but they must have more and more ships which can only be produced by the loyalty and devotion as well as the skill of our workers. I believe that we have only to tell them the need and stress the fact that every ship and every extra gun or shell will help to save the lives of their brothers at sea, as well as defend our island home, to find the response.

Recent events in the waters of the South Pacific and a more recent incident still in the Eastern Atlantic have shown that even more dangerous to shipping than the. submarine or aircraft is the surface raider. To maintain a cordon along the Atlantic shores of Europe and prevent raiders reaching the high seas and preying on shipping is a tremendous task for even the largest navy, and it was with this in mind, no doubt, that Mr. Wendell Willkie opened his evidence before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his return to the United States from Britain.

Mr. Churchill had told him, he said, that destroyers, merchantmen, and bombers were Britain's chief needs that the United States could supply immediately. "If the northern ports can be kept open and supply lines maintained, I am confident that Britain can survive the shock of the spring and summer campaigns."

Mr. Willkie summed up the position when he said: "Britain's greatest hazard is the destruction of shipping." This is the crux of the problem, and on it Mr. Willkie based his request for more American destroyers for Britain. So far the question remains unsettled, but in the meantime the strengthening of the British Navy from Britain's own resources is a distinct step along the

road fn victory