WARFARE AT SEA

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 107, 1 November 1941, Page 9

WARFARE AT SEA

FAVOURABLE TREND

DIMINISHED LOSSES

DESPITE BIG ATTACK

(Rec. 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, Oct. 31. The marked diminution in Allied merchant shipping losses since last year is regarded in London as a particularly encouraging sign of progress in the naval war. It is pointed out that the German attack on the Empire's sea communications has not diminished in recent months, and that large numbers of U-boats continue to infest the ocean lanes used by the shipping engaged in supplying the Allied effort.

Furthermore, although new ships are continually being added to the British Navy, its heavy task of protecting shipping has increased with the increasing flow of American supplies to Britain, and of Anglo-American supplies to Russia, which have necessitated additional precautions.

The resulting additional burdens on the Navy have, however, not interrupted the general favourable trend of operations at sea. New methods are constantly being evolved, both by the assailants and by the British sea and air forces, and the net result, so far, has been more favourable to the defenders than to the attackers.—B.O.W.