SHIPPING CRISIS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 49, 27 February 1942, Page 5

SHIPPING CRISIS

DANGEROUS PERIOD AHEAD

NAVY'S NOBLE WORK

(Rec. noon.)

RUGBY, Feb. 26.

"The year 1942 is the most dangerous period of the shipping crisis," said Mr. A. V. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty, in presenting the Navy Estimate in the House of Commons. He began with a review of the work of the Navy by saying: "Never has the fundamental need of this nation of adequate sea-power been more fully or painfully demonstrated. "For two and a half years," he continued, "the Navy has been fighting every day and every night, with heavy casualties. Never in our history have the British traditions been more worthily exemplified than in t.he gallant, loyal, and dogged service of the officers and men of the Royal Navy This is in spite of the fact that expanded manning of the Fleet by as much as three or four times its peacetime strength has called into the sea service hundreds of thousands of young civilians from all sections of the nation. Whatever criticisms might be uttered regarding the present state of the war at sea, there is only honour for the self-sacrificing work of the Royal and Merchant Navies. "The task of the Fleet has been enormous, and at no time has Britain had less than about 2000 ships at risk on the broad oceans. The Battle of the Atlantic has now developed into what might be called a battle of the seven seas." Mr. Alexander then reviewed the past year, which opened with shipping losses running at a very heavy rate, reaching the peak in April owing io the large amount of tonnage lost in the Greek campaign. The fall which began in May continued more or less steadily until December, when a new phase opened. Significant reasons were the improvement in the escort organisation and anti-submarine methods, the growing experience and skill of officers and crews, the increasing number of escort ships, the American help, and the greatest assistance of the R.A.F. anti-submarine patrols, whose Coastal Command passed under the operation and control of the Admiralty in December, 1940. Successes had been reflected in the steadily rising trend of imports, which exceeded the estimate for the twelve months. EFFECT OF JAPAN'S ENTRY. "Despite the unprecedented scale on which U-boat construction expanded month by month, losses in convoy were still just under 5 per cent.," Mr. Alexander continued. "The steadily improving prospect which I have described was at once clouded by the entry of Japan into the war. With her large submarine fleet and powerful air forces, trained for operations against ships, it was clear that vast and new dangerous areas for Allied shipping would be created. Tb° losses sustained iri the Far East and the Pacific up to the present have been considerable, but a proportion of the ships lost were designed solely for the local trade of the China coast, and would not have been of value in the transoceanic traffic of the Allies. "At the same time, enemy U-boats have concentrated off the eastern seaboard of North America, in order to take such profit as they could from the sudden incursion into waters which hitherto had been immune, and against shipping much of which had been at peace." Dealing with commerce raiders, Mr. Alexander said: "For nearly a year there were no mercantile losses at all from German warship raiders. Converted merchant raiders have continued to operate spasmodically, but with little success. During 1941 twentytwo such raiders and supply ships were put where they could do no more harm." AXIS SHIPPING LOSSES IN 1941. "To this record of achievement t must add the warning that we may now be near the beginning of a new period of raider activity, both German and Japanese. According to Admiralty calculations, the Axis lost in 1941 twice as much shipping employed in the maintenance of their North African front as the British did for their Middle Eastern armies, although the direct route from Sicily to Tripoli was 240 miles, while from Britain to Suez via the Cape was some 11,000 miles." After paying a tribute to the work of the Navy in the evacuation of troops from Crete, "at great loss to themselves," to the assistance given to

the Tobruk garrison during the eight months" siege and to the high standard of service of the Royal Marines. Mr. Alexander referred to the proved success of the corvette policy—ship? which could be built at a much higher rate than any others suited to the task

"It is remarkable that the casualties to the Fleet have been and are being well .replaced," he said. "The total of naval tonnage delivered in 1941 was not so very far below that of 1919, although the output of merchant tonnage last year v/a-s very much greater than in 1916. This has been in spite of the fact that the burden of repairs occasioned by heavier steaming demands upon our shipping, in addition to larger superficial damage and underwater damage from aircraft attack! has been much greater than in the last war. We now have in hand bigger programmes than we had in the last war, and a much larger nura-

ber of building berths are in operation than existed in 1939."

STRAIN ON HEAVY SHIPS

Dealing with expressions of uneasiness whether the heavy ships were standing up to the strain of modern naval warfare. Mr. Alexander said: "It is true to say that a large number of our heavy ships which have sustained major damage during the war have been safely brought into harbour, repaired, and put into service again. Ships like the Nelson, Resolution, Illustrious, Formidable, and Malaya—all heavy ships—have been damaged, but they are standing up to it and coming in and being repaired."'

Coming to the loss of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse, Mr. Alexander said that the heavy weight of the torpedo-bombing attack by the Japanese was a matter of great importance, but it must not be forgotten that the initiative in bombing attack had lain with the British Fleet. He cited Taranto and Matapan and the attack on the Bismarck, and urged further development of this form of attack. Since the loss of th_ Prince of Wales anc3 the Repulse light forces in that area had done splendid work, -which