WHAT THE NAVY DOES

Evening Star, Issue 16626, 8 January 1918, Page 8

WHAT THE NAVY DOES

A RESUME OF WORK. ALMOST INCREDIBLE FEATS. LONDON, November 2. In the course of a recent address, s>ir Eric Geddes said: “ The Navy has transported across the sea to allied armies 13,000,000 men, 2,000,000 horses. 25.000. tons of explosives, 51,000,000 tons of fuel, 130,000,000 tons of food. Of the 30,000,000 men who have crossed and reorossed the sea, only 2,700 have been lost by the action of the enemy. (Cheers.) “ The Navy has also maintained without serious interruption and with the cooperation and inestimable gallantry of the mercantile marine—(cheers) —the Seaborne and munition supplies not only of these islands, but of our Allies. In September 90 per cent, of the total vessels sailing in all Atlantic trades were convoyed, and since the convoy system started the total percentage of loss per convoyed vessel passed through the danger zone is .5 per cent., or 1_ in 200. (Cheers.) I can state with the fullest confidence to the House that the North Sea—l4o,ooo square nautical miles—is swept day and night from i north to south and east to west by the \ British Navy. (Cheers.) “ During a recent month the mileage steamed by His Majesty’s battleships, cruisers, and destroyers amounted to 1.000. ship miles in home waters. Tn addition to this there is the ceaseless patrol of the Navy auxiliary forces, amounting to well over 6,000",000 ship miles in home waters in the same month, “During the recent month the blockading squadron performed in ’the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans the almost in.credible feat of intercepting and examining every single merchant ship trading with neutral countries. They missed not one. (Cheers.) The personnel of the fleet before the outbreak of war was 146,000 • to-day it is 390,000. In this is included the Royal Naval Air Service, which has alone increased from 700 to 41,000. The duties of the Royal Naval Air Service are varied, of great value, and of absorbing interest. During September alone 64 raids were carried out on dockyards, naval depots, enemy aerodromes, and other objects of naval and military importance in 1 landers behind the enemy lines. No fewer than 2,736 bombs were dropped by the Royal Naval Air Service alone, totalling 85 tons of explosives.”