FIGHTING THE U-BOATS

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 April 1943, Page 3

FIGHTING THE U-BOATS

“GRAVE INTENSITY”

RUGBY, April 4.

‘The U-boat battle, to-day, is a fight of grave intensity, in which we cannot afford to overlook any means to outweigh and defeat the enemy,” said Sir S. Cripps, Minister of Aircraft Production, speaking at Hull, to-day. He added: “It will have its worst and its better periods. It will go on for many months maybe years, but in the long run, we shall slowly and certainly gain the ascendancy and win. The battle is no local matter. It stretches over the whole wide oceans. It is being fought in shipyards and factories as well as on the high seas. We are all in it. We must none of us spare any effort that may help victory against the U-boat and the Eboat. All our technical and inventive skill is being thrown into the battle.” TORPEDOED~SHIP SAVED WASHINGTON, April 2. The United States Navy has disclosed the story of a Dutch merchantman, torpedoed in the Atlantic, which “herself decided to refute the judgment” of the officials who listed her as lost. A torpedo struck her bow, causing the ship to list sharply. The stern rose high and the propellers thrashed. The order was then given to abandon ship. Only one of the four lifeboats remained sufficiently close to discover the* next morning that the ship refused to sink. The captain reboarded the vessel and was surprised to find two officers-who had missed the lifeboats. An examination showed that 'salvage was possible because during the night sufficient sand ballast had poured out to enable the bow to rise slightly The captain and a skeleton crew of fourteen laboriously unloaded a further 150 tons of sand and partly flooded the stern. Gradually the vessel regained a fairly even keel. Tried at a slow speed, the ship behaved crazily, jumping and twisting This, curiously, was corrected by increasing to three-quarter speed, when a comparatively steady voyage continued for 700 miles. In five days the ship docked at an Allied Atlantic port. SEAGOING DRY DOCKS. WASHINGTON, April 3. Admiral Morrell, U.S. Navy’s Engineering chief stated that seagoing “battleship drydocks,” unlike anything previously seen were almost ready to go out with the American Fleet. He stated the new docks can be altered for self-propulsion. They are designed in sections like ships. They will be towed at a speed of ten knots. Their sidewalls can 3e floated up in sections and joined

together. In case of emergency they will be able to carry out repairs near the scene of battle. Smaller versions are being built for cruisers and destroyers. The Navy’s construction programme includes 183 such drydocks, costing 511 million dollars. COMPARATIVE LOSSES WASHINGTON, April 3. “Seapower,” a semi-official monthly publication, has compiled the total naval losses of the war, not including merchantmen, and fixes it at 1716 vessels, of which the Axis owned 903 and the Allies 813. Allied losses are specified as seven battleshios and battle-cruisers, 11 carriers, 13 heavy cruisers, 25 light cruisers, 177 destroyers, 88 submarines, and 492 special types. Axis losses are placed at four battleships, 11 aircraft carriers, 20 heavy cruisers, 31 light cruisers, 175 destroyers, 218 submarines, and 444 special types. GERMANS~AND DAKAR ? LONDON, April 3. The American Consul at Dakar, Mr Thomas Wasnor, in discussing “Dakar’s Mystery” in the “Foreign Service Journal,” asserts that the Germans never infiltrated at Dakar. “Indeed, not a single German, except four or five Jewish refugees, have entered Dakai’ since the fall of France,” he states. “Furthermore, German submarines and other vessels did not enter the port. The Germans did seek permission to send ‘experts’ to Dakar, but the Governor consistently refused to comply with this request.”