The Times MONDAY, MAY 11, 1942. The American Fleet

Manawatu Times, Volume 67, Issue 109, 11 May 1942, Page 4

The Times MONDAY, MAY 11, 1942. The American Fleet

Out of sight, out of mind. ” The old adage is rather applicable to the American fleet in these days in this country. Yet Uncle Sam’s Navy u veritably our first line of defence to-day. Beminder of this supremely consequent fact is provided by news of the great naval engagement waged since Monday of last week, for days on end, near the Solomon Islands, uppiosimately 2800 miles from our shores. That the American fleet should be forgotten derives from the shock of its knock taken at Pearl Harbour just five months ago; together with the absence ever since of the grpat decisive naval battle popularly anticipated prior to the outbreak of the l'aciiic war.

Americans themselves have asked: “What's the fleet doing!” Actually it lias been far from idle; though the activities have received comparatively modest publicity. The fleet’s work has been of far, far greater strategic, consequence than the much publicised activities of the U.S.A. Air Force in the East Indies, Burma and Australia; excellent though that work has been. But comparison with the fleet s work is not to decry the air arm. J

Japan’s dominance of that 3000-mile ocean front from Nagasaki to Singapore, and her further thrusts as far west as Ceylon and southward to Australia, have given an impression of impotence on the part of AmericanAllied naval forces, with of course, the responsibility laid upon the fleet of our great ally. For was it not understood that the Pacific was America's job with Britain too fully engaged in the Atlantic and Mediterranean and widely elsewhere. The general correctness of this impression is undeniable. What is not, however appreciated, is the strength of the American fleet the actual power it is exerting, or the threat it offers to all Japan’s plans and actions. It has certainly suffered losses, but so too has Japan’s navy, and on a scale fully proportionate, if not more so.

At the war’s outbreak the relative strength of these navies was 100 to 60 in favour of America. Due to strategic circumstances, in particular land-based aircraft, Japan had for the time being dominance over the shallow seas of the Asiatic-East Indies coastal waters. But this does not extend to the deep blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. Japan can send no ship eastwards from her shores and has not dared to send one southward below the Equator regions. She is effectively blockaded from the Pacific’s open waters. Nor can she dare to deploy too great proportion of her fleet from home waters. The mere existence of America’s powerful navy is a constant tie upon Japanese war plans. In that alone, is America working constantly for victory, especially when her warships quietly convoy armadas of supply ships, carrying men and munitions to Australia and New Zealand. Nor has the navy been inactive in actual combat. In the Dutch East Indies fighting and about the Philippines it participated in several engagements. Now it is again engaed in what appears the biggest show yet developed in these waters. Whatever the scale of the battle of the’Coral Bea may be, whatever the final accounting may reveal, the fact remains that America’s navy is our first line of defence; as for Australia also, and of course, for America herself. Here is a fighting force to be viewed with respect and gratitude—a powerful arm for victory, growing ever stronger.