Higher Ship Losses Not Cause For Alarm

Northern Advocate, 3 April 1941, Page 4

Higher Ship Losses Not Cause For Alarm

LONDON, April 2

It is freely recognised that mercantile losses in the coming week may be heavy, says a British Official Wireless message. This prospect, however, is not regarded as a cause for despondency, and it is emphasised in naval circles that the proper method of assessing losses is to study the average weekly figures of losses over a period of months, rather than those of individual weeks.

The weekly average in August was 34,000 tons; September, 103,000; October, 86,000; November, 86,000; December, 70,000; January, 55,000; February, 74,000. For the first three weeks of March the averoge weekly losses were 34,000 tons. The average weekly losses from the beginning of the war, excluding the Dunkirk evacuation period, were 65,000 tons. Many Calls on Navy

The Parliamentary Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty (Commander R. T. H. Fletcher) said the Navy had a tremendous task—it had to watch for hostile navies, traverse all the oceans of the world and cover an immense blockade. Criticism of the Navy he thought very small indeed, and when it arose it was generally because there was not a sufficient number of armed vessels provided to protect convoys. “Some people think you can get ships as easily as you can call a taxi cab in London,” said Commander Fletcher. “When it is raining heavily, you may wait a long time before you get a taxi—but as far as the Navy is concerned it is raining heavily all the time. Harder Than Last War “In the battle of the Atlantic, now opening, the great bulk of the seaborne traffic is concentrated in the north Atlantic. Our job'of protecting it is far more formidable than it was in 1914-18. In the last war five navies co-operated in the task; now we are undertaking it single-handed. “We must expect the battle to be severe, as Hitler has pledged himself to victory in 1941, and he cannot achieve that victory unless he wins the battle of the Atlantic.

“Every Tuesday there is published a list of the sinkings of British and Allied vessels. These are absolutely true. Very often they contain sinkings of vessels not actually engaged in trading with this country. “We can say definitely that at present sinkings do not appear to be on a scale sufficiently high to give Hitler the victory which he pledged to the people.”