Forcing A Show-Down MORE U.S. SHIPS SUNK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 23 October 1941, Page 3

Forcing A Show-Down MORE U.S. SHIPS SUNK

d;i use ill 111.' I Tilled Sillies Neutrality | Act forbidding the defensive arming <>l American owned merchant ships, the problem of dealing with enemy subnmr- j i„,s widen attack those vcscsls will I still he far from solution. A merchant, ship’s gnu is a powerful deterrent to a U-boat seeking to attack on the surface. lint it . iiin.it deal with a submerged submarine that, makes a tor- ; ,„.,|o attack without warning. During the lasi is months at least, practically i all British ocean-going merchant ships have been defensively armed against submarine-: but during that |H*riod some hundreds of vessels were sunk by ■ torpedoes. Anne.l or unarmed, Am- , eriean merchant ships on the high seas , will si ill he liable to be torpedoed and sunk without warning. Nazi 11-lioat Attacks The latest American victims of ononiv U-boats are the Lehigh tor|R*doed j off the coast of West Africa, and the . Bold vent are, which met a similar fate I on her way to Iceland. In botli eases J the ships were torpedoed without warning, a clear indication the submarines were submerged. These sinkings bring the number of American merchant ships so destroyed during the war to 10, most of them within recent months.’ The “undeclared war” on the United State* at sea also covers th«' abortive attack on the destroyer Greer some weeks ago, and the actual torpedoing of the destroyer Kent- j ney last week, the casualties in the > latter ease being 10 men wounded and I 11 missing. In bis world broadcast on September j 11. President Roosevelt: gave notice ; that “from now on, if German or , Italian vessels of war enter waters the j protection of which is necessary for ■ American'defence, they will do so at their own peril. In these waters American warships an’d planes will not wait for the Axis raiders to strike first. 1 have ordered the Navy to carry j out that jml icy immediately.” Tot the J fact remains that since President j Roosevelt gave that warning, an 1 American warship lias been torpedoed and three merchant ships sunk by enemy U-boats in American “defence , U.S. Patrols Delicti The truth of the matter is that Gertluit vast area of the North Atlantic defined as “waters the protection of which is necessary for American defence” at no very great peril, a s is shown by recent happenings. In his broadcast President Roosevelt said that “upon our naval and air patrol which is now operating in large numbers over a vast expanse of the Atlantic, falls the duty of maintaining the American policy of freedom of the seas. That means, very simply and clearly, that our patrolling warships and planes will protect all merchant ships—not only American ships, but also ships of any flag which are engaged in commerce in our defensive wateis.” Nevertheless, the enemy U-boats have since scored several successes without loss to themselves. As was pointed our by u writer in the “New York Times” lust mouth the President Las greatly extended the traditional concept of the “Freedom of the Seas,” and the degree to which Hitler resist this new definition “will determine the degree of belligerency which may arise between the United .States and Germany, whether or not a formal declaration of a state of war shall ever follow.” The President said that the situation in the Atlantic was not new. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, he said, had met the same problem and dealt with it in the same way; in the quasi-war with France in 3708, and against the Barbary pirates in 1801Freedom Of The Seas But, as the writer p"iuts out, the situation is the same in only that those Presidents decided that American sovereign rights at sea were being invaded and denied, and took up arms to assert them. “The rights then asserted did not include that of supplying every possible form of military and economic assistance to one belligerent against another in a foreign, war without molestation of any vessel, bearing such supplies under any ling, by the second belligerent. “This is the right President Roosevelt now proclaims and has instructed the Navy aud Army to enforce with arms. Lie has also maintained that the definition of ‘waters essential to our defence’ and that of the Western Hemisphere shall be whatever ocean areas the Government may from time to time elect to make them. The two propositions enlarge and alter the doctrine of ‘freedom of the seas’ beyond that previously outlined iu American history. . . . The President’s radio speech has marked the end of the last pretence of even armed neutrality.” In his previous broadcast iu May, when be proclaimed a national state of emergency, President Roosevelt said America had extended her patrol in North and South American waters and was steadily adding more ships and planes to that patrol. From the point of view of strict naval and military necessity they would give every possible assistance to Britain and to all who, with Britain, were resisting Hitlerism. American patrols were helping to ensure the delivery of needed supplies to Britain. Ail additional measures necessary for the delivery of the goods would be takeu. The delivery of supplies to Britain was imperative. “This can be done. It must be done. It will be done.” U.S. Must Fight The deliberate attacks on American ships have made it clear that Germany intends to disregard the President’s warnings, and the next move lies with the United States, if the American “defence waters” are to be made safe for shipping then American warships must “go after” the enemy and hunt bis U-boats. As lias been said, the arming of American merchant ships will not sullice. The best protection against U-boats is the convoy system. The experience of the last war definitely proved that as the defensive arming of merchant ships proceeded the enemy’s submarines, instead of attacking on the surface by gunfire, were driven under water and compelled to use their torpedoes. During the height of the submarine campaign, April, 3917, the number of gunfire attacks on British ships represented 29.7 per cent, of the total attacks. During the last three months of the war the number of gunfire attacks had fallen to 0.0 per cent. All the American ships sunk and the two destroyers attacked so far in this war were the victims of submerged U-boats acting without warning. If the United States want freedom of the seas today they must fight for it in the way Great Britain is fighting.— (S.D.W.)