SEA SUPREMACY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24250, 16 April 1942, Page 7

SEA SUPREMACY

STRENGTHS COMPARED RECENT HEAVY BLOWS SOME CANDID DISCUSSION (Special Correspondent) (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, April 14 Grave concern is widely expressed at the British naval Josses in the Indian Ocean and Mr. Churchill's revelation of the Japanese strength there. It has resulted in much heartsearching regarding the Navy, also comparisons of British and Japanese air strength and methods. Not the least surprise is the fact that the Japanese have detached such a large fleet from that which awaits the American attack. The Manchester Guardian says: "So much do the Japanese trust distances in the Pacific.", In the strained position in which the Navy finds itself th« recent* losses are doubly dear. The Times comments: "Strategically the question is bound to be asked whether there was adequate reason for the exposure of these ships—not operating as a single squadron so that an aircraft-carrier could protect the cruisers—in waters where the most powerful enemy air and sea forces wete certain soon to be encountered. Reassurance Waited "Granted, as Mr. Churchill said, that the business of convoy and 6ea warfare compels the Navy to take innumerable daily risks, there is still room for reassurance that the risks which proved fatal for these ships were not taken haphazard, but were organically part of an articulated plan for the conduct of the whole campaign in Asiatic lands and oceans."

The Daily Mail, in a "candid review," states: "The British Navy materially is much below the strength of the combined Axis fleets in all classes except cruisers. In battleship strength our inferiority is marked. This estimate disregards the still materially strong French fleet. More serious than material deficiencies in warship strength, which can be made good, is our lack of properly-equipped naval bases from which our ships and squadrons can operate. Awaiting American Fleet "So far as the public can judge, the great American Navy is almost a phantom fleet, but, in spite' of Pearl Harbour, the British and American fleets, in close enthusiastic concord, can recover sea supremacy in the seven seas—although only step by step. In the Pacific alone does the enemy seem temporarily secure from Anglo-Ameri-can co-operation. Owing to the newly Reversed position regarding bases, great distances are involved." . / Lord Winster suggests that to strike the Japanese in the Indian Ocean the British Navy must become sea raiders. "Until American co-operation is available, our strength of warships and merchantmen is stretched nearly to the limits of what is possible," says Lord Winster. "Until then we can only operate in the Pacific and Indian Oceans in the face of greatly superior Japanese forces, while compelled to cut things fine in the ( Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the supply" line to Russia. "Britain has not the strength to make everything secure everywhere. Any more losses like the Prinze of Wales, Repulse and Hermes or a defeat like the Java Sea Battla may result in a reduction below a precarious safety line." •

Unhappy Comparisons There are unhappy comparisons between the use by the Japanese of torpedo-bombers against the Prince of Wales and the Repulse and dive-bomb-i3rs against the Hermes, Dorsetshire and Cornwall, compared with Britain s lack of a strong force of either type of aircraft. When the German battleships dashed through the Channel there was also a recrudescence of the argument concerning the value of dive-bombers, which Britain has not manufactured since the war began, relying on the supply from America. It is probably as well to point out* that there is nothing defeatist ■in all this public discussion, which is typically English and usually results in firmer and more vigorous action, but there is no blinking the fact that shipping is the crux of the Allied Nations' war effort —both warships and merchantmen—and for that reason anything affecting it is an urgent public concern. : , . "

MORE NAZI EXECUTIONS

HOLLAND AND BELGIUM (Kecd. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, April 14 It is reported from Stockholm that Henricus Sneevliet, founder and chairman of an illegal politick! party in Holland, and seven of his collaborators were executed at The Hague for antiGerman propaganda. A German military Court in Ghent passed the death sentence on 14 Belfians accused of murder, sabotage, eing in possession of weapons, Communist activities and anti-German propaganda. The Court declared that the accused were to a high degree influenced by broadcasts from Britain.

By special arrangement, Re ?\ 6r **? i'j '? service, in addition to other special sources of , information, is used in the compilation of the oversea intelligence published in this issue, and all rights therein in Australia and Zealand are reserved. Such of the cable news or. this page as is of, headed has appeared in the Tune* and is cabled to Australia and New Zealand by: special permission. It. shouJ.i he understood that the opinions are not thoso uf the lunes -| unless expressly 6tated to be so. ; ' .. ' 'V •