AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24945, 18 June 1942, Page 3

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

AMERICAN PROPOSALS HUGE NAVAL PROGRAMME (Rec. 7 p.m.) WASHINGTON, June 16. The House Naval Affairs Committee has approved of the 8,550,000,000-dollar ship construction measure, in which there is increasing emphasis on aircraft carriers and a pointed omission of battleships. The measure provides for 1400 ships of various types, including 400 in the carrier, cruiser, and destroyer categories. The chairman, Mr Carl Vinson, said the construction of carriers would be begun immediately. Work will be deferred temporarily on five battleships in order to. concentrate on carriers. He emphasised that they had not abandoned battleship building, but events of the war had demonstrated conclusively; that the aircraft carrier was the backbone of the fleet. The United States would need battleships as long as other nations had them. The Bill authorised the construction of 500,000 tons each of carriers and cruisers and 900,000 tons of destroyers and escort vessels. ALLIED SHIPPING LOSSES GREATER THAN REPLACEMENTS (Rec. 8 p.m.) RUGBY, June 16. There is good reason to believe that by the autumn three ships of 10,000 tons each will be leaving United States shipbuilding yards every day, and President Roosevelt's objective of 8,000,000 tons this year will ultimately be attained. This statement was made in an analysis by the Daily Telegraph of the shipping problems of the United Nations. The Telegraph says it has been known that for some time past Allied ships have been sunk faster than they are being built. The Telegraph says: "The Maritime Commission is still far from having worked up to full pressure, but in May, 58 ships were delivered, 68 launched, and 75 keels laid. The British yards have increased their output to 57 per cent above that for the last quarter of 1940, which was believed to be the limit of their capacity. The course of the U-boat campaign cannot with 'certainty be predicted, but American protective and counter-offensive measures must have their effect, and the vice-chair-man of the Maritime Commission was able to say yesterday that .deliveries of ships now nearly equal the sinkings. The Telegraph points out that this is not enough, as the routes from America to the Middle East and Australia keep shipping months on a round voyage, and increased supplies to Russia make convoys proportionately larger. In addition, the establishment of a second front in Europe in 1942 would need a large amount of tonnage, and even the Air Force requires much transport for equipment and fuel. "We have yet to make a complete adjustment of the pooled powers of the nations to the general offensive," added the Telegraph. "President Roosevelt leaves no doubt that this is the task of 1942."