WEEK’S SHIPPING LOSSES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 31, 6 February 1941, Page 9

WEEK’S SHIPPING LOSSES

BELOW JANUARY AVERAGE INDICATION OF THE U-BOAT CAMPAIGN [ British Official Wireless. J RUGBY, Feb. 4. Shipping losses of 33,604 tons through enemy action during the week ended at midnight on January 26 are announced. The total is made up of seven British ships of 23,514 tons and two Allied ships of 10,090 tons. Once again there are no neutral losses. Although slightly more than the average for the month of January Ihe figure is much lower than the weekly average for the whole war, which, including Dunkirk losses, is about 63,500 tons. It is stated that weekly sinking figures form a fair indication of the strength and success of the U-boat campaign, as the total tonnage of British and Allied shipping at sea week in and week out does not greatly vary. Commenting on Britain’s mercantile shipping position, Mr. Ronald Cross (Minister of Shipping) said it was not only in the shipyards of the United Kingdom that new construction was going forward. Empire shipbuilding yards, by providing new tonnage, were helping Britain to defeat the U-boat menace. Canada, which before the war had about 1,250,000 tons on her shipping register, had launched vessels from the yards at Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax. A large number of merchant ships were now on the stocks and it was announced recently that Canada would build 18 large merchant vessels for the British Government. There were some 40 shipbuilding and repairing establishments in the Dominion, and even before the war about 4000 permanent workers were employed. In 1938 repair work was done to the value of over three millions sterling. "Although South Africa has not a shipbuilding industry on a large scale, repairs can be carried out at Durban, where there are wellequipped repair yards and a dry dock. “Australia had built only a small number of vessels before the war, but has since greatly enlarged her shipbuilding capacity. A yard is to be established at Whyalla (South Australia) to build merchant ships up to 12,000 tons and Mr. W. M. Hughes (Minister of the Navy) has declared that shipbuilding must become one of the great national industries of Australia. Orders amounting to £250.000 | for engines and machinery have been 1 placed in Queensland.” Troop Movements ; Speaking of the strain on British shipping, Mr. Cross said: "I should like to tell you of the extraordinary variety of troop movements which I have been carried out by the Merchant Navy. We have carried Canadian troops from Canada to this country, to Iceland, and the West Indies; Newfoundlanders to this country for the Army, Navy and for logcutting; Australians and New Zealanders to the Middle East and to Britain; South Africans to East Africa and Egypt; and Indians to East Africa, Egypt and Britain. "In addition, we have moved Gold Coast, Nigerian, Palestinian and Cypriot troops. We have carried troops from this country to such a variety of places that I will not detail them to you. for they cover the w'orld—from Bermuda to Singapore, from Iceland to Hongkong.” The Admiralty announces that H.M. trawlers Relonzo and Luda Lady have been sunk. There was no loss of life in the Luda Lady. It is reported from Split (Dalmatia) that two Italian transports from Veneto and the Valerian Cole were sunk on Sunday by an unidentified submarine near Vis. The bodies of 60 Italian soldiers and sailors, including three from the Italian auxiliary warship Armato, were washed ashore. The Bremen radio stated that si lifeboat from an Italian merchantman containing the bodies of two sailors was washed ashore on the Yugoslav coast..