SAFEGUARDING MERCHANT SHIPS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 66, 25 September 1939, Page 8

SAFEGUARDING MERCHANT SHIPS

BRITAIN READY TO COMBAT U-BOAT ATTACKS Considering 'the large volume of British merchant shipping operating in the North Atlantic and traversing the numerous se a routes focusing on the ports ol' the British Isles the depredactions of Nazi submarines during the first week of the war have been relatively small. The crime op the torpedoing of the Athcnia without warning on the day that Great Britain, declared war on Germany resulted in the sinking of a valuable liner,. But its worst aspect was the fact that the ship was carrying 1400 passengers, all of whom had embarked before the outbreak of war, and that many lives were lost. Since then several other British merchant ships have been torpedoed without warning and sunk. It can safely be taken for granted, however, that during the weck r the Royal Navy has been rapidly putting into effective operation its extensive measures for combating Nazi submarine menace. It is disclosing no secret to say that these measures are infinitely more advanced and effective than during the Great War. The Convoy System The recent announcement by Mr Winston Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty, that it was proposed immediately to institute the convoy system to safeguard merchant ships from the submarine menace lends interest to the statement on this subject and on anti-submarine defence generally, made by Mr Shakespeare, Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, when the Navv Estimates Avere being considered by the House of Commons on March 16. When he assured the Hours? that as a result of over two years' close co-operation between the Admiralty and the leaders of the shipping industry, they would be ready to institute a system of convoys soon after the outbreak of war on any route

where it was considered necessnTv ho was simply stating a Pact, said J\lr Shakespeare. The methods of convoy all the arrangements and equipments and the training of the personnel had been examined and preparations wenwell advanced. There were new in stock sufficient anti-submarine guns to meet all cvpectcd requirements. Over 2000 could be made immediately available for the merchant service and the organisation for maintaining them was complete. Though the stiffening of the deck of a merchant ship to carry guns was not a. lengthy operation, they had not been content, to wait till the emergency arose. The. process of stiffening one deck lo take defensive armament was started in 1937, and by the end of the year it is expected that about 1000 would have been .so stiffened. The effect required the close cooperation of shipowners as the stiffening could only b" carried out when the 'ships were made available for a sufficient time. Over 9000 officers of the Merchant Navy had already attended courses in convoy protection or gunnery, and courses were being continued this year for seamen. At the outbreak of war a large number of ships were directly taken over for anti-submarin c work by the Navy. These vessels had been ear-marked and the appropriate armament and eauipment for all these vessels was already in stock.

Methods of Detection. Tf science had stood still, i l * thero had been no r.«nv develoDments in anti-submarine Avarfare, the adoption of n system of convoy on the outbreak of Avar Avould by itself cnabl? us to deal Avith the menace of the submarine. But science has not stood still. He could not reveal the nature of the but he cou'd say that lie bclieA r ed our methods of detecting, hunting and killing .submarines were more advanced than any other.; in the world. He (Mr Shakesneare) had taken part in a hunt fo~ submerged submarines Avhose position aa'ss unknown and he had imposed cond'tions AA-hich satisfied him as to the bona fides of the test., in case the scientists Av?re taking advantage of the gullibilitv 01 the layman. In nine cases out of 10 Avithout am r doubt, th- exact posi tion of the submarine Avas detected. The right hon. member for Epoing. Avho had satisfied himself in a similar Avav of the progress made in this dcA-clonment. would' contradict if iic thought that Avas exaggerated. Mr Churchill: I agree. Mr Shakespeare. continuing, said that the Admiralty did not claim thqt this method AA r as infallible under all conditions. Under certain conditions. particularly with inexper'enced crews., failures Avonld occur. But he claimed that the proved success •

of convoys and the development of scientific methods of detention put them in a better position to deal with the menace of the submarine. That did not mean that they Avould not need to continue their efforts to creatc a large pool- of anti-subma-rine vessels for these purposes. An Admiralty Secret. What success, if any the Roval Navys anti-submarine operations have achieved during the last week lias not been, exactly disclosed. The Admiralty has stated officially that it is not always desirable to publish details of the destruction or damage to enemy submarines and therefore it should not be assumed that no success have been achieved. This statement is in line with the policy adopted during the latter part of the Great War, when virtually no information regarding the destrue tion of enemy submarines was divulged. This was greatly resented by the German, authorities, and moved them t 0 extravagant falsehoods regarding British anti-submarine methods. The veil of British secrecy was also very trying to the morale of German submarine crews. It is known that Germany's losses of submarines during the Great War numbered upward of 200. During the intensive campaign against merchant shipping from February 1917., to the end of the war 159 enemy submarines were lost. Under the terms of the Armistice 160 German submarines were surrendered at Harwich. According to the latest available official information Germany possessed early this year 36 submarines, of which U1 and TJ24 were of 250 tons and armed with three torpedo tubes and one machine gun; U2f> to U26 were of 712 tons and armed witb six torpedo tubes and one 4. 2in gun: U27 to TJ36 were of 500 tons and armed with five torpedo tubes and one 3.7 in gun,.