SEA LOSSES

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 42, 13 November 1940, Page 7

SEA LOSSES

Menace To British Shipping AMERICAN CONCERN Outlook Described As Bleak (Bv Telegraph— Press assu.—Copyright.) NEW YORK, November 11. The American Press is seriously concerned over the menace to Btitish shipping from German submarines, raiders, and bombing aircraft. The correspondent in London of the "New York Times” advised his paper: “The British are facing au unprecedented crisis at sea. The general prospect of Hie coming winter is much worse than in 1916, first because the Gormans are just beginning to take full advantage of their new submarine bases in France and Norway; secondly, because the British Admiralty has nothing like the number of destroyers and other craft it possessed in the last war. and the vessels available have to do three times more work; thirdly, because the Allied Merchant Fleet, which also has three times more work to do, is far below the standard of the Allied fleet of 1917; fourthly, because the technical development of the submarine, plus the co-operation of the German air force in spotting for targets, have made the U-boat a much more efficient weapon.” The correspondent further points out that during the last war it was nothing for the Attics to use 15 destroyers round a big convoy. It is now admitted that convoys of GO ships are sometimes spread over 50 miles of ocean and often are unaccompanied except for a couple of escorting craft. The British in 1918 hart 527 destroyers, compared with not more than 200 at present. The correspondent ends his message: “The outlook is definitely bleak. The British officials realize its seriousness, but the people do not.”