SUBMARINE WAR

Evening Star, Issue 24291, 4 September 1942, Page 3

SUBMARINE WAR

SUCCESS OF AMERICANS NEW YORK, September 2. The correspondent of the _ ‘ New York Times,’ Mr Hanson Baldwin, reviewing the submarine warfare in the Pacific, says the Japanese do not possess submarines of similar quality to the German U-boats. They also lack expert submarine crows. On the contrary, American submarines in the Pacific have been extremely successful, and it is estimated that they have sunk 500,000 tons of Japanese merchant shipping, which is a severe drain upon a country whose replacement capacity is small. Mr Baldwin further points out that America is benefiting from the possession of Hawaii, which is the keystone of Pacific strategy. Submarines can easily operate against the Japanese coasts from there. U-BOAT LAIRS MENACE NOT YET REMOVED WASHINGTON, September 2. '‘Although there has been a steady diminution in the number of ships sunk off our own shores, the submarine menace is by no means solved,” the Secretary of the Navy, Colonel Knox, told a Press conference. “ The minute you make it tough in one place they

hunt in new areas on the high seas far from land. It will he a long job. We may never conquer the menace completely, but it can be reduced substantially so as not to interfere with victory. The progress of the shipbuilding programme is extremely satisfactory, and all the ships are being both launched and fitted out ahead of time. “No one can speak dogmatically about the purpose of the Japanese occupation of the Aleutians,” Colonel Knox added, “ but they are probably using Kiska as an observation post. No Japanese land bases of which we know have been built in the Aleutians.” JAPANESE GOVERNMENT FURTHER RESIGNATIONS (Rec. 1 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 3. The Tokio radio announced that the Government shake-up continued with the resignations of Shigeru Kawagoe, a Foreign Office adviser, and HaruMko Nishi, vice Foreign Minister. Nishi’s successor is Kumachi Yamamoto, director of the Eastern Department or the Foreign Office. A Government spokesman said General Tojo’s Foreign Ministership was pyobably only temporary.