HUNTING U-BOATS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20051, 25 September 1939, Page 8

HUNTING U-BOATS

NAVY’S NET TIGHTENS NIGHTMARE FOR RAIDERS METHODS SAP MORALE HOME TRIP HAZARDS (Elec. Tel. Copyright,—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 2 p.m. RUGBY, Sept. 24. Twenty-eight days at sea, haunted all the time by the knowledge that every man’s hand as well as the sea itself is against you. That is to-day the situation of German U-boats on the trade routes of the Atlantic before the declaration of war, stated an evening bulletin issued by the Ministry of Information. Twenty-eight days of ceaseless strain in cramped quarters must tend to sap the morale of young submarine crews. The available resources of trained German submarine personnel are limited. The strain on U-boats’ crews must have been great, for the German submarine warfare has been answered in'no uncertain terms by the anti-submarine cral't of the Royal Navy.

The moral effect of depth charges on U-boat crews is intensified by the knowledge, from bitter experience, that the Royal Navy can detect and hunt them with efficiency never dreamt of in the last war. It is wh'eh a submarine—with thought of vital supplies, torpedoes, fuel, food and fresh water—tries to get home that the vitality of her crew is at its lowest. It is then tlie U-boat faces its greatest ordeal. Not only does the Royal Navy harass U-boats on their hunting grounds on the ocean trade routes, but' it is busily engaged in closing routes to their “boltholes.” The operations of our patrols make entrances to t'he North Sea exceedingly hazardous to -enemy submarines, while the passage homewards once in the North Sea is made more dangerous by our patrolling surface vessels arid aircraft.