DESTRUCTION OF SUBMARINES

Southland Times, Issue 24881, 22 October 1942, Page 5

DESTRUCTION OF SUBMARINES

TOTAL OF 530 SUNK OR DAMAGED

(8.0.W.) RUGBY, October 19. Five hundred and thirty submarines have been sunk or damaged by British and American forces since the outbreak of the war.

Making this announcement on Trafalgar Day, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr A. V. Alexander, said that the figure did not include the U-boats sunk by the Soviet forces or by the French forces before the fall of France in June 1940. Nor was the American figure complete. “During the last war,” said Mr Alexander, “the enemy lost fewer than 200 U-boats.” Paying a tribute to the Royal Navy he quoted Napoleon’s remark in captivity: “It was the British Navy that thwarted me at every turn.” Mr Alexander remarked: “Hitler may well say the same when his turn comes for removal.”

British naval casualties, he said, had been heavy even when compared with the losses in the last war, but these sacrifices had not been in vain. The sea lanes had been kept open. AMERICA’S GREAT FLEET He spoke of the immense fleet which America was building and referred to “our own not inconsiderable naval resources.” Having regard to her resources Britain, he said, was still producing more tons of shipping a man than was the United States, despite America’s immense production. He reminded his listeners that no second front was possible unless the Allies held superiority on the sea as well as in the air.

Mr Alexander emphasized three particular changes in sea warfare since 1914-18 which had enormously increased the task of the Navy and the threat to Allied communications. They were the greatly increased radius and striking power of aircraft, the far greater endurance and capabilities of the U-boats and the big extent and variety of the enemy’s mining operations. Countering these, he said, was the main task of the naval effort and it was in doing so that the Navy suffered most of its casualties. The sea lanes must be kept open in order to get fuel for our bombers over Germany and so that supplies could be sent to Russia and outposts like Malta. The Admiralty announces that two new British battleships, the Anson and the Howe, are now at sea. Both are of the King George V class and have a displacement of 35,000 tons. Each carries four aircraft and has a design ensuring improved defence against air attack. Their armament includes 10 14-inch guns of a greater range than the 15-inch guns mounted in earlier ships.