THE SUBMARINE SITUATION.

Taihape Daily Times, 5 November 1917, Page 4

THE SUBMARINE SITUATION.

As frank a statement as could well be expected has officially been made by Sir Eric Geaues, Britain's recently appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, on the submarine situation. His summing up is'that, "All goes well for Britain." He' ; has i! g ! iveti actual figures

from which' we may* Correct the conflicting hotch-potch we have collected from alVsouTces of'information, good and bad During August and September Germany claimed the destruction of nearly a million and a-half tons of all nationalities, while as a matter of fact, Sir Eric says, Germany sank far less than one-third of that and British shipping comprised about half of what was sunk. The actual sinkings totalled altogether, out not more, 460,000 tons, Britain's losses nearly 230,000 tons in the two months. Germany calculated that to be successful, she would have , to sink a million tons per month, therefore the figures vouched for by c>ir Eric Geddes indicate how miserly the campaign of piracy has failed. He tells us, however, that Germany has not yet reached the maxi- i mum strength of her piratical murderings; that she is building submarines faster now than hitherto; that submarining was developing into a iest of determination and grit between the two contending forces, but, ae adds submarine warfare is going well for Britain and we are justified in regarding the future with courage and confidence. Since the commencement of the war B'ritain has lost no • more tonnage in ocean-going-ships than Germany, while the proportionate loss of British ships, to the tonnage owned, is ridiculously small as compared with that of the Teutons. Each contending party has lest about two and a-half million tons, which is a loss of 14 per cent of Britain's tonnage but a loss of. 50 per cent of Germany's tonnage. ,;.'. Germany,.. at the commencement of. the. war, had .a mercantile marine -totalling five million tons,,, and :half that* has/been seized or sunk. Definite, ■or approximate information, of future sinkings will not in all probability be published, as Sir Eric Geddes -states that it is not advisable to Jet. the enemy have that information ...that she is particularly anxious tv l obtain. Britain, is making reasonably satisfactory progress .and information on similar lines seems all we are likely tp get in the, future, at least up tp . the . time Germany ; has -reached the zenith ox her power >to build, equip and man her undersea craft Britain is building new shipsat a marvellous rate. During ; 'nine months of, this year buildings were 123 per cent more than in the first nine months of last year, and very considerably greater than the whole output of 1915. With such huge increase in construction, and the satisfactory destruction of submarines, it seems that we are fully justified in facing the future with the utmost confidence_ Warship construction, in addition, is infinitely larger than ever undertaken before the war, and the output of naval craft Is four times greater than the average of a few years before the war. The information that Britain's naval chief has given, in conjunction with that coming from the United States in respect to shipbuilding, should go far in satisfying our Empire that the Naval Authorities do not intend that Germany's submarine campaign shall reach that wbich the enemy expected of it. There has been no verification that Germany is building fast cruisers that are readily submersible, nor has there been any authoritative denial. Germany, before throwing up the sponge is, without doubt, anxious to let every part of the British Empire -have a taste of real war, and, nothwithstanding the vigilance of the Japanese navy in the Pacific, the new class of pirates may make determined —perhaps successful —efforts to reach our waters and drop a few destructive shells on our principal cities. At present, however, we are assured by Sir Eric Geddes that so far as submarine piracy is involved "All goes well for Britain."