Convoys Cut Sinkings In U.S. Coastal Zones

Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1942, Page 3

Convoys Cut Sinkings In U.S.

Coastal Zones

Rec. 8.30 p.m. London, Aug. 22. Though the Battle of the Atlantic is by no means won the sinkings have decreased sharply and the United States Navy Department hopes for a further improvement, says the New York World Telegram. Since Pearl Harbour, it adds, there have been 356 announced attacks on Allied ships in the North Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and South American! coast. The v.essels sunk include eight in December. - 42 in March, 53 in April, 61 in , May, 78 in June, 68 in July and 19 thus far in August. The improvement is due to the increased convoying of warships and searching by aeroplanes and trained personnel. The newspaper points out that sub- j marines in the Great War could sub- j merge only 100 feet and were easier to ■ depth-bomb than now, when they descend 600 feet in order to escape the destroyers' j "ashcans." • | . The director of the navy's public rela- i

tions office at Washington said only five ships were lost out of 2000 convoyed in Atlantic coastal zones since May 14, when the convoy system was instituted. American shipyards produced more ships in July than were sunk in that month, he added. Up to July 15 of this year British naval air forces in the North Sea and the Channel sunk more than 1,000,000 tons of enemy shipping. Two hundred and twenty-three supply ships were sunk or captured and 135, including warships, severely damaged. The majority of the successful attacks were off the Dutch coast. The second best area was the coast of Norway. By recently sinking two Japanese supply ships in eastern waters a Dutch submarine has scored against all the Axis partners. The submarine previously operated in Norwegian waters and the Mediterranean. There has been an unofficial report from South America that the surface raider operating in the south Atlantic is the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. [t is stated officially at London that the Prinz Eugen is still in dock in a German port and the repairs to her stern, when she was torpedoed by the submarine Trident on February 23, have only just been completed.