ITALIAN IDEAS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 October 1939, Page 5

ITALIAN IDEAS

PRESS APPEALS TO BRITISH PREMIER WILD TALK ABOUT NAVAL LOSSES. DESIRE FOR CONFERENCE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. NEW YORK, October 15. The Rome correspondent of the "New York Times” states that the Press is attempting to convince Mr Chamberlain that he should not reject Herr Hitler’s “olive branch,” and warns him that rejection would mean a quarterless war which may end possibly in defeat. The “Resto del Carlino” even states that if the German submarine campaign continues at the present rate the entire British Fleet will be destroyed by 1940. No mention is made of the 17 submarines the British and French Navies are reported to have sunk, nor as to whether Germany is able to replace them. Conservative circles maintain that the Allies have not explained their real desires, and express the opinion that the demand to Geman-y to evacuate Poland means that the British and French wish to solve in advance the very problems which should be the object of the conference Herr Hitler has proposed.

The Italian arithmetic in the above message is very much astray, even -assuming that naval warfare can be predicted on a basis of arithmetic. Two British warships have been sunk by submarines in six weeks. There arc 300 vessels in the Empire’s navies—apart from .minelayers, minesweepers, submarirtes, patrol vessels, gunboats, trawlers, drifters and the like. To sink these 300 ships at the rate of one every three weeks would take more than 17 years. But this is assuming Britain builds no more ships. Actually, 200 new warships were building on the outbreak of war, including nine battleships, six aircraft-carriers, 25 cruisers, 43 destroyers and 19 sumarines. It also assumes that Germany can continue indefinitely to replace Jost submarines, which have been sunk so far at the average rate of three a week.