BRITISH SHIPPING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 September 1940, Page 5

BRITISH SHIPPING

LOSSES DURING FIRST YEAR OF WAR JUST OVER 1,500,000 TONS, 8 ALLIED AND ENEMY FIGURES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 10. According to figures issued by file Admiralty up Io midnight on September 1, the tola] British merchant shipping losses for the first year of the war were just over .1,500,000 tons. Those losses, however, do not prevent Britain from still having a greater merchant fleet than at the outbreak of hostilities. Losses for the latest week were 84,000 tons. Of this total there were 11 British ships of 56,000 tons, five Allied ships of 15.000 tons and four neutral ships of 13,500 tons. The losses are slightly higher than the average for any week since the war began, but they are less than the average since the end of May when the more active period of war began. These losses are' one-third of what the Germans claim they have sunk. The Admiralty statement says that the comparatively heavy losses of the latest week may be attributed to the ideal conditions prevailing for submarine warfare. Summing up, the Admiralty says that in addition to the British losses for the year, Allied losses totalled 463,000 tons and neutral losses 769,000 tons. German and Italian merchant shipping losses total 1,250,000 tons and about 33,000 tons of other shipping under their control.