WAR AT SEA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 September 1941, Page 5

WAR AT SEA

NO CAUSE FOR PESSIMISM HUGE BURDEN BORNE BY NAVY. AND BY MERCHANT MARINE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 2. “On the second anniversary of the outbreak of the war the situation at sea cannot be viewed with complacency,” states <in official review of the two years’ war at sea. “.Nor, on the other hand, is there any cause for despondency or pessimism. Taking the war at sea as a whole and considering the huge burden borne by the Royal and Merchant Navies throughout Ihe Seven Seas, the position can be viewed with quiet satisfaction and thankfulness.”

After touching on such highlights of the Navy’s work during the year as the Battle of Cape Matdpan, the crippling of the Italian Fleet at Taranto and the raid on Lofoten Island, and the losses suffered from dive-bombing attacks in the restricted waters round Greece and Crete, the official review proceeds: — “Besides this more spectacular work the Navy's everyday humdrum task continues at all times, winter and summer. The fact of cruisers spending 300 days of the year at sea or steaming 102.000 miles means an average of some 25 days in the month at sea, and is a great strain on the personnel. DOMINIONS FORCES. “Ships of the Royal Australian, Canadian, and Indian navies, and the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, have given service in every theatre of war, and men from every Dominion and Colony are serving in large numbers in British ships. The Dominions have greatly increased their naval forces, and Australia, India and Canada have all embarked on large shipbuilding programmes, including the corvettes which have proved so useful for convoy work. “Because of the huge expansion of the Navy, new training establishments have been started in the British Isles. All candidates for appointments as temporary officers must first serve as bluejackets, and large numbers of those who joined as seamen are now serving as officers. “The warships and merchantmen of the Allies continue to give wholehearted service. Some extremely useful modern Greek vessels have arrived at Alexandria to work with the British Fleet. The Russians claim to have sunk 14 enemy submarines, 10 destroyers, three patrol boats, two monitors, two cutters, four motor torpedo-boats, one trawler and at least 30 transports. MERCHANTMEN UNDAUNTED. “In spite of its heavy losses and the fury of the enemy's attack,.the Merchant Navy carries on with undaunted courage and skill. The losses till the end of June from the beginning of the war were over 7,000.000 gross tons. British, Allied, and neutral. No figures can be given of the tonnage that has been built in Britain or the Dominions, or transferred from other countries. Help from the United States has been freely given in many directions to ease the burden of losses. Mr Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's adviser, has stated that the United States is building 1,000,000 tons dead weight in 1941, 6,000,000 for 1942, and substantially more for 1943. Over 4,000.000 tons of German, Italian, and other- shipping useful to the enemy has been captured, scuttled, or sunk since 1939.” The review concludes: “It is men who count, and the spirit of our seamen is unconquerable. Independent, indivisible, undismayed, inflexible, determined—the Royal and Merchant Navies carry on.”