FANTASTIC CLAIMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 January 1942, Page 6

FANTASTIC CLAIMS

WHOLE BRITISH FLEET SUNK according to axis high COMMANDS. ABSURDITY REVEALED BY ADMIRALTY. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, January 14. Of a total of 327 warships in British Empire fleets at the outbreak of the war, exactly 500 have been sunk or seriously damaged up to January 1, J 942. This is,the absurdity to which the claims of the German and Italian High Commands are reduced. From the outset of the war enemy propaganda struggled against the strength of British sea power, adopting the technique of fictitious and fantastic claims. An Admiralty statement just issued puts these claims in their proper perspective. "At the outbreak of the war the strength of the fleets of the Empire was: Capital ships, 15; aircraft-car-riers, 5; cruisers, 62; destroyers, 185; submarines, 58. Up to January 1 of this year the German and Italian High Commands claimed to have sunk or seriously damaged the following: Capital ships, 44; aircraft-carriers, 15; cruisers, 158; destroyers, 183; submarines, 95. This is without taking into consideration any claims made without the direct authority of the German and Italian High Commands. Claims made by the Japanese since entering the war have also been ignored. These figures, moreover, do not include ships claimed as only damaged. Such claims include at least 11 aircraft-car-riers and over 20 cruisers.

Thus the German and Italian propaganda machines created a situation in which the fleets of the Empire (excluding additions from the shipyards frequently claimed by the enemy as destroyed by the Luftwaffe), consist of: .Capital ships, minus 29; aircraft-car-riers, minus 13; cruisers, minus 96; destroyers, 2 (plus 50 former American destroyers characterised by enemy propaganda as worn out); submarines, minus 37.

During this time the Germans and Italians claimed they had sunk 15,734,523 tons of merchant shipping. The claims are amply disproved by the continual arrival of supplies in this county. Up to December 31 last, a total of 5,225,000 tons of German and Italian shipping had been sunk or damaged. This figure does not include losses inflicted by our Russian allies, which are estimated at some 496,000 tons, or enemy shipping in South American ports or of countries not actually at war with the Axis. Nor are losses inflicted on Japanese shipping in the Far East and the Pacific, at present estimated at some 128,000 tons, included. It may be noted that while the enemy persistently makes large claims almost from day to day, the Admiralty does not issue statements of enemy shipping sunk till the reports have been carefully analysed and the claims assessed.